The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) released a video showing the arrest of a deputy energy minister on suspicion of accepting bribes totaling $500,000, exposing a large-scale corruption scheme.
In Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranked 104th out of 180 countries. The country has thus gained 11 points since 2013, including three points in 2023 alone.
While SBU and NABU do not name the deputy minister, sources from the Ukrainian news agencies Ukrainska Pravda and Hromadske confirm that it is Oleksandr Kheil.
Immediately after the corruption scandal became known, the Ukrainian government announced the dismissal of Oleksandr Kheil from the post of Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine.
According to the SBU, the deputy minister was detained in Kyiv after accepting part of the bribe. The official allegedly promised to facilitate the transfer of valuable mining equipment from frontline areas in Donetsk Oblast to state-owned coal companies in the Lviv-Volyn Basin in western Ukraine.
Oleksandr Kheil is accused of demanding money for the removal of this mining equipment, which belongs to a state-owned coal company based in Pokrovsk, one of the hottest directions on the Eastern Front.
The investigation found that in the spring of 2024, industry representatives approached the deputy minister asking for permission to evacuate and repurpose the equipment. Instead of following proper procedures, the official allegedly saw an opportunity for personal gain.
The SBU states that the deputy minister recruited three accomplices: a private energy trader, the head of an energy company from Mykolaiv region and the director of a mining company from Donetsk region.
The group allegedly arranged for the bribe to be paid in five installments of $100,000 each.
After the third payment, law enforcement authorities stopped the operation and arrested all four suspects red-handed.
The suspects have been officially informed of the suspicion. If convicted, they face up to twelve years in prison and the confiscation of their assets.
Related:
