National police investigating into two criminal cases directly linked to Firtash – interior minister

The minister wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday that one criminal case was opened against Firtash's Ostсhem under Article 191 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine regarding the loss of UAH 5.742 billion caused to the state. The second case was opened against former heads of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, officials of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Firtash's RosUkrEnergo A.G. who are suspected of collusion and causing the loss to the state via writing off 11 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.1 billion cubic meters as a fine from Naftogaz in favor of RosUkrEnergo A.G. In addition, the National Police opened a case under a claim of the National Bank of Ukraine concerning the non-return of the refinancing credit issued to bank Nadra. The credit was personally guaranteed by Firtash. Firtash and affiliated persons are suspected of committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine (gross damage with imprisonment for the period from seen to 12 years), Avakov said. He said that as a part of this case, the Interior Ministry and the National Police of Ukraine agreed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to involve FBI experts to the case, as some doubtful transactions were conducted using U.S. banks. Avakov said that the Interior Ministry is waiting for the decision of the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the UN Convention against Corruption ratified by Ukraine in 2006. The U.S. Department of Justice is considering the issue of transferring the criminal cases where Firtash is charged to the FBI.