The High Anti-Corruption Court has chosen a preventive measure for former Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov in the form of detention with the alternative of posting a bail of UAH 51.6 million.
This became known from a live broadcast from the courtroom, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
The court ruled to take Chernyshov into custody for 60 days.
As an alternative, the court set a bail of UAH 51.6 million.
During the meeting, Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) prosecutors requested detention for the suspect or an alternative - a bail of UAH 55 million.
Chernyshov is accused of illegal enrichment (Article 368-5 of the Criminal Code), which provides for up to 10 years in prison.
Chernyshov himself denies the charges.
He stated that he had nothing to do with the pseudonym "Che Guevara" that appears in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) audio recordings, although he admitted that the voice is similar.
The politician insists that it is necessary to examine the full, not taken out of context recordings and confirm who exactly is being referred to.
On November 10, NABU and SAPO announced that they were conducting a large-scale operation to expose corruption in the energy sector called "Midas".
The investigation claims that participants in the corruption scheme demanded "kickbacks" from Energoatom's counterparties in the amount of 10-15% of the value of the contracts.
The case involves businessman Tymur Mindich, former advisor to the Minister of Energy Ihor Myroniuk, former executive director for physical protection and security of Energoatom Dmytro Basov, and several individuals from the so-called "back office", who, according to the investigation, were responsible for the legalization of funds.
Also involved in the case is businessman Oleksandr Tsukerman, whom the investigation calls a co-organizer of corruption schemes in the energy sector.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on November 13, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on the implementation of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on the application of personal sanctions against Tymur Mindich and Oleksandr Tsukerman - figures in the case of the scheme to embezzle funds from Energoatom.
Earlier, the NABU and the SAPO informed the former Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov of suspicion of illicit enrichment in the case of corruption schemes in the energy sector.
According to the investigation, the former official visited the so-called "laundry" - a place for legalizing funds obtained by criminal means, which was controlled by the head of the organization exposed by the NABU and SAPO.
During the investigation, it was recorded that Chernyshov received USD 1.2 million and almost EUR 100,000 in cash - directly in the office or medical clinic of one of the participants in the scheme.
On the tapes released by NABU, the defendants called the former Vice Prime Minister "Che Guevara".
The High Anti-Corruption Court previously arrested Lesia Ustymenko and Ihor Fursenko, who are suspected of involvement in a corruption scheme to embezzle funds from Energoatom.
The High Anti-Corruption Court also remanded Ihor Myroniuk in custody, for whom bail was set at UAH 126 million, and Dmytro Basov, the executive director for security at Energoatom, with bail of UAH 40 million.
On November 10, NABU detectives came to search the homes of businessman and co-owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, Tymur Mindich, Minister of Justice Herman Halushchenko, and Energoatom.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed that investigative actions were carried out as part of a criminal investigation with Halushchenko's participation, but refused to discuss the details.
Zelenskyy, amid the energy corruption scandal, stated that the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Energy should be dismissed, and asked the Prime Minister to immediately submit their applications.
After that, on November 12, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko submitted a motion to the Verkhovna Rada to dismiss Halushchenko and Hrynchuk.
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