The National Anti-Corruption Bureau put Andrei Dovbenko on the wanted list, who was called the “supervisor” of the Ministry of Justice .
According to NABU , Dovbenko is the organizer of a criminal group exposed for fraud with seized property transferred to the management of ARMA.
According to the investigation, during 2017–2018 he proposed to the head of ARMA to introduce a corruption scheme for the sale of seized property. As a person who, for several years, had an indirect influence on the formation and implementation of the state legal policy of the Ministry of Justice, ARMU itself, and SE Setam, the organizer was well aware of the specifics of this area of the agency’s activities.
NABU states that Dovbenko developed a plan that included establishing control over all stages: from the moment of transfer of material evidence to ARMA to their sale at a reduced cost on a controlled trading platform to controlled companies.
The head of ARMA, according to the investigation, accepted Dovbenko’s offer. Among other things, he ensured the adoption of the necessary regulatory framework, which made it possible to create the appearance of legality for the manipulation of seized property in the interests of organized crime groups.
One of them was a competition to select a trading platform, under the terms of which only one structure could win - SE SETAM, whose general director was also recruited by the organizer to join the organized crime group. He could ensure the holding of electronic auctions for the purpose of selling material evidence at reduced prices, under which he could create conditions for the victory of predetermined legal entities.
Participants in an organized crime group of four people, together with seven other identified participants in the scheme, successfully implemented a corruption scheme to sell seized property at a reduced cost at least four times during 2019:
- the sale of three land plots in the Odessa region, acquired at one time for the construction of shopping centers of the Auchan chain, was sold 18 times cheaper than the market value;
- sale of 2.6 thousand tons of medium and fine river sand in the Kyiv region - undervaluation by more than 6 times compared to the market;
- sale of more than 4.5 thousand tons of urea - almost 5 times cheaper than market prices;
- sale of grain, cereals and oilseeds is four times cheaper than market value.
According to preliminary estimates, the damage caused in these four episodes amounted to UAH 426 million. However, the examination clarified its size and now amounts to UAH 485 million.
