A criminal case was opened against the management of the Sheriff company for embezzlement of public funds, but the company will continue to receive money from the budget
The defendants may face from 5 to 8 years in prison.
The Pechersk district police department of Kyiv opened criminal proceedings on the fact of possible damage to the state in the amount of 420 thousand UAH (Article 191 part 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) by the well-known security company from Kyiv “Sheriff”.
The Office of the Attorney General and the Bureau of Economic Security opened criminal proceedings on the same episode. The management of “Sheriff” is charged with “Misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of official position.” For this, the perpetrators may be punished with imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to 3 years.
At the same time, journalists admit that companies from the Sheriff group of companies violate labor laws, pay workers minimum wages or even less and, accordingly, do not pay additional taxes to the budget of the warring Ukrainian state.
The case concerns security services under an agreement concluded on November 10, 2023, based on the results of a tender, which the private enterprise company “Sheriff-Zashchita” must provide to the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” at 54 forestry facilities in the Khmelnitsky, Chernivtsi and Ternopil regions for 1 year. Services should cost 42 million 365 thousand 472 hryvnia. The minimum requirement for such work is at least 162 security guards on staff, but the company officially had 33 of them on staff (according to tax data at the beginning of 2023, and in March 2024, “Sheriff” indicated only 107 full-time employees).
In February 2024, the XM-Inside news agency noted that no guards were identified at the posts where services were to be provided under this tender: referring to inspections of several points in the Khmelnytsky district by activists.
After this publication by journalists, the cost of work under the contract decreased from 42 million 365 thousand 472 UAH to 16 million 565 thousand 210 UAH due to a decrease in the volume of work.
However, problems with security for this tender and an insufficient number of full-time employees did not stop the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” from concluding a new contract for the security of objects with the private enterprise “Sheriff-Zashchita” on April 4, 2024 in the amount of 48 million 754 thousand 882 UAH. This time we are talking about the protection of forestry enterprises in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Transcarpathian regions. Budget services must be provided until the end of 2024.
In 2020, the PE firm Regional Security Union, headed by Development Director of the Sheriff holding Roman Pavlyuk, was already suspected of causing damage to the state. The pre-trial investigation established that the contractor did not provide security services to the municipal enterprise of the Kyiv City Council “Kyivteploenergo” for a total amount of more than UAH 1.7 million, which is confirmed by the findings of the examinations. The owner of the Sheriff holding, Dmitry Strizhov, was then a deputy of the Kiev City Council. However, in 2022 the case was closed due to the statute of limitations.
Despite million-dollar state tenders, journalists learned that in 2024 Strizhov plans to reduce the line of business for the collection of funds, transportation of currency and other valuables - the Sheriff Collection private enterprise, owned by his wife Marina Strizhova.
“Sheriff Collection” has a license from the NBU, however, according to the new legislation, all beneficial owners and top management of such companies become accountable for the rest of their lives in the same way as deputies (PEP).
