The SBI detained coal businessman Kropachev, he is suspected of fraud worth 2 billion

The State Bureau of Investigation and the National Police detained the actual owner of Krasnolimanskoe LLC, part of the Ukrdoninvest LLC group of companies, Vitaly Kropachev.

According to the investigation, through his enterprise and officials of the Ministry of Energy and the Tax Service, he caused more than UAH 2 billion in damage to the state through fraud in the coal sector.

Who is Vitaly Kropachev

Vitaly Kropachev is a native of the city of Torez, Donetsk region. He owns the Ukrdoninvest company (coal business and gas production). In 2014, he bought several processing plants in the controlled part of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, and in 2017, the Krasnolimanskaya mine.

Has assets in the engineering, construction, and transport industries. He also owns media assets: in 2019 he bought the TV channels “Info 24”, TVi and “Pogoda”, and in December 2021 - the digital multiplex operator company “Era Production”, which, in accordance with the license, has the ability to broadcast 12 programs.

In the summer of 2022, Kropachev bought the Korona Sunrise company, which owned the digital license to broadcast Channel 4, and in 2023, based on the banned TV channels 112 Ukraine and NewsOne, he launched the Ukraine World News TV channel.

According to the electronic document, Kropachev was the “supervisor” in the coal industry from the former first deputy chairman of the BPP faction and business partner of Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kononenko. At the same time, Kropachev himself denied this.