Former Director of State-Owned Enterprise Charged in Connection with Corn Sale
Law enforcement officials have notified a former director of a state-owned enterprise and a private entrepreneur that they are suspects in a case involving the illegal sale of 990 metric tons of corn at an undervalued price. According to the investigation, the scheme caused the state losses of nearly 5 million hryvnias, and state-owned land was effectively used by a private entity under the guise of providing agricultural services.
As established by operatives from the National Police’s Department of Strategic Investigations and investigators from the Kyiv Regional Police Investigation Department, instead of leasing state-owned land in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law, an official of the state-owned enterprise entered into a contract with a private company for the performance of agricultural work. Formally, the private company was supposed to provide services only, but in reality, it obtained the use of a 185.4-hectare plot of land belonging to the state-owned enterprise. Subsequently, it also purchased a corn harvest from the state-owned enterprise at an undervalued price.
Although the average market price at the time of sale was 7,222.22 UAH (including VAT) per metric ton of corn, the director of the state-owned enterprise sold 990 metric tons of the harvest to the private company at a price of 5,525 UAH including VAT. As a result, the state-owned enterprise lost over 5 million UAH in profit. The money obtained through criminal means was spent at their own discretion. For example, the head of the private company purchased a Lexus LX 500D for himself.
Based on the evidence gathered, the former director of the state-owned enterprise and the head of the private company were notified of suspicions under Part 5 of Article 191 (Embezzlement, misappropriation, or acquisition of property through abuse of official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The latter’s actions were also additionally classified under Part 1 of Article 209 (Legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
As part of the pretrial investigation, other instances of unlawful activity by the suspects are being examined.
The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office is overseeing the criminal proceedings.
This was reported by the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police of Ukraine.
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