KYIV (AFP) – A Ukrainian deputy energy minister accused of taking a bribe worth half a million dollars has been arrested along with three alleged accomplices, Ukraine’s SBU Security Service said yesterday.
The minister, whom the SBU did not name, allegedly demanded mining industry officials pay him to transfer equipment from mines in the frontline eastern Donetsk region to a coal basin in western Ukraine.
“The equipment in question is unique and scarce, belonging to one of the state-owned coal companies located in the most active area of the eastern frontline – Pokrovsk,” the SBU said in a statement.
