Several officials of the central and regional executive bodies in Ukraine appear in a corruption investigation, as part of which Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Vasyl Lozinsky was arrested, who is accused of embezzling public funds for alternative energy sources during the winter months, CNN reports. According to the Kyiv authorities, he would have received $400,000 in bribes for concluding inflated contracts.

The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov confirmed the arrest of Vasyl Lozinsky on his Facebook page on Sunday and clarified that his deputy was released.

$400,000 in bribes

According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Lozinsky is accused of receiving commissions in the amount of 400,000 dollars, in this way he was “exposed and embezzled from budget funds.” he would receive money to facilitate the signing of contracts for the purchase at an inflated price of some equipment and machinery, in particular electricity generators.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau shows that about $49 million was allocated over the summer to “provide the population with alternative sources of electricity, heat and water during the winter due to the situation caused by the destruction of critical infrastructure.”

• “The investigation established that a number of officials of the central and regional executive bodies decided to waste part of the state funds.
• For this, they worked with a group of intermediaries and ensured the conclusion of purchase and sale contracts with pre-arranged commercial structures, at prices inflated by almost 280 million hryvnias (about 7.6 million dollars),” anti-corruption prosecutors say.

According to the cited source, several searches were conducted in this case, 920,000 UAH and 38,700 dollars were found and seized in the offices of some entrepreneurs.

Also at night, one of the members of the group was detained while trying to cross the state border and leave Ukraine, the NABU notes.

If the facts were to take place

The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said that on Sunday, Vasyl Lozinskyi was dismissed from the post of Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure.

• “We remind you that yesterday NABU and SAP employees exposed and stopped the activities of a criminal group organized for the purpose of embezzling budget funds.
• The criminal group included the Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.
• He was detained because he received $400,000 in illegal earnings. He received these funds for assistance in concluding contracts for the purchase of equipment and machinery. Criminal proceedings were registered in September 2022.
• I instructed the ministry’s team to conduct an audit of all current projects of the ministry, including budget funds, funds from international financial institutions and technical assistance projects,” said Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.