On January 22, 2020, the Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor`s Office (SAPO) gave notices of suspicion to six persons involved in the embezzlement and legalization of more than UAH 54.179 million UAH from the state budget of Ukraine. The actions of the suspects are qualified under Part 5 Article 191, Part 3 Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by abuse of official post” and “Legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime”).
Among the suspect there are following persons:
- ex-Government Agent of Ukraine before the European Court of Human Rights;
- ex-First Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine (a notice of suspicion was served in accordance with Article 135, Article 278 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine);
- beneficiary of a private company;
- three persons close to the ex-Member of Parliament of Ukraine (MP)
Other persons involved in the commission of the crime are being established.
The investigation revealed that the suspects during 2013-2016 organized a scheme of abuse the right to apply to the European Court of Human Rights. They did not inform of all circumstances of legal disputes and thereby misled the European Court.
In September 2013, a representative of Zolotyy Mandaryn Oyl LLC (controlled by an ex-Member of Parliament of Ukraine) prepared and submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) an application. He applied to recover UAH 54.179 from the state budget of Ukraine as unpaid debt from Kyivenergo PJSC to the Zolotyy Mandaryn Oyl LLC for the storage of fuel oil. He noted that the enforcement authorities allegedly had not executed the decision on recover funds since 2009.
However, NABU Detectives found out that despite the court's decision in its favor, Zolotyy Mandaryn Oyl LLC did not apply to the executive service for its implementation. However, the LLC did not inform on this fact the ECHR. Just as the LLC hid from the European Court the fact of assignment of claim to the Kyivenergo PJSC in favor of another private company, also affiliated with the ex-MP, the scheme organizer. It happened six months before the appeal to the ECHR.
Then, according to the investigation, in order to support the case in the ECHR ex-MP agreed with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine executives, with the assistance of which the Government Agent of Ukraine before the ECHR prepared the amicable settlement of the dispute. Based on this document he pledged to pay the Zolotyy Mandaryn Oyl LLC UAH 54.179 million from the state budget of Ukraine for obligation that arose between two private legal entities. In February 2016, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine transferred the indicated amount of funds.
NABU Detectives started a pre-trial investigation as of these facts in June 2017.
As of the time this news was published, some of the suspects had already expressed their willingness to cooperate with the investigation and to give evidence of the circumstances of the criminal offense. The investigation is ongoing.
According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine a person is considered not-guilty in commission of crime and cannot be a subject to criminal punishment, until he or she is found guilty by the court.
Scheme of UAH 54 million public funds embezzlement from the state budget by creating artificial legal grounds for compensation according to the ECHR decision https://flic.kr/p/2iiNVW6
