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.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.
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To commemorate the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion, “Bukvy” has compiled data on the largest donors supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Among them there are charitable foundations and businesses. The list includes, in particular, foundations that provide assistance exclusively from their own resources, without fundraising (such as SCM by Rinat Akhmetov, Epicenter, etc.).