KYIV, Feb. 7 (Ukrainian News) – State prosecutors have arrested the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine’s Deputy Director-General Petro Prystromko, Deputy Prosecutor-General Mykola Obykhod announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
“One of the deputy directors-general of the corporation – Petro Prystromko – has been arrested as a suspect,” Obykhod said.
According to Obykhod, Prystromko was arrested after new information was obtained about the operations of UES, a major Ukrainian energy supply company, but did not disclose details.
In August of last year, state prosecutors arrested the company’s board member Oleksandr Tymoshenko, husband of former deputy prime minister for the energy sector Yulia Tymoshenko, and first deputy director-general Valery Falkovych for allegedly embezzling state assets worth $800,000 and smuggling natural gas.
Last Saturday, the State Tax Administration accused Yulia Tymoshenko of stealing $1 billion in when she ran UES in 1996-97. According to tax officials, the money was intended for paying Russia for natural gas deliveries to Ukraine.
Obykhod said that the STA’s investigation into Tymoshenko’s activities has been joined with a criminal case brought by the prosecutor-general’s office against Tymoshenko charging her with forgery and gas smuggling. Tymoshenko has vehemently denied the charges, saying that they have been fabricated by criminals who wanted her ousted as the energy complex’s deputy premier for her reforms in that sector.
President Leonid Kuchma dismissed Tymoshenko from her cabinet post on Jan. 19 in connection with the charges made against her.
