A bail of €1.06 million was posted for Oleksiy Chernyshov, the former deputy prime minister and suspect in the energy corruption case

A bail of 51.6 million hryvnias (€1.06 million) has been posted for former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is a suspect in a corruption case in the energy sector. He is expected to be released from the pre-trial detention center in the near future.

This was reported by Radio Svoboda.

According to law-enforcement sources, the bail was posted by two individuals: 30 million hryvnias (€615,000) and 21.6 million hryvnias (€442,700) respectively, and Chernyshov may be freed from custody as early as the evening of 19 November.

It should be recalled that the day before, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) ordered that Chernyshov be held in custody for 60 days – until 16 January – with the option of bail set at 51.6 million hryvnias (€1.06 million).

The former deputy prime minister called the HACC’s decision to remand him in custody “shocking.” He added that he could not post bail himself because his accounts had been frozen.

Chernyshov does not admit guilt. At the court hearing, he stated that he had not seen any evidence in the case: according to him, the investigation is presenting dialogues where someone called “Che Guevara” is mentioned, while his surname is Chernyshov, and he has nothing to do with that person.

As the media reported, the former deputy prime minister Chernyshov is suspected of illicit enrichment – receiving $1.2 million from corrupt funds obtained through schemes in Energoatom (the Tymur Mindich case). According to investigators, the ex-official was among those who visited a so-called “laundromat” – a location where illegally obtained funds were laundered.