The state wants to take away Naftogaz’s right to decide on its subsidiaries’ dividends. The draft law on the 2024 state budget (Draft Law No. 10000) proposes that entities in which 50 percent or more of shares are owned by Naftogaz must pay their 2023 dividends directly to the state budget. Naftogaz is carved out individually in this draft law, which is considered to be a poor practice.
On Sept. 25, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) partially granted the request of the attorney for the former CEO of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolyev, reducing the bail amount from Hr 229 million ($6.2 million) to Hr 107 million ($2.9 million). For a detailed analysis of this case from a corporate governance perspective, see series of columns by SOE Weekly team members Andriy Boytsun, Oleksandr Lysenko, and Dmytro Yablonovskyi: Are Kobolyev’s bonuses a threat to corporate governance reform?
"We are in court not because anyone genuinely suspects us of corruption, but because no one suspects us of corruption," former Naftogaz CEO tells Newsweek.