SAPO sent the corruption case of Sergei Belashov to court

He is accused of embezzling more than UAH 206 million from Ukrzaliznytsia JSC.

The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office sent to court an indictment against two defendants in the case of misappropriation of more than UAH 206 million from Ukrzaliznytsia JSC.

This was reported by the SAPO press service.

“On June 12, 2024, the SAPO prosecutor, based on the materials of the NABU pre-trial investigation, sent to the court an indictment against two participants in the criminal scheme - one of the managers of the branch “Production Support Center” of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (position indicated at the time of the crime) and the actual owner of the company - suppliers accused of abuses that caused damage to Ukrzaliznytsia JSC for more than UAH 206 million (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine),” the authority informs.

Let us remind you that NABU and SAPO reported suspicion to the deputy of the Poltava Regional Council Sergei Belashov.

According to investigators, he was involved in the misappropriation of almost 204 million UAH from the Production Support Center branch of Ukrzaliznytsia.

NABU detectives found that from December 2016 to January 2020, officials of the Production Support Center branch of Ukrzaliznytsia, in collusion with representatives of gas companies, organized gas purchases bypassing tender procedures.

According to investigators, participants in the scheme agreed on an additional markup on gas supplies, which at different periods ranged from 200 to 1,000 UAH per 1,000 cubic meters.

At the same time, Ukrzaliznytsia officials deliberately hid the favorable price offers that came from gas market participants, in fact giving an advantage to two companies. The bribes received were distributed among a wide range of participants in the criminal conspiracy.

The owner of the supplier company, Sergei Belashov, was detained; at the request of a NABU detective, agreed upon by the SAPO prosecutor, the investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, on June 11, 2023, a preventive measure was applied to him in the form of 60 days of detention with an alternative bail of 30 million UAH.

In this case, Vladimir Skorodinsky, the former head of the fuel warehouse accounting department of the petroleum product accounting and warehousing department of the Central Water Resources Branch of UZ, has already signed an agreement to plead guilty.

On April 7, 2023, HACS approved the agreement and sentenced him to suspended imprisonment for a period of 5 years with probation for 2 years.

He was also fined UAH 17 thousand and ordered to pay UAH 2 million in damages.

Suspicion in this case was also reported to the former director of the CZV branch, Vitaly Tsvigun.