The deputy minister was detained along with three possible accomplices.
The official, whose name has not been released by the Security Service of Ukraine, demanded a bribe from miners to move equipment from a mine in the front-line Donetsk region to a coal mining site in western Ukraine.
“The relevant equipment is unique and is a deficit belonging to one of the state’s coal companies, which is located in the most active area of the eastern front – Pokrovsk,” the Security Service announced.
“In the spring of 2024, representatives of the industry approached the Deputy Minister of Energy to obtain permission to evacuate equipment from the war zone and use it in mines in the western region. However, an official whose duties included the preservation of mining equipment demanded money for their removal,” the Security Service said in a statement.
The minister accepted the bribe with the help of three alleged accomplices. They were caught taking the bribe. The security service did not reveal the identity of the four accused.
However, Ukrainian opposition MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak claimed that the Deputy Minister of Energy, Oleksandr Heilo, had been detained. The Ukrainian government later ordered Heilo’s dismissal.
Ukraine, which has struggled with corruption even before Russia’s invasion in 2022, has pledged to intensify its fight against corruption. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi came to power on a promise to end corruption, and last year he fired several officials, including his defense minister, over corruption scandals in the military.