Two weeks ago, it seemed that NABU managed to hide the head of NAEC Ukrenergo, Vladimir Kudrytsky, from responsibility.
Let me remind you that at the beginning of the invasion, Ukrenergo bought body armor at a price of 16,500 UAH, which at the same time the same company was selling for 7,740 UAH/piece. As for the “Kiperman scheme,” Ukrenergo supplied 1.4 billion worth of electricity to United Energy. The company belongs to Mr. Kiperman, one of the businessmen close to Igor Kolomoisky. Mr. Kiperman, of course, did not pay for energy.
So, in both cases, the NABU officers pretended that Kudritsky was simply a witness and did not know anything, although this was not true. Without Kudritsky, it was impossible to buy body armor, much less organize the “Kiperman scheme.” There cannot be a subordinate who, at his own discretion, will give United Energy 1.4 billion worth of electricity!
However, NABU checked exclusively Kudrytsky’s subordinates. Ukrenergo security officer Sergei Totsky was detained in the Bronik case. According to the “Kiperman scheme”, Mr. Kondrashov, a middle manager, was put on the wanted list.
But then the High Anti-Corruption Court intervened. First, he ordered to check whether Mr. Kudritsky’s house was purchased with money from body armor? The scheme was implemented in Spring 2022 and the land and house were purchased in Autumn 2022. NABU should have checked this connection, but previously ignored it.
And now VAKS has ordered an investigation into a new episode in the “Kiperman scheme”: the head of Ukrenergo himself has been linked to two suspects. NABU should investigate whether there was a criminal conspiracy between Mr. Kudrytsky and Mr. Kiperman? During the meeting, the VAKS judge asked the bureau detectives: show the materials that you (as you say) verified Kudritsky’s involvement in the actions of his subordinates. It turned out that there were no such materials. That is, the judges lied to NABU - this time. They ignored the connection with Kudritsky - two. They did everything to place all responsibility for 1.4 billion exclusively on their subordinates - three. In addition, these subordinates are now abroad because the head of Ukrenergo helped them leave - four.
Should the head of Ukrenergo be nervous?
Let me start with the fact that Mr. Kudritsky feels quite protected. However, behind the facade of confidence, he is probably nervous. NABU cannot withstand the blow forever. Kudritsky in the “Kiperman scheme” must shift responsibility to someone else within a short time.
The identity of the “culprit” is known. This is Alliance Bank, which at one time provided a bank guarantee in favor of United Energy - a completely formal instrument in the electricity market. Apparently, the bank believed that there was no risk in any way because there were several layers of safeguards against fraud in the electricity trading system. However, in our case they did not work. Ukrenergo ignored the rules of the energy market and gave electricity worth 1.4 billion for free to Mr. Kiperman. And bankers were “appointed” to pay.
Do you know how energy workers explain their actions? They say that when there were artillery shellings of Kyiv, they were all sitting in shelters without the Internet and did not know that the criminals Kiperman and Kolomoisky were receiving state electricity and selling it on the market, and then withdrawing money.
I already wrote that the bankers, in response to such nonsense, received the findings of the National Commission for Regulation of Energy Markets (where it actually confirmed the fact of fraud). After this, they received a court decision that declared the guarantee invalid. The bank began to demand an investigation conducted by NABU.
It is around this investigation that the spears are now breaking in the media space. Someone in favor of Ukrenergo (I suspect it is Kudrytsky) is trying to influence the investigation, and is doing it in a rather dirty and unprofessional manner. For example, he posts materials against Alliance Bank...
The latest media explosion is generally a crisis of the genre. The National Bank received a letter from a certain publication EU today, signed by the editor, Mr. Gary Cartwright. In the letter, he asks the NBU to investigate the crime of Alliance Bank.
What kind of publication is this, the respected Politico once told, remembering it in the context of Chinese lobbying in Brussels. If you look at the text of Politico, you will find there not only Chinese, but also Belarusians, and even Russians. Cartwright’s accomplice, as the respected publication writes, is a certain Marat Terterov, a member of Putin’s Valdai Club, a lobbyist for Gazprom, director of the European Geopolitical Forum, the first vice-president of which is the Russian military propagandist Sivkov.
You can also see that Harry Cartwright recently defended the “disgraced” Nikolai Tishchenko. He said that he courageously resists the Russian special services. That's how it is.
So, an extremely strange choice by the author of the letter to the NBU. This all seems like a drunken joke. But I really understand Mr. Kudritsky. There really is a risk.
Everything looks good now. But there is no certainty about the future. I definitely don’t believe that Alliance Bank will be forced to pay under the guarantee. I don’t believe that “the Kiperman 2 scheme will be able to be twisted in favor of Ukrenergo.” As long as the case continues to be publicized, not a single judge will dare to distort it. Moreover, if friends of Russian propagandists write letters in favor of Kudritsky.
