The High Anti-Corruption Court has made the decision to arrest Lesya Ustyimenko, who is one of the key figures in the high-profile corruption case in the energy sector. The entrepreneur has been taken into custody for a period of 60 days with the right to post bail set at 25 million hryvnias.
This is reported by Kyiv24
New Arrests in the “Energoatom” Case
On the same day, this marks the third arrest in the investigation into the activities of the state company “Energoatom.” Previously, the court sent the executive director of security at “Energoatom,” Dmytro Basov, and former advisor to the Minister of Energy, Ihor Myroniuk, into custody.
Lesya Ustyimenko is mentioned in the case materials under the name “Lesya Kyiv Financier of the Brothers.” She is a private entrepreneur whose main activities involve market research and public opinion studies.
Details of the Investigation and Charges
In 2023, Ustyimenko purchased a parking space in a building in central Kyiv, where, according to investigators, the so-called “back office” mentioned in the NABU materials is located. Her husband is reportedly a citizen of Russia who regularly visited the Russian Federation until 2015, from where he hails, and it was then that he obtained a Ukrainian passport.
Journalists have identified the names of all suspects in the large-scale corruption case at “Energoatom,” who have been officially notified of suspicion by NABU. According to the investigation data, in addition to Tymur Mindich (“Karlson”), Ihor Myroniuk (“Rocket”), Dmytro Basov (“Tenor”), and Oleksandr Tsukerman (“Sugar Man”), the suspects also include Ihor Fursenko (“Ryoshik”), Lesya Ustyimenko, and Lyudmyla Zorina.
NABU has stated that it has uncovered the activities of this criminal organization, whose main focus was the “systematic receipt of unlawful benefits from the contractors of ‘Energoatom’ ranging from 10% to 15% of the contract value.” According to NABU, the funds were laundered through a back office in central Kyiv, with the total volume of such operations reaching approximately 100 million dollars.
Against the backdrop of this high-profile corruption scandal, a draft resolution has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada regarding the dismissal of Herman Halushchenko from the position of Minister of Justice of Ukraine and Svitlana Hrynchuk from the position of Minister of Energy. Svitlana Hrynchuk stated that she will refrain from commenting for now, as she “does not understand the claims.”