UNIAN

"Yesterday an order was issued for the director of Ukrinterenergo Volodymyr Zinevych to be brought before the courts. Today he is in hospital," Yarema said.

It is very common for Ukrainian officials who are charged with corruption to suddenly be taken ill.

Yarema said that the task of the Cabinet of Ministers is to provide the country with the high-quality coal.

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"The coal that was imported from South Africa does not burn in our power plants. It is a crime and it must be punished. This person is charged with doing deliberate harm to our economy by spending UAH 384 million on importing coal not suitable for our TPPs," Yarema said.

He said the directors of Ukrinterenergo and Centrenergo were suspects in the case. The losses that the state has incurred as a result of the coal import contract are being estimated, he said.

According to Yarema, the Prosecutor General's Office possess evidence that the coal from South Africa is of low quality and does not comply with the standards used by the Zmievska, Tripolska and Starobeshevo TPPs, which are operated by Centrenergo.

"In addition, we found a number of abuses by Centrenergo regarding inventory purchases. These are fake companies that have carried out procurement and embezzled money. This happened a few months ago.”

Earlier, UNIAN reported that the government was intending to resume negotiations with coal suppliers from South Africa.