Volodymyr Kudrytskyi

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi UARU
Chairman of the Board of the NPC Ukrenergo

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of the NPC Ukrenergo, is involved in a number of corruption scandals.

Course of life

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was born on May 23, 1986. He graduated from the Faculty of International Economics of Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University.

Career before joining Ukrenergo

In 2007-2011, he worked in various positions in the audit and consulting company Grant Thornton Ukraine, which is part of Grant Thornton International. He was a project manager for business development and restructuring for Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuzhmash, and Centrostal (Poland).

In 2011-2013, he held the position of Internal Audit Director at TNK-BP Ukraine (until the takeover of Rosneft).

From 2013 to 2016, he managed projects to boost sales, logistics and procurement at JSC Myronivsky Hliboprodukt. He reorganized the internal control and risk management system at the subsidiaries of the group of companies. He carried out anti-crisis measures for the media direction of the EastOne investment and consulting group, including restructuring of the Ekonomika publishing house, development of strategic and operational plans for the group's media assets (Starlightmedia TV group, Ekonomika publishing house, and Fakty i Komentari newspaper).

In 2015-2016, he worked as Development Director of PJSC Ukrtransnafta. His appointment coincided with a conflict between the company's management and oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi, as a result of which the management of Ukrtransnafta was renewed.

In 2017, he was appointed as a representative of the state in the Supervisory Board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, where he worked until 2019. He was a member of the Audit Committee and the Separation Committee. According to media reports, he represented the interests of companies controlled by Ihor Kolomoiskyi, including Ukrnafta, on the supervisory board. He also worked in the advisory and supervisory group of the CoST initiative, which is engaged in ensuring transparency in construction.

Work at NPC Ukrenergo and corruption scandals

In 2016, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was appointed to the position of Head of the Project Management Office of Ukrenergo, later he was promoted to Deputy Director for Investments and First Deputy Chairman of the Board. In February 2020, Kudrytskyi was appointed acting chairman of the board of Ukrenergo instead of the dismissed head Vsevolod Kovalchuk, with whom Ihor Kolomoiskyi was in conflict. The media noted that it was Kolomoisky who controlled Ukrenergo, and NPC acted in his interests. In particular, the press wrote that NPC Tsentrenergo (a division of Ukrenergo) sold electricity to United Energy, which was controlled by Kolomoiskyi, at a price below cost.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi's work at the NPC Ukrenergo was marked by a number of corruption scandals. In particular, the State Audit Service revealed violations during the audit of Ukrenergo for UAH 68 billion. Employees of the Prosecutor General's Office searched the Ukrenergo office and seized thousands of pages of tender documentation with contracts with a dozen companies from the archives of the state operator.

Here are the main violations detected:

• Due to Ukrenergo's failure to comply with the terms of contracts with market participants and relevant lawsuits, the NPC Ukrenergo paid fines and court fees totaling UAH 285 million.

• In 2022, Ukrenergo purchased bulletproof vests worth more than UAH 20 million at a price of UAH 16.500 per piece that is twice as expensive as the price set by this supplier.

• Due to the actions of Ukrenergo employees, United Energy managed to avoid paying the debt for the supplied electricity, and the NPC managers did not take measures to stop the supply of electricity to the debtor in a timely manner. Prosecutors conducted searches in the office of Ukrenergo and seized tender documentation with contracts with a dozen companies from the NPC archives. Ukrenergo tried to challenge the results of the audit in court, but lost the case.

The NABU also initiated a case against the NPC Ukrenergo on the embezzlement of UAH 1.4 billion. We are talking about the period of spring 2022, when United Energy, owned by Ihor Kolomoiskyi's partner Mykhailo Kiperman, received more than UAH 1.4 billion worth of electricity from Ukrenergo, resold it on the market and did not pay off the state operator. According to journalist Serhii Ivanov, the management of Ukrenergo may be involved in this scheme implementation. In particular, the investigation revealed that two top managers of Ukrenergo, responsible for contracts with United Energy, went abroad as part of business trips and did not return. Permission for one of the business trips was signed personally by Kudrytskyi. During martial law, he himself traveled abroad 11 times, in particular, he visited Poland and Belgium five times, visited Switzerland twice, and also traveled to the United States.

The NABU opened criminal proceedings on the fact of embezzlement of UAH 1.4 billion, while the management of Ukrenergo tried to shift responsibility to Alliance Bank, which acted as a guarantor in this transaction by suing it. In turn, the bank insists on violating the terms of the guarantee. The Prosecutor General's Office recognized Alliance as an injured party, and the Center for Forensic Expertise and Expert Research recognized the legality of the actions of the bank's board chairman. The SASU and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission found Ukrenergo officials responsible for the occurrence and non-payment of debts. The bank filed a counterclaim against Ukrenergo and won the first instance.

Another corruption scandal in which the NPC Ukrenergo is involved is the inefficient use of funds allocated to protect power system facilities. Experts claim that more than UAH 50 billion was spent on the construction of shelters to protect critical infrastructure facilities, of which the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine and Ukrenergo received the most. According to the media, in August and September 2023 alone, Ukrenergo signed contracts worth UAH 2.8 billion. Also, in September of the same year, the government allocated an additional UAH 9.7 billion for protection of strategic power system facilities. At the same time, Tsentrenergo reported that physical protection of the Trypilska TPP was provided by 100%, the Zmiivska TPP - by 70%. In the spring, 100% of the generation capacity of two thermal power plants was destroyed by Russian missiles.

According to energy experts, in particular, Viktor Kurtiev, the construction of a concrete shelter for power system facilities turned out to be ineffective, and it was worth using other mechanisms to protect the power system, which were more effective and cheaper. For example, Oleh Popenko, an expert in the field of housing and communal services, believes that officials should have moved transformer substations underground to protect them from enemy attacks at a much lower cost.

As a result of ineffective protection of thermal power plants, the curator of the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was dismissed, and the head of Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, retained a position with a high salary. As stated in the response of the NPC Ukrenergo to a media request, on average, the salary of one member of the state operator board reaches more than UAH 2 million. The chairman of the board receives probably even more. In December 2023, board members received almost UAH 8 million, in January 2024 – UAH 4.2 million, and in April 2024 – UAH 8.5 million. The average salary of Ukrenergo employees in 2023 was UAH 35.400.

A recent corruption scandal involving the management of the NPC Ukrenergo involves air conditioners; the NPC announced a tender on June 3, 2024, for the purchase of these units. The procurement terms state that four sets of air conditioning systems, estimated to cost UAH 629,130, will be purchased to meet the needs of the company management. The public was incensed by the tender announcement because Ukrenergo's management had advised people not to use air conditioners and to conserve electricity due to a lack of power system capacity.

Family

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi's wife is Oleksandra Yastremska. According to the OSINT investigation of the Blackboxosint group, in December 2022, she purchased a land plot in the capital on General Pavlenko Street for $14 thousand, five times cheaper than the market value of this plot. Subsequently, a house was built there at an estimated cost of $300-400 thousand. On September 13, 2023, Kudrytskyi's wife purchased a 2022 TOYOTA Highlander car for UAH 2.3 million.