NABU urges government to assist in Rotterdam Plus case

The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported
on Dec. 16 that it has gathered enough evidence to prove that the so-called
Rotterdam Plus formula for calculating wholesale electricity price in 2016-2019
has led to damages for the state. The estimated amount of damages is UAH 39
bln, NABU claims. It recalled that for the period of 2016-2017, total damages
were estimated at UAH 18.9 bln, of which UAH 14.3 bln were gained by “private
companies-initiators of the formula”  – read DTEK Energy (DTEKUA).

In its attached presentation, NABU highlighted that
Ukraine’s energy ministry is undermining the efforts of the bureau, and such a
shift in the ministry’s position is related to the appointment of Olha Buslavets
as acting energy minister in April. NABU provided a summary of a phone talk of
“a top manager of the Group” (read, DTEK) with a foreign person, taped in March
or April, where the manager reveals his expectation that the appointment of the
woman (read Buslavets) to the position of energy minister “will significantly
ease our life,” also calling her as the last manager’s hope.

For the next steps in the Rotterdam Plus case, NABU
insists on the replacement of the prosecutor that is running it (recall, the
responsible prosecutor has ordered to close the case in August,
while in October a court overturned the prosecutors’ decision).
On top of that, NABU recommends that the Ukrainian government file a separate
civil claim to demand compensation for losses inflicted by the Rotterdam Plus
formula.

Alexander Paraschiy: We continue to assess that it will be extremely hard to prove
wrongdoing in the Rotterdam Plus approach implementation, and even harder to
claim repayment for any damages from it. That said, we see a strong political
will to punish DTEK as a necessary condition for the investigation’s success.
However, thus far it looks like there is political will to do the opposite. All
in all, we remain in our position that there is little risk for DTEK’s
fundamentals from NABU’s efforts.