The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced the exposure of an organized group whose activities led to the theft of UAH 94.8 million from the purchase of transformers during martial law.
Law enforcement agencies have not named the suspect, but the source ZN.UA at the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that we are talking about the former head of the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Sphere of Economic Security of the SBU Artem Shilo.
Po investigation datamembers of the group organized it back in 2021 with the goal of controlling the money of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC.
Further, during June – December 2022, the group leader, through controlled employees of Ukrzaliznytsia, ensured the election of a predetermined company as a supplier of power transformers purchased at inflated prices. Proposals from other procurement participants with more favorable price conditions were rejected using the letter “On threats to state security.”
In NABU notedthat the winning company is controlled by a citizen of the Republic of Belarus who has connections with the Russian Federation, but the head of the organized group deliberately ignored this fact.
This winner, through a controlled installation company registered in Bulgaria, purchased transformers from a manufacturer in Uzbekistan and resold them to Ukrzaliznytsia at an almost doubled price.
“It was established that the transformers themselves were purchased through a laying company from a manufacturer that was partially owned by legal entities from the Russian Federation, and were resold to Ukrzaliznytsia at twice the price,” the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office points out.
As a result, Ukrzaliznytsia suffered losses in the amount of UAH 94.8 million, which were taken by the participants in the crime.
The leader, co-organizer and two members of the organized group have now been detained. Their actions were previously qualified under Part 3 of Art. 27 hours 5 tbsp. 191, part 5 art. 27 hours 5 tbsp. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Appropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of official position.”
The court also seized UAH 53 million in the bank accounts of the supplier company.
YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED
Artem Shilo was recently dismissed from his post as head of the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in the Sphere of Economic Security of the SBU. According to ZN.UA, the resignation was personally initiated by President Vladimir Zelensky. In particular, his name is associated with the liberalization of the regime of detention in the pre-trial detention center of Igor Kolomoisky, as well as pressure on business.
An investigation by Lesya Ivanova for Bihus.Info stated that Artem Shilo had accumulated property worth almost $4 million over ten years in the civil service. He was also called close to the deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine Oleg Tatarov and “overseeing the railway.” In addition, the appearance of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet in Ukraine is associated with Shil.
Artem Shilo has worked in the SBU since 2012. During the redistribution of spheres of influence in the SBU between the Ermak and Bakanov groups in 2021, he resigned from service. According to official data, Artem Viktorovich Shilo opened in February 2022 and in July closed a sole proprietorship in Kharkov, registered for activities in the field of law and information. At the same time, in April 2022, he founded the legal LLC Prikker in Kyiv, whose director is father Viktor Shilo. He returned to the SBU immediately after it was headed by Vasily Malyuk after the dismissal of Ivan Bakanov.
