Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that the Cabinet of Ministers started an internal investigation regarding a bogus firm, which won a tender for UAH 480 million of the so-called "Kyoto money" and asked the National Anti-Corruption Agency to investigate the matter.

"At the end of the year, we decided on the need for an honest transparent and public tender to buy energy-saving elements for street lighting so that we could have quality outdoor lighting all over the country... The state-owned company Ukrainian Environmental Investments has announced a tender for UAH 480 million of budget money... The tender was won by a company called Agrotechbud. On December 30 of last year the government issued a resolution to make an advance payment to the Agrotechbud company in the amount of 75% of UAH 480 million, that is, to make a pre-payment of UAH 400 million to this company for the purchase of new energy-efficient lighting elements. I did not sign the decree," Yatseniuk said at a meeting of the Cabinet in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to him, on December 30 it was reported that Agrotechbud, which won the tender, was registered in a residential apartment, had never been engaged in any of the activities stated in the application documents for the tender, and the director and owner of the company had been replaced a few days before the tender, and the new director was a man who's residential address was in Donetsk.

"I instructed the state financial inspection to check the tender. As the result, the State Fiscal Service reported that the business entity was a sham, the director was a sham, the founders, who allegedly signed the protocol in order to participate in this tender, gave evidence that no protocols were signed, and UAH 400 million were to be stolen," Yatseniuk said.

"The State Fiscal Service launched criminal proceedings, the Cabinet of Ministers began an internal investigation... Based on materials that have been prepared by the State Fiscal Service during the internal investigation, the Cabinet has asked the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to launch criminal proceedings and to bring to justice all those responsible starting with the officials of the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry and ending with each and every official who participated in the scheme in which the tender was won by a bogus company with the intention to steal UAH 480 million from the state budget," Yatseniuk said.

He also stressed that the government would provide all the necessary materials.