KYIV (Reuters) – A former head of Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz is suspected of embezzling the equivalent of around $10 million, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said on Thursday.
The person under suspicion was “the Naftogaz CEO (2014-2021)”, the agency said in a statement.
It said it had notified the individual that he was suspected of illegally awarding himself a bonus in 2018 “for extraordinary achievements”.
Andriy Kobolyev, who was chairman and CEO of the company during that time, said in a Facebook post that he had returned to Ukraine from a trip abroad after learning that the investigation was being prepared in order to avoid a perception that he had fled.
“I am definitely not planning to do this (flee), but am planning to prove my innocence,” he wrote.
He has denied any wrongdoing by Naftogaz officials during his administration.
Kobolyev was dismissed from Naftogaz abruptly in 2021, a move which drew scrutiny from the United States and prompted the resignation of its supervisory board.
Anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February last year, have in recent months stepped up their fight against graft.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; editing by Timothy Heritage and Jason Neely)
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