NABU criticizes third closure of Rotterdam Plus case by prosecutor

Ukraine’s National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU)
reported that prosecutor Vitaliy Ponomarenko decided to close the Rotterdam
Plus case for the third time, the action that NABU characterized as being out
of the limits of common sense. The NABU recalled that the previous two
decisions to close the case were reverted by a senior prosecutor and the
anti-corruption court, promising to challenge the latest decision as well. On
top of that, NABU is going to ask the prosecutor general one more time to
replace prosecutor Ponomarenko, “taking into account his biases.” The NABU
insists that the gathered evidence in the case is enough to direct it to the
court.

The Rotterdam Plus approach to calculate the
forecasted wholesale electricity price was introduced for May 2016 – June 2019,
based upon which the forecasted power price for coal-fired plants was
calculated taking into account the full cost of coal as if it was imported from
the ports of Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp, while in fact most of the coal was
supplied to plants from local mines over this period. The DTEK Group of Rinat
Akhmetov was among the initiators, key beneficiaries and fiercest advocates of
the validity of such an approach. According to NABU, the approach generated UAH
39 bln losses for power consumers.

Alexander Paraschiy: While NABU is taking enormous efforts to revitalize the Rotterdam Plus
investigation, it looks like political will generate a headwind against it. As
we concluded earlier, the prospects of the Rotterdam Plus case look high only
in case the political will favors it. As we are observing the opposite, the
chance for Ukraine to win in this case is extremely low.