A former State Reserve official was sentenced to six years in prison for systematically extorting bribes
The former head of a department within the State Reserve Agency of Ukraine has been found guilty of extorting and receiving large-scale bribes.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
According to the court’s decision, the corrupt official will spend six years behind bars, with all of his property subject to full confiscation.
Prosecutors from the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office fully proved in court that the official organized a scheme to receive monthly “kickbacks” from a private company.
In addition to the prison term, he was barred from holding positions of responsibility in government agencies for two years.
The story began in January 2022, when a state-owned enterprise in the Stryi district leased warehouse space to a mineral fertilizer manufacturer.
The tenant planned to use the space to store equipment and finished products legally.
However, the convicted official later made illegal demands on the businessmen for additional cash payments for every square meter of leased space.
In addition, the official demanded $10 for every ton of fertilizer shipped from the enterprise’s warehouses.
The total amount of the monthly “tax” that the entrepreneur was required to pay reached 200,000 hryvnias.
The perpetrator acted brazenly, openly threatening to create artificial obstacles to the company’s operations and to terminate the existing lease agreement in case of refusal.
“In case of refusal to pay, he threatened to create obstacles to the renewal of the lease agreement and the shipment of products from the warehouses,” law enforcement officials note in the investigation materials.
The criminal activity was successfully halted in October 2022 thanks to a joint operation by the prosecutor’s office and the police.
The official was detained immediately after receiving another installment of the illicit benefit he had demanded from the tenants.
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