Ukraine parliament strips political immunity from former Naftogaz CEO Bakulin

Ukraine’s parliament voted on March 15 to remove the
political immunity of MP Yevhen Bakulin of the Opposition Bloc faction (mostly
consisting of former allies of ex-president Yanukovych), thereby paving the way
for his criminal prosecution. They also approved the detention and arrest of
Bakulin, who was the CEO of Ukraine’s state natural gas monopoly Naftogaz in
2010-14 and now stands accused of misappropriating the state company’s funds in
the amount of at least USD 404 mln. The funds were gained in an alleged
price-gouging case in which Bakulin arranged the state purchase of two offshore
gas drilling platforms for about USD 800 mln, or twice more than the market
price.

For years, the local news media referred to these
drilling platforms as “Boyko’s Rigs,” alluding to Yuriy Boyko, who at
that time was Energy Minister and now is head of the Opposition Bloc faction in
parliament. Although some of Boyko’s bosses (then-president of Ukraine) and
subordinates (Naftogaz top managers) are still possible suspects in the “Boyko
Rigs” price-gouging case, the Prosecutor General’s Office has stated it has no
evidence of Boyko’s involvement. Boyko himself denies wrongdoing and has also
insisted upon Bakulin’s innocence, blaming Yanukovych and his close entourage
in the scam.

Zenon Zawada: In a common
maneuver among Ukraine’s corrupt elites, Bakulin has been selected as the fall
guy to take all the heat and punishment for the “Boyko’s Rigs” scam. Of course,
it’s also common in Ukrainian politics for even the fall guy to evade criminal
prosecution, and especially conviction. We believe this is the latest political
show trial and Bakulin’s fate won’t be any different, especially that he has
been in hiding abroad for several years.

What’s particularly relevant in this situation is that
Yuriy Boyko has remained immune, likely cutting a backroom deal with the
Poroshenko administration. We believe both Boyko and the Opposition Bloc party
are valuable for the Poroshenko administration politically because they will
serve as a convenient opposition in the next parliament, given their Russian
orientation.

But this is truly a co-opted opposition as there’s
ample evidence that the Poroshenko and Opposition blocs have been cooperating
on business and financial affairs and will continue to work in tandem in the
next parliament.