Until recently, the ex-head of the SBU “I” department, Artem Shilo, led the most high-profile cases against Ukrainian business, and now he may go to jail. For almost two years, NABU has been investigating a possible corruption scheme worth UAH 95 million at Ukrzaliznytsia, which Shila is suspected of organizing. What is the essence of the matter and which other top SBU and UkrP officers were detained by law enforcement officers?
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On April 2, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) detained Artem Shila, the former head of the SBU department investigating cases against businesses, and a former adviser to the President’s Office.
Together with his accomplices, in 2021, Shilo allegedly created an organized group that took possession of UAH 95 million during the purchase of power transformers for Ukrzaliznytsia in June-December 2022. NABU investigators suspect that Shilo contributed to winning a tender for the supply of transformers to UZ, a company controlled by a citizen of Belarus with connections to the Russian Federation. The names of the suspects and the name of the supplier were not provided.
Shilo is suspected of crimes under parts 191 of Article of the Criminal Code (seizure of state property using official position). If convicted, he could face 7-12 years behind bars.
This is a unique case, because there have been no investigations where representatives of the SBU appear as co-organizers of the scheme, says Vadim Valko, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Center (ACC). The Shila case is one of the most significant detentions of Ukrainian Security Service officials in history, says Yuriy Nikolov, editor of the Our Money website.
