Makarenko made scapegoat in gas affair between Tymoshenko and Putin

“I know every step taken at the time of the gas affair, I know all the documents, and I am convinced that Makarenko who is under arrest in prison was made a scapegoat. He is the least guilty, in fact, he is not guilty at all,” Sokolovsky said. 

“Why isn’t he guilty? The situation at the time was like this. There were 11 bln cu m of gas owned by RosUkrEnergo in transit mode. The gas was not cleared by the customs as the customs had nothing to do with the gas. The gas was just kept in storage in our underground reservoirs, like goods in a customs storage depot,” Sokolovsky went on.
Then, the following scenario unfolded. “Under a deal with Putin, Russia ceded the right of claim on this gas to Ukraine. Based on the right, Ukraine actually expropriated the gas and sold it to GazProm. On the same day, GazProm resold the gas back to Ukraine – and Makarenko cleared the Russia-owned gas.

“Makarenko definitely was in the know that the gas had a dubious origin but, based on the documents, he had to proceed with the customs clearance. Otherwise, he could have been accused of failing to carry out a cabinet’s order,” Sokolovsky said.

The same applies to NaftoHaz Ukrayiny officials [one of them, the ex-deputy head of NH has been recently detained by SBU – Trnsl.]

“They were all aware that the deal was not clean from the legal point of view, but they were faced with a choice of either going ahead with the deal or disobeying the cabinet instructions, the latter carrying a criminal liability for them,” Sokolovsky summed up.