Yuliya Pidkomorna, a figure in the “Mindich tapes,” has been appointed to a leadership position at a strategic state-owned enterprise

Yuliya Pidkomorna, a figure in the “Mindich tapes,” has been appointed to a leadership position at a strategic state-owned enterprise

Former Deputy Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko and figure in the “Mindich tapes” Yuliya Pidkomorna has become acting member of the board of directors of JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Networks”.

The company’s Supervisory Board approved this decision.

The Board of Directors consists of five people in total. In addition to Pidkomorna, they are Oleksiy Belotskyi, Oleksandr Baranyuk, Mykhailo Horyn and Denys Fudashkin.

Yuliya Pidkomorna has worked at various times in the Cabinet of Ministers, Energoatom, Ukrgazvydobuvannya, and also served as deputy to former Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko.

In November last year, during a court hearing in the so-called “Mindichgate” case, the prosecutor read out a fragment of the tapes mentioning Pidkomorna’s name in the context of appointments to state positions.

“This is about Pidkomorna. Myroniuk (Ihor Myronyuk, nickname ‘Rocket’) says: ‘Pidkomorna. Where did she come from? Didenko brought her in (likely referring to former Naftogaz top manager Ihor Didenko), he appointed her to ‘atom’ (Energoatom), and then took her to the ministry (Ministry of Energy).

I tell him (likely the minister): ‘Listen, how is this?’ And he says: ‘Well, she’s mine now’ (likely Halushchenko’s reply). If you had said, or ‘Karlson’ (Timur Mindich) had said: ‘She’s mine now’. I roughly understand how a person becomes ‘someone’s’,” the SAPO prosecutor read out.

In addition, Pidkomorna headed the Competition Commission for the selection of members of the NEURC. In this position, according to allegations, she could have promoted “suitable” candidates in Galushchenko’s interests by lowering the scores of other applicants. A fragment of the commission’s meeting confirming this is available via the link.

JSC “Ukrainian Distribution Networks” holds state shareholdings in seven electricity distribution system operators (oblenergos): Khmelnytskoblenergo, Mykolaivoblenergo, Zaporizhzhiaoblenergo, Ternopiloblenergo, Cherkasyoblenergo, Kharkivoblenergo and Sumyoblenergo.

The company is of strategic importance for the security and stability of Ukraine’s energy system, as it provides centralized management of critical infrastructure.