An audit by Ukraine's State Audit Service of the state-owned energy company Centrenergo found a number of financial discrepancies, as well as lengthy and unjustified delays on repair work for damaged energy infrastructure, the agency said on Nov. 29.
The financial discrepancies, which included accounting irregularities, unfulfilled contracts, debts, hidden lending, and other questionable commercial decisions, amounted to Hr 5.5 billion ($152 million).
Alla Basalaieva, the head of the State Audit Service, said that the company is in "a state of crisis" and detailed a litany of concerning business decisions.
Although no deliberate criminal wrongdoing was explicitly mentioned, the press release did say that the matter was being referred to the Security Service of Ukraine.
In a separate press release, the audit service said that Centrenergo had delayed much-needed repairs of critical energy infrastructure damaged by Russian attacks.
In one particularly egregious case, a replacement for a transformer destroyed in a Russian attack was not delivered for more than six months, even though it was available and had passed all standard safety requirements. Work began on replacing the transformer only as the weather became cold.
It is unclear why there was such a lengthy delay.
"These (unrepaired) facilities are of strategic importance for the restoration of power-generating capacities, and especially in the conditions of new threats from the enemy to civil infrastructure," said Basalaieva.
Alexander Query
(Updated: )
