The Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine is investigating a particularly large-scale fraud case. It is connected with the seized accounts of Yevgeny Bakulin, the former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine, from which they tried to illegally withdraw 11 million hryvnias. About this it is said in the decision of the Pechersk district court of the city of Kyiv.
In March 2014, Bakulin was detained on suspicion of wasting natural gas. In particular, it is said that in 2012 the company “GazUkraine-Kommers”, associated with Serhiy Kurchenko, received gas without full prepayment, which caused losses to the state in the amount of about 1.4 billion hryvnias.
In addition, the investigation accuses Bakulina of abuse of official position: on his instructions, PJSC “Ukrtransnafta” transferred dividends not to the state budget, as provided by law, but to the accounts of Naftogaz of Ukraine. The company used the received 129 million hryvnias at its own discretion.
On April 25, 2014, the Pechersk court released Bakulin on bail in the amount of 10 million hryvnias. Later that year, he was elected a People’s Deputy from the “Opposition Bloc”. In June 2016, Bakulin left Ukraine, departing from Zhulyany Airport on a Kyiv-Minsk flight. Later, his relatives left the country. In 2019, he was declared an international wanted man.
Since 2014, his bank accounts in Ukraine remained seized. About 843,000 euros, 585,000 dollars and 436,000 hryvnias were kept on them. In 2023, the court transferred these assets to the management of ARMA in order to preserve the economic value.
However, in 2024, unidentified individuals began taking steps to fraudulently access seized funds, including interest on deposits. According to the investigation, the fraudsters provided the private executor with false documents stating that Bakulin allegedly borrowed 11 million hryvnias on June 9, 2021 and did not return them. In fact, it is recorded that in 2021, Bakulin was outside Ukraine and could not be present at the conclusion of the loan agreement.
In June 2024, a private executor from the Kyiv region turned to the bank with documents on the basis of which $48,000 was withdrawn from Bakulin’s account, allegedly to repay the debt. And on August 30 of the same year, he tried to write off another 222,000 euros, but “Ukrgasbank” stopped the operation, and State Financial Monitoring finally blocked it.
On September 18, 2024, the police opened criminal proceedings. The investigation is investigating the circumstances of possible illegal appropriation of Bakulin’s funds with the participation of private executors, notaries and other persons. At the end of April 2025, the court granted investigators temporary access to the documents and belongings of several private executors involved in the case.
