Over the past six months, the case of Oleksandr Onyshchenko has gripped Ukraine. It is an important case, touching on the country’s hopes and disappointments concerning the scourge of corruption.
The case burst on the political scene in the spring, when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) brought charges against Onyshchenko, a businessman and Rada member. NABU accused Onyshchenko of theft for his mismanagement of the state gas company, Ukrgazvidobuvannaya. According to the indictment, he embezzled 1.6 billion hryvnia (Hr), or $64 million, between January 2014 and January 2016 by arranging the sale of gas to his own firms for the low price of 2,640 Hr per 1000 cubic meters; those firms then resold the gas for 6,900 Hr per 1000 cubic meters and pocketed the difference.
