The ice has broken: a key witness in the future Poroshenko case has been extradited to Ukraine

On April 15, former people's deputy and businessman Dmitry Kryuchkov, one of the key witnesses in the cases of corruption crimes of Petro Poroshenko and his entourage, was extradited from Germany to Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

It is reported that detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) immediately upon arrival detained Koyuchkov at the Boryspil international airport.

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“NABU detectives detained an official at the Boryspil international airport. Within 48 hours from the moment of detention, the court must choose a preventive measure for him,” the National Bureau said in a statement.

As NABU reports on its Facebook page, Kryuchkov is suspected of causing damage to the state in the amount of over UAH 346 million. It is noted that NABU detectives, in agreement with prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), will insist on keeping the suspect in custody with an alternative bail of UAH 346,22 million.

Earlier today, the head of the SAPS, Nazar Kholodnitsky, announced that upon arrival in Ukraine, Kryuchkov would be provided with security, suspicion would be brought, and a petition would be filed with the court to select a preventive measure.

Let us recall that last spring he was detained in Germany at the request of NABU, but then was released on bail and lived in Munich. NABU is investigating the theft of about 1,4 billion hryvnia from Zaporozhyeoblenergo. Kryuchkov is suspected of involvement in a fraudulent scheme to withdraw money from the company.

As reported, investigative journalists from the television program “Schemes: corruption in detail - RFERL” unearthed information that ex-people’s deputy Kryuchkov, through the company Energomerezha, which he led, in 2015 organized schemes for withdrawing funds from state energy supply companies (oblenergos) in the interests of the people a deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction and the right hand of the current president Igor Kononenko, who is called the “oversight” of the Ukrainian energy sector.

Under the unofficial management of the Energomerezha company there were several oblenergos, the Centerenergo company, Kievenergo-Holding and a number of thermal power plants, including Odessa and Nikolaev.

Later, Kryuchkov broke up with Kononenko and told the media about the schemes by which Poroshenko’s entourage siphoned huge amounts of money from state-owned enterprises.

Kryuchkov is also on the board of creditors of Centrenergo and, in fact, blocked the privatization of this facility through the court, which, according to him, was planned in favor of Kononenko’s people.

Later, Schemes released information that multimillion-dollar income from the activities of Energomerezhi headed by Kryuchkov was received by President Poroshenko, his head of administration Igor Rainin and Igor Kononenko.

On March 8, 2019, Kryuchkov renounced his status as a political refugee in Germany and wrote a statement to the Federal Office of Justice of that country agreeing to extradite him to the Ukrainian side. Since then, that is, for more than a month, he has been awaiting extradition in Munich.

“The Germans are shocked by what is happening - no one is taking Kryuchkov. Only after Ukrainian journalists began calling the Prosecutor General’s Office and asking why Kryuchkov’s extradition was being slowed down did the process move forward. According to the law, law enforcement officers have 40 days to extradite. But, as we learned from our sources, the Prosecutor General’s Office “kept Kryuchkov’s case under control” until April 26. That is, they didn’t want to bring him to Ukraine until after the elections,” Kryuchkov’s assistant Svetlana Kuzminskaya previously complained to the Kyiv publication Strana.

Dmitry Kryuchkov's entourage reports that he intends to cooperate with the investigation. Kryuchkov also plans to give interviews to the media, in which he will talk in detail about the schemes operating in the Ukrainian energy sector and the involvement of the country's top officials in them.

At the same time, several people's deputies have already announced a danger that could threaten Kryuchkov's life, and turned to the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov with a request to ensure his safety.