Ukraine's deputy energy minister arrested, fired in alleged corruption plot

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A high-ranking official in Ukraine 's Ministry of Energy on Monday was arrested on charges of alleged corruption amid a sweeping government-led probe to root out such acts.

The Security Service of Ukraine -- or SBU -- announced the official, identified by Ukrainska Pravda as Deputy Energy Minister Oleksandr Kheilo, was detained in Kyiv along with three other suspects for allegedly attempting to extort nearly half a million dollars from state-owned mining company officials in exchange for his promise to transfer mining equipment from the war-torn eastern Donetsk Oblast region near Russia's border to the Lviv-Volyn coal basin in the western part of the country.

Kheil was also fired from his role by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Industry officials approached Kheilo, whose duty was to manage mining equipment, in the spring to obtain permission from him to evacuate the valuable equipment from the east in order to move west when he began to demand money for moving it.

The plot involved a private energy trader, an energy company executive and a mining company manager where money was to be transferred in five parts of $100,000 each time when all were caught.

If convicted on the bribery charges, the four face up to 12 years in prison.

The SBU said Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko uncovered the scheme and reported it to the government.

Meanwhile, the Energy Ministry said it was cooperating with authorities to "ensure an objective investigation and establish all the circumstances of the offense," saying in a statement that "all people involved will be held accountable," and that cleansing Ukraine's energy industry of any form of corruption "is one of the priorities of our work."

A Ukranian energy sector expert said the scandal would shine a light on the industry which has seen corruption more than once.

"Our Energy Transparency Index and other work on data openness showed the coal sector was always the most closed and least transparent," Olena Pavlenko, founder of the think tank group DiXi Group, told POLITICO .

"This case shows there's a connection between lack of transparency and potential corruption -- so we need to ensure proper openness in the process of reconstruction," she said.

This arrived after Russia's western Belgorod region on Monday evacuated about 14,000 people in what is now becoming a widening ground offensive as Ukrainian military forces gather momentum, now in its seventh day.