29 January 2020, TON: A former deputy energy and coal minister in the administration of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was placed in pretrial detention for 45 days on suspicion of causing $40 million in damages to the state. Former deputy minister was allegedly involved in a scheme to sell liquefied gas at the expense of two state-owned oil and gas companies to private firms causing huge losses worth $40 million.

Bail was alternately set at $240,000, the High Anti-Corruption Court ruled on January 28 in Kyiv.

Should the former government official post bail, he is ordered to obey summons by law-enforcement agencies and the courts, not to change his residence, refrain from speaking with other suspects in the case, surrender his travel passport, and wear a monitoring bracelet.

The suspect has neither been identified by the Court not the officials have disclosed the name. However, Ukrainian media have identified him as Ihor Kiryushyn, who served as deputy energy and coal minister in 2009-2011. He was arrested in Georgia in March 2017. Kiryushyn was extradited from Georgia to Ukraine on 27 January 2018. Yanukovych, who is in self-imposed exile in Russia has denied the allegations and maintains he is the legitimate president of Ukraine.