Four more suspected in State Property Fund criminal organization case

NABU and SAPO have announced new suspicions in the case of a criminal organization led by the former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. The new suspicions concern four individuals involved in the legalization of property obtained through criminal activity.

According to the investigation, the suspects established companies abroad to launder illicit proceeds and used them to purchase various assets.

These include land plots in Croatia, luxury vehicles, and an entire floor of apartments in a residential building in the United Arab Emirates, among other assets.

The total value of the legalized property exceeds UAH 300 million.

The identification of additional participants in the scheme became possible through the work of a joint investigative team with several European countries.

As a reminder, on 22 March 2023, NABU and SAPO exposed two episodes of the criminal organization’s activities.

The first concerned corruption at the Odesa Port Plant (99.56% of its shares are state-owned).

At the beginning of 2020, the then head of the State Property Fund secured the appointment of loyal members to the plant’s supervisory board, who subsequently approved the appointment of a member of the criminal organization as the plant’s director.

From May 2020 to October 2021, the suspects unlawfully extended contracts with a controlled LLC to process gas into urea and ammonia, enabling payments for services at artificially reduced prices.

When the risk of exposure arose, they organized a tender for the supply of tolling raw materials, which was deliberately disrupted in order to conclude a contract with a pre-selected company.

As a result, the Odesa Port Plant lost more than UAH 600 million.

The second episode concerns the United Mining and Chemical Company (100% state-owned through the State Property Fund).

The investigation established that in 2020–2021, four contracts were concluded for the sale of ilmenite concentrate at below-market prices to a controlled company.

The products were subsequently resold at market prices, including to enterprises in the russian federation and to the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.

This caused the state losses exceeding UAH 111 million.

The total number of suspects in the aforementioned activities of the criminal organization currently stands at 15 individuals. In respect of one person, the court has approved a plea agreement.

As a result of the joint investigative team’s activities — involving NABU detectives, SAPO prosecutors, and law enforcement representatives from EU countries — a number of assets belonging to members of the criminal organization have been seized, including premium-class vehicles, jewelry, and a yacht.

Significant investigative results were also achieved through effective international cooperation with the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the U.S. Department of Justice, Homeland Security Investigations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as well as through work within a joint investigative team with several European countries and with the support of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.

NABU and SAPO are taking measures to locate suspects who are evading justice and are establishing additional episodes of the criminal organization’s activities and other potential participants.