Energy official caught in $500,000 bribery scandal

Source: National Anti-Corruption Bureau 

Ukraine’s deputy energy minister has been caught red-handed in a $500,000 bribery scheme. The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said on Monday that the high-ranking official was arrested after he had received a hefty reward from coal-mining businesses in Western Ukraine for mining equipment removed from the frontline Pokrovsk.

Industry representatives had allegedly approached the deputy minister in the spring, seeking his ‘permission’ to have the equipment transferred to the state-owned mines in the Western region.

The official who was later identified as Oleksandr Kheilo recruited three officials in coal-mining industry who acted as intermediaries to help him demand a ‘$5000,000 pay-off . The scheme stipulated payments coming in five installments of $100,000 each.

The SBU said it had documented three payments episodes, which provided evidence allowing the arrest of the deputy minister and his three accomplices. Following his arrest, Ukaine’s energy ministry requested the goverment to remove the deputy minister from his post while all four suspect involved in the scheme now face bribery charges.