Some get rich while others freeze? On the eve of winter, Ukraine again found itself under the threat of total blackouts, this time due to a lack of fuel at domestic thermal power plants. State and private fuel and energy companies are forced to hastily buy “black gold” abroad, because at the height of the large-scale state enterprise “Ukrugol”, despite the official ban, was exporting it - to the detriment of the state.
Who is behind solid fuel export schemes? What do Energy Minister German Galushchenko and his deputy Alexander Kheilo have to do with it? And why, despite the criminal cases brought, no one has yet been punished for multimillion-dollar damage to Ukraine?
The calendar shows the end of autumn, the thermometer is already dropping below zero, and the prospect of blackouts looms before Ukraine again. Just like last winter, power outages may become an almost daily occurrence, and not only because of enemy shelling of infrastructure. The problem is also in the incomplete preparation of thermal power plants for the winter season, says Andrey Miseluk, director of the Dialogue Institute of Socio-Political Design.
“It turns out that already the second heating season is turning out to be super stressful. And if before the last autumn-winter season the country’s leadership said that this winter would be the most difficult in the entire history of Ukraine, then, unfortunately, there is every reason to repeat this unflattering forecast,” the expert notes.
Who disrupted preparations for the heating season?
As Aleksey Kucherenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy Issues and Ex-Minister for Housing and Public Utilities, said in a commentary to the editors, if private energy companies somehow coped with this problem, government preparations for the critical season de facto failed.
“For ten years it has been customary to have a two-month supply of coal in thermal power plant warehouses. At the beginning of the heating season, approximately half as much was accumulated - 1.2 million tons. The failure occurred in the public sector. The state-owned company Centerenergo did not make the necessary reserves,” the people’s deputy comments.
Well-known politician Ivan Plachkov, twice ex-minister of energy, confirmed that the rate of coal accumulation has always been twice as high as what is in warehouses today, according to Kucherenko.
“We always planned to have about 2-2.5 million tons of coal. And this was quite enough to calmly pass the autumn-winter maximum,” he notes.
Are the existing reserves really critically insufficient?
The editors of StopCor sent a request to Centrenergo to find out exactly how much coal has been accumulated in warehouses as of today. However, in their response, representatives of the state company noted that this is a trade secret. But the fact that solid fuel is not enough to get through the heating season is evidenced even by the official website of the state-owned company.
Why is there not enough solid fuel in warehouses and now it has to be hastily purchased abroad?
In the previous issue of StopCor about the Ministry of Energy, journalists covered some scandals in the coal sector, including the sale of solid fuel at a cheap price to close structures. As investigators were later able to find out from their own sources in law enforcement agencies, in the midst of a full-scale war, probable “schemes” with coal occurred not only within the country.
According to coal industry expert Konstantin Ilchenko, after the start of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrugol State Enterprise managed to export “black gold” to the Czech Republic, despite the fact that at that time there was an official ban on the export of Ukrainian coal.
"It's just awful. This is the month of May, this has already happened after a full-scale invasion, after the decision to ban the export of Ukrainian coal. And who is behind this again? State Enterprise “Ukrugol”. And Kheilo, Deputy Minister of Energy,” says Ilchenko.
How did the “scheme” work and how much money did our state lose from it?
According to the StopCor investigation, the state-owned enterprise Ukrugol sold coal products to the Czech company KTK International from January to September 2022 for a total amount of more than 367 thousand euros or more than 11 million UAH. at the then exchange rate. The director of this structure is a certain Yuri Kuchma.
“And, paradoxically, Ukrugol, which, by the way, is supposed to provide Centrenergo with solid fuel, bought it from the state-owned enterprise Lvovugol and its separate division Uglesbyt for more than UAH 2 million more than they sold,” - Alla Legeza comments.
These figures are confirmed by the director of the Institute for Socio-Political Design “Dialogue” Andrey Miselyuk.
“The so-called profit was minus 2 million 87 thousand UAH. That is, it turns out that they traded at a loss. In other words, they bought this coal at a higher price than they sold it. That is, this is actually an undisguised coal scheme,” the expert emphasizes.
What do law enforcement and regulatory authorities think about this?
To confirm the data, representatives of the editorial office sent a request to the State Tax Service, but they noted that they could not disclose data regarding the financial transactions of these enterprises, including through the secrecy of the investigation.
After all, for abuse of official position, which resulted in grave consequences, a criminal case was opened in the State Bureau of Investigation, in which officials of the Ministry of Energy, Ukrugol, Lvovugol and its separate division Uglesbyt appear.
To clarify the details and find out at what stage this investigation is, we sent a request to the State Bureau of Investigation. However, although they registered him there, they did not give an answer for almost a month.
But in the Office of the Prosecutor General, although they did not make the details public, their response to “Stopkor” became known to a new interesting fact: it turns out that not one, but two criminal proceedings were opened against employees of the Ministry of Energy and these coal enterprises.
What is the case about?
As stated in the case materials, solid fuel was sold at Ukrugol from January to September last year. And, as reflected in the part of the tax return we received, the transactions took place in May 2022, and on May 10, the Ministry of Energy introduced a ban on the export of coal, which was lifted the following month by the Cabinet of Ministers, introducing a new taboo from June on the export of fuel oil, coal (except coke) and Ukrainian gas.
However, already in September, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal announced Ukraine’s plans to open quotas for coal exports. However. one way or another, according to the head of the Union of Utility Consumers Oleg Popenko, in conditions of war, Ukraine should not export solid fuel.
“There should be a general ban today on any export of coal from Ukraine, given that in August of this year we took emergency electricity from the European Union for 11 days out of 30. made from coal,” the expert emphasizes.
But did anyone bear responsibility for the sale of state coal “to the left”?
“So no one was punished: neither Energy Minister Glushchenko, nor other officials, and in December last year, the then head of Ukruglia Vitaly Zyusko simply left his post, and was replaced by Alexander Kheilo, who was appointed deputy chairman on September 6 of this year Ministry of Energy,” notes Andrey Miselyuk.
Journalist Konstantin Ilchenko is skeptical about the prospects for investigating this case.
“Is the SBI trying to investigate something? I’m not sure that they are investigating anything there, especially the SBI. Because the mafia has its finger on the pulse,” he believes.
A certain skepticism is shared by Andrei Miselyuk: “When I had to communicate with an employee of the State Bureau of Investigation, he stated that this is a “gray scheme” that was used a long time ago with great success and, unfortunately, it continues to be used now.”
The investigation of two criminal proceedings has been combined into one - on the sale of coal. And it has been going on for about a year and a half now. The then head of Ukrugl, Vitaly Zyusko, was simply removed from his post, although only one mentioned “scheme” seems to have caused more than 2 million in damage to the state. But the Minister of Energy German Galushchenko, who should be responsible for what is happening in the coal sector, was not a scandal at all backlog
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy itself ignored the journalists’ request, and Ukruugol responded with a de facto reply, citing, among other things, the secrecy of the investigation. So we continue to monitor the progress of the case and cover all its details.
