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Ukraine detains deputy energy minister in bribery case, district attorneys say

Ukraine detained among its four deputy energy ministers and 3 other suspects as they were caught redhanded receiving a tranche of a $500,000. allurement, state prosecutors and antigraft cops said on Monday.

Ukraine has actually stepped up a wartime campaign against official. corruption to prove the nation's credentials for signing up with the. European Union, which has actually made battling graft a priority.

Its energy sector is a crucial cog in the national war effort. versus Russia and it has sustained heavy damage from Russian. airstrikes this year. Russia released a full-scale invasion of. Ukraine in February 2022.

The Prosecutor General's Office said the suspects required a. $ 500,000 kickback in return for facilitating the elimination of a. state-owned coal business's mining equipment from the war-torn. locations of the embattled Donetsk area.

As part of the plan, the Lviv-Volyn basin coal. business was to be authorised to move the equipment and. run it freely at state-owned mines in the western area of. Ukraine, it stated.

The declaration did not recognize the deputy minister, however the. federal government said it had sacked deputy energy minister Oleksandr. Kheilo with immediate result. The authorities might not instantly. be reached for remark.

The other suspects included an official at a state-owned. coal business and two other intermediaries, it said on. Telegram.

The suspects were apprehended as they will receive. $ 100,000 of the $500,000 kickback. The private investigators previously. recorded the group's receipt of another $200,000, it said.

The Ukrainian energy ministry said German Galushchenko, the. energy minister, had assisted expose the tactic and right away. attracted the Cabinet of Ministers to sack the deputy.

Ukraine has been fighting corruption for several years.

In April, the farming minister was apprehended and sacked. over accusations of his participation in an unlawful acquisition of. state-owned land worth $7 million. He denied misbehavior.

(source: Reuters)