NABU secures return of Samara-Western Direction oil product pipeline to state ownership
The Economic Court of Zhytomyr region, based on the materials collected by NABU, satisfied the claim of the State Property Fund of Ukraine regarding the return to state ownership of the Ukrainian part of the oil product pipeline "Samara-Western Direction".
The pipeline was built during the USSR era and after the declaration of Ukraine's independence was supposed to go under state ownership based on legal succession. However, a subsidiary of Russia's Transnefteproduct JSC did not transfer ownership of the pipeline to Ukraine.
NABU and SAPO have been investigating the appropriation of the pipeline since 2017. Detectives and prosecutors gathered evidence for imposing an arrest, and subsequently, this evidence became the basis for the lawsuit filed by the State Property Fund of Ukraine, which led to the asset's recovery.