Ukraine freezes $144 million in foreign accounts as part of the investigation into the case on abuse during the purchase of two offshore drilling rigs of Chornomornaftogaz in 2011-2012, Chief of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"We have received information and, through an international financial monitoring system, we freeze and analyze a flow of funds in the accounts to which the stolen funds were transferred, worth about $144 million. An analysis of the movement of these funds may lead us to other suspicions," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

According to evidence received by the PGO, part of the funds stolen during the transaction with drilling rigs was distributed in the following way: $95 million was transferred to the accounts controlled by former President Viktor Yanukovych and former NBU Governor Serhiy Arbuzov, $25 million to the accounts owned by Svitlana Bakulina, a daughter of former Naftogaz CEO Yevhen Bakulin, and $15 million to the accounts of the owner of Latvian company Rigas Kugu Buvetava, Vasily Melnik.

In addition, according to Lutsenko, former Naftogaz Deputy CEO Yevhen Korniychuk received $2 million in cash, Valeriy Yasiuk, who headed Chornomornaftogaz, $3 million, Natalia Ihnatchenko, head of the supervisory board at Vernum Bank, $4 million, and the head of the commerce department at Chornomornaftogaz, $0.1 million.

"They also promised to give Oleksandr Katsuba, deputy chairman of Chornomornaftogaz, $1-2 million for the purchase of a house in Obukhiv district of Kyiv region following the embezzlement of funds during the purchase of a second rig. However, in connection with the events described in the media [the scandal with Boiko's rigs], he was not given cash, which, by the way, helped sign an agreement with investigation last year," Lutsenko added.

According to Lutsenko, in general, the cost of purchasing two drilling rigs was initially overstated by $409 million, to $798 million. However, due to the scandal, part of the funds was spent on additional equipment for the rigs in order to create the appearance that their price was valid.

"In fact, they managed to embezzle $144 million, as evidenced by the materials of the investigation and the findings of the examination," he said.

As reported, in 2011-2012, PJSC Chornomornaftogaz bought two self-elevating floating drilling rigs, the Petro Hodovanets and the Nezalezhnist, produced by Singapore's Keppel FELS, for about $400 million each. During occupation of Crimea, Russia seized these jack-up rigs.