HACCU Appeals Chamber did not want to consider Koboliev’s departure from Ukraine
In December, a panel of judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) granted a motion filed by the prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and imposed procedural obligations on the former CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andrii Koboliev. These include a ban on traveling abroad. Koboliev's defense tried to appeal this decision of the HACC, according to the Ruling of the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to Kommersant Ukrainskyi.
"The High Anti-Corruption Court, by its decision, granted the prosecutor's motion filed within the framework of the said criminal proceedings and imposed additional obligations on the accused PERSON_3, provided for in Part 5 of Article 194 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - the CPC of Ukraine). The defendant's defense counsel filed an appeal against the said decision. First of all, according to its content, he refers to the possibility of appealing such a court decision," the document says.
The judges noted that "the ruling of the court of first instance of 03.12.2024, appealed by the defense, cannot be the subject of a separate appeal."
"Objections to it may be included in the appeal against the court decision following the consideration of the criminal proceedings," the Ruling says.
Accordingly, the judges of the HACCU Appeals Chamber decided to "refuse to open proceedings on the appeal".
As a reminder, Koboliev is currently obliged to:
- notify the court of any change of residence;
- refrain from communicating with witnesses in the case;
- return all passports to the State Migration Service of Ukraine.
Koboliev's case
According to the NABU, Koboliev embezzled more than UAH 229 million in 2018, which is classified under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office).
This article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years and confiscation of property.
The NABU detectives believe that Koboliev, while holding the position of the head of Naftogaz, "himself initiated consideration by the Supervisory Board of the company of the issue of approving the payment of a bonus to him ‘for achieving significant goals’, and subsequently prepared amendments to the proposal for the bonus for extraordinary achievements, determining its amount at USD 10 million".
NABU investigates another criminal case against former Naftogaz CEO Koboliev
NABU's case against former Naftogaz CEO Andrii Koboliev for illegally paying himself UAH 229 million in bonuses has now been submitted to the court and is being heard by the HACC (case No. 42018000000001782). At the same time, it turned out that the NABU currently has another criminal proceeding against Koboliev - No. 52023000000000177. And the facts investigated by detectives within its framework are also related to the accrual and payment of multimillion-dollar bonuses to Koboliev.
The text of the relevant HACC Ruling, in particular, states that proceedings No. 52023000000000177 were separated from case No. 42018000000001782. And this new proceeding concerns "the circumstances of payment of the second part of the bonus to Koboliev and approval of the extension of the employment contract".
