The Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Service today launched a large-scale investigation into the country's energy sector in connection with alleged bribery in transactions involving the Ukrainian state-owned nuclear power plant operator "Energoatom", Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The Ukrainian Energy Ministry and "Energoatom" have not yet commented on the investigation.
The service - a state agency whose activities are independent of the government - claimed in a statement that a former adviser to the energy minister, the head of the "Energoatom" security department, a businessman and four employees from the administrative department participated in a "high-level criminal organization". None of them are named in the statement.
The members of the criminal group "have built a broad corruption scheme to influence strategic enterprises in the public sector, in particular "Energoatom", the Service's statement, published on its channel in the "Telegram" application, says.
A subsequent statement specifies that the contractors of "Energoatom" were forced to pay bribes of 10-15% to avoid blocking payments for services or goods or losing their supplier status.
"Strategic enterprises with annual revenues of over 200 billion hryvnia ($4.79 billion) were managed not by the relevant officials, but by third parties who had no official authority," the statement said.
In July, widespread protests and international criticism forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to reverse course and restore the independence of Ukraine's two main anti-corruption agencies after the government curtailed their powers.
Eradicating corruption and strengthening the rule of law are key requirements for Ukraine's accession to the EU, which Ukrainians see as crucial to their future while pushing Russian forces out of their country.
Ukraine's energy system has been significantly damaged by recent Russian bombing this fall, which has led to large-scale power outages for consumers across the country. Russia has not attacked nuclear power plants, but is hitting substations connected to them, Ukrainian authorities said.