NABU exposes corruption inside Ukrburshtyn SE

On Oct. 12, 2022, NABU and SAPO notified the former director of Ukrburshtyn state enterprise and two his accomplices of suspicion of corruption and forgery. 

Their actions fall under:

• the ex-director of Ukrburshtyn SE - Part 2 Art. 15, Part 4, Part 5 Art. 191; Part 1 Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
• the organizer of the corruption scheme - Part 3 Art. 27, Part 2 Art. 15, Part 4, Part 5 Art. 191, Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine;
• the director of a company - Part 2 Art. 15, Part 4, Part 5 Art. 191, Part 1 Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In September 2020, Ukrburshtyn struck an agreement for the storage of scientific and technical documentation worth UAH 58.764 million, allegedly owned by a private company.

In fact, as the detectives found out, no documentation ever existed, while the director of Ukrburshtyn staged its theft and reported it to the police. This led to the SE's debt to the company for more than UAH 59 million.

Later on, the perpetrators initiated the opening of a bankruptcy case against the SE in order to recover the debt through court.

The investigation considers the scheme's organizer to have had influence on the director of the SE. He developed a plan to misappropriate the funds of the enterprise, distributed roles among other participants in the crime, and gave instructions to conclude invalid transactions and transfer funds for unprovided services to the accounts of business entities under his control.

The bankruptcy case is pending in the Commercial Court of Kyiv. Although the suspects failed to seize the funds of the SE, they resorted to all actions necessary to implement the intent and were charged with attempted takeover of public property.

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.

Ukrburshtyn SE has a special permit for the use and geological study of subsoil, in particular, the research and industrial development of the Oleksiivka amber mining site in the Rivne region, with a total area of ​​more than 1,000 hectares.