According to the case materials, the organizer of the scheme for the illegal privatization of the oil pipeline was ex-People's Deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected by the SBU of high treason. He began its implementation in 2015 and acted in strict coordination with the then top political leadership of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) have collected a large-scale evidence base that proves the illegality of the privatization of the state-owned Samara-Western oil pipeline in 2015, the SBU press service reports.
Now suspicion has been reported to ex-People's Deputy Viktor Medvedchuk and four representatives of the former top management of Prykarpatzapadtrans, who took possession and managed the oil pipeline.
According to the crimes committed, under the procedural leadership of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Kharkov Regional Prosecutor's Office, suspicion was declared under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 3 Art. 27, part 3 art. 28, part 3 art. 365-2 (abuse of powers by persons providing public services);
- Part 3 Art. 27, part 3 art. 28, part 2 art. 384 (misleading a court or other authorized body);
- Part 3 Art. 27, part 5 art. 191 (seizure of someone else’s property by an official abusing his official position, committed on an especially large scale by an organized group);
- Part 3 Art. 27, part 3 art. 209 (organization of the acquisition, possession and use of funds as a result of the commission of a socially dangerous illegal act that preceded the legalization (laundering) of income, committed by an organized group and on a particularly large scale).
According to the case materials, the organizer of the illegal privatization scheme was ex-People's Deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected of high treason by the SBU. According to available data, he began its implementation in 2015 and acted in strict coordination with the then top political leadership of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
Medvedchuk involved third parties in the scheme, who later received management positions at the enterprise that “privatized” the said oil pipeline.
As evidenced by production materials, the oil product pipeline “Samara-Western direction” remained the property of Russia after the collapse of the USSR. Since 2005, Ukraine has been proving its right to own it through the courts, and only in 2014-2015 this right was confirmed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Economic Court. However, with the support of the then top leadership of Ukraine, Medvedchuk managed to overturn this decision through the Rivne Economic Court and formalize the sale of the oil product pipeline to a Swiss company, which was actually controlled by the participants in the scheme.
After taking possession of the “pipe,” Medvedchuk and his accomplices ensured its operation through the PrikarpatZapadtrans enterprise, and the proceeds were transferred to the accounts of affiliated foreign companies and distributed among themselves.
The relevant information is supported by evidence at the disposal of NABU and the SBU, as well as the testimony of Viktor Medvedchuk himself, which was voluntarily and with the knowledge of what was said, provided to him for exchange with the Russian Federation.
Since May 2019, the pumping of diesel through the oil pipeline has been blocked for its return to state ownership, and law enforcement agencies have been investigating the legality of privatization. In January 2024, the Supreme Court of Ukraine finally recognized the Ukrainian part of the oil pipeline as state property.
The pre-trial investigation is currently ongoing. A set of measures is being carried out to bring suspects who are abroad to justice, and the circle of everyone involved in this illegal transaction is being established.
