An organised group headed by a former adviser to the Presidential Office of Ukraine has been exposed for embezzling UAH 94.8 million in the purchase of transformers for Ukrzaliznytsya. This was reported by the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
According to LB.ua's sources, the person in question is Artem Shylo, who was a deputy head of the SBU's Department for the Protection of National Statehood and later headed the department. The information that it was Shylo was confirmed by interlocutors of investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov. Shylo was fired from his post as head of the SBU's Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Countering Terrorist Financing in March 2024, Forbes reported, citing three sources.
According to the investigation, the organised group was created in 2021 to control the funds of Ukrzaliznytsya.
Between June and December 2022, the organiser of the scheme, through controlled officials of Ukrzaliznytsya, ensured that a predetermined company was selected as a supplier of power transformers.
"The transformers were supplied at an inflated price. The letter "Regarding threats to state security" was used as a basis for rejecting the proposals of other bidders with much more favourable price conditions. At the same time, the head of the group deliberately ignored the citizenship of the controller of the company that 'won' the tender and his ties to Russia," the SAPO said.
It has been established that the transformers themselves were purchased through a shell company from a manufacturer partially owned by legal entities from Russia and resold to Ukrzaliznytsya at twice the price.
As a result, Ukrzaliznytsya suffered losses of UAH 94.8 million, which were seized by the offenders. The NABU noted that thanks to the actions of detectives and prosecutors, the court seized UAH 53 million in the bank accounts of the supplier company.
The leader, co-organiser and two members of the organised group have been detained.
Who is Artem Shylo?
Since 2012, Artem Shylo has worked for the SBU. At first, in Kharkiv, and since 2016, in Kyiv, in the Department for Combating Cybercrime. However, the media often linked this department to pressure on business.
In 2021, Shylo left the SBU, and, according to media reports, he became a freelance adviser to the Prosecutor General's Office. In August 2022, Artem returned to the SBU and immediately headed the newly created Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Countering Terrorist Financing. It is abbreviated as the Main Department "I".
He was involved in investigations into his family's wealth. Shylo was accused of having ties to the Russian gambling business, then linked to influence on Ukrzaliznytsya, and then to Oleh Tatarov, who is still the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Nashi Hroshi wrote.