Police have uncovered two large-scale schemes involving the misappropriation of natural gas, which caused losses exceeding Hr.400 million ($9.7 million) the National Police reported on Thursday.
Officials of an unnamed private company, state news Ukrinform explained, illegally misappropriated natural gas belonging both to the state operator of Ukraine’s gas transmission system and to a foreign company—a major trader—through document forgery and unauthorized interference in information systems.
The government-owned gas transmission operator, known as LLC Gas TSO of Ukraine, is one of the largest such systems in the world, linked with the systems of Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia, as well as those of Russia and Belarus before the 2022 full-scale invasion.
In the first case, investigators claim, the volume of stolen gas amounted to 86 million cubic meters, causing losses of more than Hr.250 million ($6.1 million) to the state enterprise.
“In the second case, the organizer, together with accomplices, misappropriated gas belonging to a foreign trader, causing damages amounting to nearly 5 million euros. The total damage exceeds Hr.400 million ($9.7 million),” police reported.
Investigators found that the stolen gas was resold through several affiliated companies, while the funds were laundered through various associated businesses, using fictitious transactions through third-party companies.
According to police, one of the receiving businesses alone increased its balance sheets from Hr.2,600 ($63) to 200 million UAH ($4.8 million) as a result of the illegal transactions.
Police have arrested the accused principal organizer of the fraud, a director of a private company, as well as his alleged accomplices, who held managerial positions in the same company.
They face up to 12 years of imprisonment, along with confiscation of the illicit funds.