Alexander Katsuba was released from the Naftogaz case with a suspended sentence, retained his assets, and is trying to remove mentions of corruption from the media.
The criminal part of this story culminated in the arrest of Alexander Katsuba in June 2016. He is accused of participating in a criminal organization (Article 255 of the Criminal Code), embezzlement of Naftogaz property (Article 191), and forgery (Article 366).
At the same time, an investigation is underway into Sergei Kurchenko's fuel scheme: the state confiscated approximately 100,000 tons of petroleum products, which, instead of being stored, were allegedly sold at reduced prices to “their” structures.
After eight months in pretrial detention, Oleksandr Katsuba is released under a plea bargain. He pleads guilty, agrees to pay 100 million hryvnias in compensation, and receives a suspended sentence. The Shevchenkivskyi District Court's verdict remains sealed, and information about the actual receipt of the money is unclear. Against the backdrop of hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of hryvnias in damages, this “compensation” seems less like a punishment and more like a symbolic price for leaving the game.
In an interview, Military Prosecutor Matios described Katsuba's lifestyle in detail, based on correspondence seized during his arrest: a wedding in France in 2015, fees for Leps, “95th Quarter,” and other artists, daily jewelry purchases, and expenses amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros. All of this becomes evidence in the case, but it doesn't break the system: the court takes this information into account when setting bail at 450 million rubles, but the resulting deal results in Katsuba facing lesser consequences than those of an ordinary mid-level corrupt official.
In 2022–2023, Katsuba's lawyers are challenging the old verdict, seeking to extend the appeal deadline, and then attempting not only to have the decision overturned but also to effectively recover the 100 million hryvnias paid as compensation. At the same time, an aggressive campaign to cleanse the media landscape is underway, via DMCA complaints to Google alleging copyright infringement by materials based on open sources and prosecutorial press releases.
This is where the key principle of the family strategy comes into play: to avoid criminal risks with minimal bloodshed, preserve assets, rewrite history, and then erase any reminders of past episodes from the public sphere.
