UAH 51 million coal mine corruption scheme: indictment sent to court

On Nov. 8, 2021, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) issued an indictment against eight persons charged with inflicting UAH 51.17 million in losses on three state-owned coal mining companies. They include:

• the criminal group organizer;
• the Secretary of the Tender Committee of SE "Selypvuhillia";
• the Secretary of the Tender Committee of SE "Myrnogradvuhillia";
• the Chairman of the Tender Committee of SE "Mine Office Pivdennodonbaske №1";
• the Secretary of the Tender Committee of SE "Mine Office Pivdennodonbaske №1";
• two members of the Tender Committee of SE "Mine Office Pivdennodonbaske №1";
• an inpidual.

Their actions fall under Part 5 Article 191, Part 1 Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As established, during 2016-2018, the participants in the corruption scheme gained control over public procurement at three state-owned enterprises - Selypvuhillia, Myrnogradvuhillia, and Mine Office Pivdennodonbaske №1. The whole chain was controlled - from monitoring the needs of SEs, forming tender conditions, and communicating with potential suppliers to determining the expected procurement cost, a winner, and ensuring settlements with them.

The investigation has revealed that it was the only company that in violation of the law won 69 tenders announced by these coal mining enterprises. It was about the delivery of a great variety of products: fuels and lubricants, spare parts for mining equipment, hardware, cable production, etc. In fact, this company acted as an intermediary, reselling at a margin price the goods purchased from the real sector companies. Those, in turn, due to the obstacles deliberately created by the participants in the scheme, did not have a chance to cooperate directly with the SEs.

For almost three years, the SEs, following unlawful instructions, purchased at inflated prices a variety of equipment, spare parts, consumables, and other goods, sometimes even without urgent need, for a total of almost UAH 174.5 million, overpaying more than UAH 51,17 million.

On March 16, 2020, NABU delivered suspicion notices to three persons involved in the corruption scheme, on March 19 - to six more participants, and in April 2020 - to one more person. In August 2020, NABU and SAPO completed the investigation and disclosed the case materials to eight suspects for review.

The actions of three other persons are investigated within a separate criminal proceeding. They are the director of Donenergoexport LLC (declared wanted in March 2020), the Chairman of the Tender Committee of SE "Myrnogradvuhillia" (declared wanted in April 2020), and an unidentified person. In total, the case involves 10 suspects.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered non-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.