The ‘European Solidarity’ party made a statement regarding the case against the former head of Naftogaz Andrii Kobolev, calling it politically motivated, and noted that the prosecution ‘benefits the Russian Federation and looks like revenge for its defeat’.

According to the ‘European Solidarity’, the case against Kobolev is ‘a return to the times of selective and politically motivated justice’.

‘In 2014-2019, we managed to create a team that professionally resisted Russia’s gas blackmail, was able to knock out Kremlin’s trump cards and win the Stockholm arbitration against Gazprom, forever getting rid of energy dependence on the aggressor’, the statement says.

The party reminded that then it was possible to carry out important reforms of the corporate sector, the banking system, and the transport industry. For the first time in history, due to the high-quality management and absence of bribes, Naftogaz brought multibillion-dollar profits to the state budget. However, in 2020 it became unprofitable again.

The team, to which the head of Naftogaz Kobolev belonged, won the arbitration at Gazprom.

The ‘European Solidarity’ considers it wrong that anti-corruption bodies are involved in the case, as they have to fight against crimes, not to punish those who opposed crimes in the energy sector.

On January 19, 2023, the NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s office declared suspicion of embezzlement to Andrii Kobolev, the former head of Naftogaz.

On March 1, the appellate chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure in the form of bail of UAH 229 million for the former head of Naftogaz Andrii Kobolev.