The municipal enterprise "Kyivteploenergo" ("KTE") announced on Monday an attempt by law enforcement to disrupt the operations of its largest division, "Kyiv Heat Networks," following a previous attempt during investigative actions on November 22 to obstruct the restoration of equipment damaged by shelling at one of the Kyiv heating plants.
"This time, representatives of the territorial office of the Bureau of Economic Security in Kyiv visited the municipal enterprise 'Kyiv Heat Networks,' which comprises over 160 heat sources, 2,700 kilometers of heating networks, and emergency crews that work daily to restore heat supply and repair damages to aging pipelines," the company stated on its Telegram channel.
Simultaneously, searches were initiated at the head office of the municipal enterprise.
KTE expressed confusion regarding the circumstances surrounding the investigators' arrival. In particular, the reason for the searches at the heating plant was not the discovery of a crime but rather verbal information from third parties.
"Today, law enforcement arrived based on an outdated court ruling that is over a month old. It seems that law enforcement is deliberately accumulating artificial reasons to use them for business or political interests to exert pressure," the enterprise noted.
KTE informed that, according to the court's ruling, the basis for the criminal proceedings is an accusation of entering into contracts with inflated costs for restoration work after repairing damage to heating networks. Meanwhile, law enforcement ignores the fact that the winner of the tender was determined automatically on a competitive basis within the public procurement system "Prozorro," selecting the lowest of the proposed bids.
"Since contract signing without a tender is temporarily permitted during martial law, law enforcement is also dissatisfied with this. No other methods of procurement are legislatively provided, and 'Kyivteploenergo' does not understand how such procurements, including critical materials for the energy sector, should be conducted," the company emphasized.
KTE claims that during the searches, as in previous instances, the municipal enterprise did not obstruct the investigative actions.
"In light of the current situation, 'Kyivteploenergo' reports an increase in pressure on the largest thermal energy enterprise in Ukraine, which is an integral part of Ukraine's energy system. Just in the last two working days, investigative actions at vital life-support facilities have occurred for the second time," KTE stated.
The municipal enterprise pointed out that any disruption to its critical infrastructure facilities could negatively impact the energy supply for consumers throughout Ukraine.