The case against Pavelko has been referred to court over the embezzlement of 26.5 million hryvnias
Prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General have formally filed an indictment against the president and the secretary general of the Ukrainian Football Association.
The high-ranking officials are accused of embezzling budget funds during the construction of a factory to produce artificial turf for soccer fields.
The investigation established that between 2016 and 2017, the officials devised and implemented a corruption scheme related to the procurement of equipment for an infrastructure project.
Other individuals were also involved in the criminal activity, facilitating price inflation and document forgery.
As a result of these schemes, the Ukrainian Football Association suffered financial losses totaling 26.5 million UAH. Additionally, law enforcement uncovered evidence of subsequent money laundering through foreign financial instruments.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General: “Approximately 15 million hryvnias were transferred to the accounts of a controlled company registered abroad.”
These funds were effectively stolen from the Ukrainian football budget and laundered through shell companies.
The actions of the UAF president and general secretary have been classified under Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The charges involve the misappropriation of another person’s property on a particularly large scale through abuse of official position and money laundering.
Former President of the Ukrainian Association of Football Andriy Pavelko has been added to the list of wanted persons.
As a reminder, Pavelko won a case against Ukraine in the European Court of Justice.
An audit also revealed the disappearance of 1.7 billion hryvnias from the UAF during Pavelo’s presidency.
