The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the State Bureau of Investigation have conducted a series of searches in the framework of criminal proceedings on abuse of office by officials of the national JSC Nadra Ukrayiny, including on the premises of Russian oligarch Pavel Fuks and Ukrainian ex-MP Ihor Kotvitskyy, the SBU press service has said.
Investigative actions were carried out at the places of actual residence of the defendants and in the offices of companies the ultimate beneficiaries of which are the Russian oligarch and the Ukrainian ex-MP.
As a result of the searches, the following items were found and seized: draft records and documentation confirming illegal transactions of the commercial entities under their control; communication equipment and computer equipment; about $300,000 EUR 250,000 and UAH 1.5 million in cash.
According to the investigation, as a result of the illegal activities of officials of Nadra Ukrayiny and a number of commercial entities, Ukraine lost the right to the Sakhalinske oil and gas field in Kharkiv Region.
And this is despite the fact that more than UAH 1 billion was spent from the state budget on the development of this field. According to geological exploration data, gas deposits at this site amount to at least 15bn cu.m.
Currently, comprehensive investigative and operational measures are underway to establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice in the framework of criminal proceedings under Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or position).
Measures to expose the criminals are being carried out by the SBU and the SBI under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor-General's Office.
LB's law-enforcement sources said that the SBU was conducting searches at the homes of former People's Front MP Ihor Kotvitskyy and sanctioned oligarch Pavel Fuks.
Earlier, Ukrainian media sources reported that law-enforcement officers had come to the home of former MP Kotvitskyy with searches. The case concerns illegal mining, which caused significant damage to the state. Kotvitskyy is considered to be a business partner of former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. In 2022, his wife, Anastasiya Kotvitska (maiden name Kucher), took millions of dollars in suitcases abroad.
In June 2021, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted the NSDC's decision to impose sanctions on Fuks, Dmytro Firtash, and Putin's entourage.
After the NSDC sanctions were imposed, Fuchs said he was not doing business in Russia and renounced his Russian citizenship in 2017. Obozrevatel argued that Fuks retained his Russian citizenship, and after receiving a Ukrainian passport, he also received a new Russian passport.