The National Police has served suspicion notices to members of a criminal group that embezzled UAH 5.8 billion from one of Ukraine's largest oil refineries.
According to the National Police's website, the case involves former senior officials of the company and six people whose names were used to register affiliated companies.
According to the police, the fraud was organised by the former chairman of the company's board. In 2017, the defendant created a criminal organisation, which involved two subordinates - his deputy and the head of one of the company's departments - as well as a number of entrepreneurs.
In accordance with the plan, the entrepreneurs registered ‘schemes’ of companies controlled by the organiser, after which they entered into contracts with the corporation for the supply of oil products. The amounts of signed agreements for the shipment of fuel ranged from one million to one billion hryvnias.
The organiser knew that no payment for the fuel would be made under any of the contracts, so he instructed his subordinates to sign official papers on behalf of the oil refinery company. The company's employees also signed additional agreements, including agreements on deferred payment for fuel already shipped.
The investigation established that, according to the charter, the organiser of the transaction did not have the authority to enter into such expensive contracts and fulfil their terms. All transactions worth more than UAH 10 million could only be made with the consent of the company's board.
Under the terms of one of the contracts for the sale and purchase of oil products, the oil refining company supplied the customer with fuel worth a total of UAH 948.5 million. However, the company did not even plan to pay for the high-quality products.
‘The fraudsters sold the resulting petroleum products through the networks of controlled petrol stations and other fuel distributors in different regions of Ukraine. In the period from 2017 to 2022, the criminals used the described scheme to seize the fuel of the oil refining corporation, the total value of which was more than UAH 5,800,000,000,’ the National Police said.
The law enforcement officers conducted 58 searches at the residences of the suspects and in the offices of the controlled companies in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Chernihiv Regions. As a result of the operation, the law enforcement seized documents, computer equipment and ‘draft’ records.
The criminals were served a notice of suspicion of misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office, if committed on a particularly large scale or by an organised group.
The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv seized securities accounts of a French investment company related to the main defendant and corporate rights to a number of enterprises. The total amount of the seized assets is over UAH 2.9 billion.
The defendants face up to 12 years in prison.