The American nuclear repository in Chernobyl is engulfed in a high-profile corruption scandal
Kyiv, February 15 (PolitNavigator, Alexander Semenyuta) – Another corruption scandal is breaking out in Ukraine. This time, the media exposed the fraud surrounding the contract with the American company Holtec for the construction of a nuclear repository in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
According to the source “Browser” in Energoatom, the version of the contract, signed in January 2015, contains completely enslaving conditions for the Ukrainian side.
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The contract amount is $300 million, although previous calculations showed much lower costs. And this despite the fact that, unlike the originally planned option, Holtec in the final contract refuses to carry out construction and installation work (approximately 20% of the initial estimated cost of the base contract).
As the publication notes, Holtec has not provided sufficient justification, supported by calculations, about the reasons for the significantly changed contract terms. It seems that the calculations were specially “tailored” to the pre-planned and agreed amount of the contract, which, obviously, quite suits the Ukrainian side.
The Ukrainian Energoatom will have to pay for everything. Thus, taxes and fees that may arise under Ukrainian legislation during the execution of the contract are paid in full by the Ukrainian side; the entire amount of the contract is paid in advance by Energoatom without attracting financing from the American side. Instead of a bank guarantee for the fulfillment of the contract (to be provided by Holtec), unconfirmed promissory notes of the American company are provided, and the issue of technology transfer for the production of containers has been postponed to an additional bilateral decision in 2017. And finally, Ukrainian jurisdiction in resolving contract disputes has been replaced by the infamous Stockholm Arbitration.
In this whole story, one can involuntarily trace an analogy with the scandalous supplies of coal from South Africa by the dubious company Steel Mont Trading Ltd. Apparently, such methods of work are “to the liking” of the Yatsenyuk government, the publication writes.
The Observer asks: where is the state-owned enterprise going to look for sources of financing for the implementation of a “modernized” contract with an American company, which, quite obviously, contains enormous financial risks?
The publication suggests that the “patron” of the current head of the state-owned company, People’s Deputy Vladimir Martynenko (with the tacit consent of Yatsenyuk) decided to bankrupt and auction off Energoatom (read: Ukrainian nuclear power plants) for debts that will certainly increase significantly when the contract is implemented.
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