Ukrzaliznytsia "diesel fuel" case referred to court

On Aug. 31, 2022, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) filed an indictment in the case of embezzlement of almost UAH 103 million of Ukrzaliznytsia PJSC during the purchase of diesel fuel.

The defendants are*:

• the head of Ukrzaliznytsia "Production Support Center" branch (Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• the head of branch's Department of Accounting for Petroleum Products and Warehousing (Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
• the director of a private company (the scheme mastermind) - Part 3 and Part 5 Art. 27, part 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

*positions as of crime date

According to the investigation, in early January 2017, Ukrzaliznytsia's Production Support Center entered into a number of contracts with a company controlled by corruption scheme participants for the purchase of 55,000 tons of diesel fuel at a price of UAH 18,499 to UAH 18,999 per ton. At the same time, the head of the branch refused to order diesel fuel under these cost-effective agreements, and instead in January 2017 ordered diesel fuel from the same company, though under other contracts with a higher price - from UAH 21,300 to UAH 22,230 per ton.

Subsequently, at the end of January 2017, the participants in the corruption scheme, acting in favor of the said company, concluded a number of additional agreements to the supply contract, which unreasonably increased the price of diesel fuel for Ukrzaliznytsia by 10%. The suspects hid the illegal actions by manipulating information on price fluctuations in the fuel market. After several price increases under the additional agreements, the branch management issued orders for the supply of the entire volume of fuel. As a result, in January-February 2017, Ukrzaliznytsia overpaid more than UAH 102.7 million, purchasing diesel fuel at a price ranging from UAH 22,421 to UAH 22,971 per ton.

On May 18, 2021, NABU and SAPO served notices of suspicion to three persons. NABU started the investigation in 2017.

This case is the third episode of the corruption scheme exposed by the NABU Detectives, which was implemented in 2015-2017 at Ukrzaliznytsia with the participation of the said commercial company.

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.