The SSU made searches in Ihor Kolomoisky's office over the Centerenergo case. Photo: Facebook / Mykhailo Tkach
On the night of April 23, the Security Service of Ukraine searched the Millenium business center, where the office of the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky is located.
As the newspaper Censor.net writes, referring to sources in law enforcement agencies, investigative actions are carried out in the framework of the case of corruption in the company Centrenergo. According to the newspaper, searches are also made by the Foreign Intelligence Service.
At the same time, ZN.ua reports that the court allowed a search in the Millenium at the end of March, and Kolomoisky's office allegedly knew about this. The media outlet adds that the permit is valid for a month and the oligarch's entourage had been waiting for searches since April 5, but the Security Service came to them almost 4 weeks later.
The businessman himself, in a comment to the journalist of the project Schemy, said that he was in Dnipro, had no office in the business center and did not know why the searches were being carried out. "I have received nothing. No signals or requests," he added.
Later, the SSU commented to liga.net on the reason for the searches. The press service stated that they had been carried out in connection with a pre-trial investigation into the sale of Centrenergo in different segments of the electricity market at prices that are 20-30% lower than the cost of production, which had led to losses and waste of the company's property in the amount of about 225 million UAH. During the searches, electronic media and documents were seized.
Context. Last summer, Schemy reported that structures associated with Kolomoisky had been selling coal to Centrenergo at inflated prices, and as a result they allegedly had earned about 4 billion UAH in January-June 2020. And according to Bihus.Info that reported in April 2021, structures associated with Kolomoisky earned 370 UAH million from the supply of Centrenergo coal.