KIEV, May 13 - Parliament approved legislation that writes off 24 billion hryvnia, or $3 billion, in debts and penalties within the energy sector, while opposition leaders alleged the move benefits well-connected businessmen.

The legislation was approved by 253 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament on Thursday, and must be signed by President Viktor Yanukovych within two weeks to come into effect.

“This is in fact a gift that has been made to people like [Rinat] Akhmetov, who owns power distributors, [Ihor] Kolomoyskiy, [Dmytro] Firtash, who himself admitted that he owns 75% of natural gas distributing companies,” Serhiy Sobolev, an opposition lawmaker and the prime minister in the opposition Cabinet, said at a press conference on Friday. “It’s clear whom the write-off is made for.”