The first court hearing in the ‘gas case’ involving Member of Parliament (unaligned) Oleksandr Onyshchenko and his finance director is scheduled for June 10, 2019, the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has said on its website.
“In February 2019 an indictment was sent to court against Onyshchenko, the organizer of the ‘gas scheme’ and the finance director of enterprises controlled by the MP. Because the suspects are outside of Ukraine, they will be tried in absentia. However, they will be tried after three months. The first hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2019,” NABU’s website said.
NABU said judges are scheduling hearings for the middle of June in many cases.
“It is possible that this is connected with the expectation of the start of work for the High Anti-corruption Court of Ukraine, where these cases will be sent for adjudication. NABU also hopes for this court to begin work so it can consider the work of detectives,” NABU said.
As reported, on February 8, 2019, NABU Director Artem Sytnyk said the bureau had completed its investigation of Onyshchenko in the case of embezzlement involving the extraction and sale of natural gas. He said then the indictment would be sent to court within days.
Onyshchenko is suspected by Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies of organizing a scheme to embezzle funds through the extraction and sale of natural gas produced under the agreements on joint activities with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia. Ukraine’s parliament on July 5, 2016, granted permission to arrest and hold Onyshchenko criminally liable. However, prior to the vote, Onyshchenko fled Ukraine using his status as a MP. He was put on Ukraine’s wanted list on August 8, 2016.
