OddsFrontUkraine charges five suspects over alleged theft of 100,000 tonnes of Ukrnafta fuel
NABU says an organised group diverted petroleum products worth more than Hr 2.88 billion and moved the proceeds through affiliated and offshore companies.
A major energy-sector case
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office announced on September 15 that five people had been notified, or had written notices prepared, in an investigation into the alleged diversion of 100,000 tonnes of petroleum products from state-controlled Ukrnafta. Investigators value the products at more than Hr 2.88 billion, about $65 million at the conversion used in contemporary reporting. The case concerns alleged conduct between 2017 and 2020 and remains at the pretrial stage.
NABU said four alleged participants received suspicion notices in the first episode. A fifth notice was prepared for a foreign national who formerly served as an Ukrnafta vice-president and was transmitted abroad through international legal-cooperation channels. The official statement does not name the suspects. The Kyiv Independent, citing a law-enforcement source, identified businessman Mykhailo Kiperman as the alleged senior organiser and named four other suspected participants connected to fuel companies or former Ukrnafta management.
According to investigators, petroleum products were initially transferred to a controlled company under commission agreements. Some of the fuel was then channelled to affiliated companies for wholesale and retail sale through filling stations. NABU alleges that the sales proceeds benefited controlled firms, including entities outside Ukraine, while offshore structures in Cyprus, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands obscured the ultimate owners.
Why the case matters
The quantity allegedly diverted represented nearly one-fifth of all fuel sold through Ukrnafta stations during the period under investigation, NABU said. That scale makes the case more than a dispute over historical corporate management: it tests whether Ukraine can recover value allegedly extracted from a strategically important energy company while preserving due process. Ukrnafta has been under state control since private holdings associated with Ihor Kolomoisky were nationalised during martial law in 2022.
The investigation also carries institutional sensitivity. NABU said detectives uncovered suspected leaks of confidential case information and are examining whether a senior Security Service of Ukraine official passed details of planned investigative actions to an associate of the alleged organisers. That allegation is separate from the underlying fuel case and is still being investigated.
The next milestones will be service of the overseas notice, court decisions on any preventive measures and evidence showing how the fuel and proceeds moved between companies. The identities reported by the Kyiv Independent have not been confirmed by NABU's public statement, and none of the suspects has been convicted. Ukrainian law presumes defendants innocent until a final court judgment.