Investigation of causing 39.8 million UAH losses to “Ukrzaliznytsia” completed

The Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) completed the pre-trial investigation as of the facts of causing 39.8 million UAH losses to the Branch of the Center for the Provision of Production of the Public Joint-Stock Company (PJSC) “Ukrzaliznytsia” (Ukrainian railways).

 

The corrupt scheme was about illegal actions in the case of the loan of diesel fuel in Limited Liability Company (LLC) “Wog Aero Jet”.

On July 1, 2019, suspects (former Head and former Deputy Head of the Branch) and the defense had been granted with access to criminal proceeding for review.

The actions of the suspects are qualified under Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Abuse of office).

The NABU Detectives revealed that in December 2015 and March 2016, the Branch “Center for Production” (hereinafter “CP”) received from the LLC “Wog Aero Jet” 30 thousand tons of diesel fuel in debt. The company had to repay this debt by March 1 and March 31, 2016, respectively, or pay a fine of 2-2.7 million UAH for each day of delay.

The “CP” started its repayment only on March 29, 2016, and completed the process in May.

The investigation found that officials of the “CP” deliberately delayed the repayment of debt, because on March 18, 2016, already had a contract for the supply of diesel fuel.

In addition, the company that lent fuel became the winner of the tender for the supply. Therefore, the debt repayment process might have been faster.

However, the process started only after an illegal increase in the price of the contract, which was the subject of an investigation by the NABU, which already completed (an indictment as of this episode was sent to court in March 2019).

The investigation of these facts the NABU Detectives started in December 2016. In May 2019, ex-officials of “Ukrzaliznytsia” were given notices of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

 

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.