The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) may open a criminal case against Rustem Umerov, the former head of the State Property Fund (SPF), who was recently appointed the country’s defense minister, a Ukrainian media outlet has reported.
The outlet claimed that Ukraine’s Supreme Anti-Corruption Court ordered the NABU to initiate the Umerov case in a ruling allegedly issued on August 25.
According to the ruling, on August 18, NABU received a complaint that then-SPF head Umerov, along with his deputies Denis Shugaliy and Alexander Fedorishin, "took actions aimed at concealing the facts of theft of state property".
In other words, the three are accused of concealing the sale of electricity at below-market prices to companies related to Tsentrenergo, one of Ukraine’s energy giants, the ruling reportedly read. The court believes that the complaint “contains circumstances that may indicate committing a criminal offense”, the ruling purportedly added.
The reported developments come after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal ordered police to lodge a criminal case against the SPF following the “illegitimate” dismissal of Valery Bezlepkin and Valery Shchekaturov, independent members of the supervisory board of Tsentrenergo.
Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky removed Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov from his post, citing the need for "new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society in general". Zelensky said that Reznikov would be replaced with Umerov, whose candidacy was okayed by Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday.
The SPF, of which Umerov has been a head since 2022, pursues government policy in such fields as privatization, lease, use and alienation of state property in Ukraine.