Court Again Refuses To Extend Term Of Investigation Of Case Against Kobolev, So SACPO Ends Investigation

The High Anti-Corruption Court again refused to extend the term of the pre-trial investigation in the case of the illegal receipt of bonuses by the former head of the Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint-stock company Andrii Kobolev, so the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SACPO) completed the investigation.

This was reported by SACPO, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

On April 14, the Investigative Judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court left without consideration the request of National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (NACB) detectives, approved by the SACPO prosecutor, to extend the period of pre-trial investigation to 6 months in the criminal proceedings against the former chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, who is suspected of embezzling money in the amount of more than UAH 229 million.

The deadline for the pre-trial investigation in the case expired on April 19.

On the same day, the SACPO prosecutor decided to complete the pre-trial investigation in the case.

NACB detectives were instructed to open the materials of the criminal proceedings to Kobolev's lawyers for perusal.

The actions of the ex-chairman of the board of Naftogaz are qualified under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau seized 37 gigabytes of electronic correspondence regarding the payment of bonuses to the chairman, members of the board and employees of the Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint-stock company as part of the investigation into the case of the ex-chairman of the board of Naftogaz Andrii Kobolev.