The eleventh suspect in a criminal case on stealing gas extracted under a contract with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia – Head of Nadra Geocenter LLC Serhiy Svichenko – has been detained, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
The bureau’s statement reads that Svichenko was detained on Tuesday, June 28, evening during an attempt to leave for Russia.
“On June 28, 2016, at 22 p.m., detectives of the NABU detained Serhiy Oleksiyovych Svichenko, the head of Nadra Geocenter LLC, in Sumy region during an attempt to cross Ukraine-Russia border. The company was a joint activity operator under a contract with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia,” the NABU said.
The bureau also recalled that ten suspects in the gas scheme case had been detained. The pre-trial investigation continues.
As reported, Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Artem Sytnyk said on June 15 that criminal group members had been identified as part of an investigation into abuses committed by a number of MPs and high-ranking officials when selling gas extracted jointly with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia. MP Oleksandr Onyschenko is implicated in this case. Sytnyk also said that ten out of the criminal group’s 20 members had been detained and investigators were working with them.
JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia employees are among the 20 people involved in this criminal scheme, he said.
