The management of the State Property Fund falsified a letter regarding the corruption of a board member of "Centrenergo"

In PJSC "Centrenergo," which under the leadership of the new head Andriy Hota became involved in a high-profile criminal case due to the procurement of low-quality coal from fictitious firms, corruption conflicts continue.

This became known from sources within the company.

As it turned out, in 2023, a supervisory board of the company was formed with the following members (the first two from the SPFU): Andriy Hota, Viktor Busko, Oleksandr Muzhel, Valeriy Shchekaturov, Valeriy Bezlepkin. The latter immediately had a conflict with Hota over the fight against corrupt schemes in the enterprise. It also concerned low-quality coal.

Valeriy Bezlepkin

Bezlepkin wrote letters to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about the problematic situation. He noted that in the first quarter of 2023, the enterprise suffered losses amounting to 552.78 billion hryvnias, lacks strategic fuel reserves, and plans for capital and current repairs are not being fulfilled. Restoration work at thermal power plants, which were damaged by missile strikes from Russia, is also being carried out very unsatisfactorily. In addition, schemes for the embezzlement of state property have been created and are being implemented at the enterprise by selling electric power at prices below market rates.

For example, the head of the enterprise, V. Yehorov, has a conflict of interest because this person, who is the ultimate beneficiary of LLC "Artlex-Energy"—a company selling electric power—hid this during employment. The response from the SPFU was also unclear to the board member. Its representatives in the board of the enterprise voted at supervisory board meetings against measures to stabilize the situation at the enterprise and restore state control over its activities.

Bezlepkin asked the Prime Minister to provide recommendations to the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities and instructions to the State Audit Service to conduct an unscheduled audit of the financial and economic activities of PJSC "Centrenergo" in 2023.

To remove the independent member of the supervisory board, Oleksandr Fedoryshyn, who was the deputy of Rustem Umerov at the State Property Fund of Ukraine, along with Hota and Busko, resorted to fraudulent actions.

Oleksandr Fedoryshyn

According to the source, these individuals facilitated the creation of a Democratic Axe Party letterhead with a forged signature of the head, which was placed in a “Ukrposhta” envelope with a fake barcode. The letter allegedly contained reports of Bezlepkin’s illegal activities. This letter was registered in the SPFU in May 2023 and then sent to the President’s Office and the Cabinet of Ministers. Subsequently, the perpetrators approached the government with this information, seeking the termination of Bezlepkin’s powers.

Later, SPFU officials sent this letter to the National Police with information about abuse of power and official position by the officials of PJSC "Centrenergo," as a result of which on August 11, 2023, in the Chuhuiv police, case No. 12023221260000356 was registered under the signs of a crime under Part 1 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code. However, in December, case No. 12023221260000561 was registered under Part 2 of Article 383 of the Criminal Code.

The investigation found that authorized persons of the Democratic Axe Party did not prepare or send any letters to any government authorities regarding the activities of PJSC "Centrenergo," the letter was created on a falsified letterhead, and the party leader’s signature was forged. It was also established that the mentioned registered letter is not recorded in the JSC "Ukrposhta" database.

Party representatives reported that there have already been cases in their activities where corrupt officials of law enforcement agencies or public authorities, abusing their power and official position to unjustifiably remove Ukrainian officials and employees defending state interests, created fake letters on their party’s letterhead and sent them to various state authorities to pressure Ukrainian officials.

During the pre-trial investigation, no confirmation was found for the information stated in the political party’s letter. Instead, it was established that, abusing their power and official position with the aim of illegally dismissing a member of the supervisory board of PJSC "Centrenergo," SPFU officials created a falsified letter.

Currently, the Kyiv City Commercial Court is considering a lawsuit by the affected party against the State Property Fund for reinstatement in the position.