Receipt of UAH 558,000 in undue advantage by MP: case sent to court

On Sept. 23, 2022, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) referred the case against an incumbent MP charged with receiving UAH 558,000 in undue advantage to court. His actions fall under Part 2 Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The indictment had been served the day before.

According to the investigation, in the fall of 2021, a representative of a private company was told that if it planned to supply medical equipment to hospitals in the Zhytomyr region, this should be first agreed with an MP. Shortly after, the MP and the company's representative got in touch. The MP offered assistance, which actually meant ensuring victory in tenders for the purchase of equipment for public hospitals.

The first one was the communal enterprise "Hospital No.2 named after V.P. Pavlusenko", which, as agreed by the MP and the representative of the company, had to purchase medical equipment worth UAH 40 million.

The MP also said that his "services" were not free and cost 30% of the value of contracts concluded with the hospital. This fee, he said, also was a kind of guarantee of possible future cooperation.

After the company received the first payment from the hospital under one of the tenders, namely for an ultrasound diagnostic system, the MP asked for 30% of the contract value — UAH 558,000.

As the investigation established, the MP planned to use the scheme with other contracts, in particular for the supply of MRI (30% of UAH 37.499 million — UAH 11.25 million) and a laparoscopic set for surgical procedures (30% of 1.19 million UAH — 398.33 thousand UAH).

The MP was exposed red-handed on Jan. 28, 2022. He then escaped detention thanks to his parliamentary immunity and was summoned to NABU for investigative actions. However, the MP ignored the summons and was finally notified of suspicion by the Prosecutor General on Jan. 31, 2022. After that, the suspect began to avoid court meetings for various reasons. Despite that, at the end of May, a preventive measure was still applied to him. In July 2022, the investigation was completed.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered non-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.