Detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine together with the Security Service of Ukraine exposed another large-scale scheme of misappropriation of funds of PJSC Ukrtatnafta. A former member of the Supervisory board and business partner of Ihor Kolomoyskyi is suspected of illegally withdrawing almost UAH 600 million from Ukrtatnafta's accounts.

The investigation found that on the first day of the war February 24, 2022 the top management of PJSC Ukrtatnafta transferred almost UAH 600 million to a European company controlled by the company which was supposed to be paid to another company for 84 thousand tons of crude oil already paid. At the time of the scheme the oil was in the port of Odesa and was to be delivered for further processing at the Kremenchuk refinery. The basis for the withdrawal of funds abroad was a fictitious contract similar to the one signed with the real supplier with changed payment recipient details.

Thus, the funds were transferred to a controlled European company instead of paying the real oil supplier.

Based on the collected evidence a suspicion was served to Mykhailo Kiperman, a former member of the supervisory board of Ukrtatnafta and the actual owner of a non-resident company to which almost UAH 600 million was transferred.

The suspect was served a notice of suspicion under Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office) Part 1 of Art. 200 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal actions with transfer documents, payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money, equipment for their production) and Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (forgery).

According to the information available to the investigation Mykhailo Kiperman is hiding from justice abroad so the issue of putting him on the international wanted list is being decided. Law enforcement officers are also establishing all the circumstances of the crime and the full range of people involved in the illegal activity.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings is carried out by detectives of the Economic Security Bureau with the operational support of the Security Service of Ukraine and procedural guidance of prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's office.

As previously reported, detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine together with the Security Service of Ukraine exposed large-scale schemes of misappropriation of UAH 40 billion by former owners and top management of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta. The criminal proceedings document 10 episodes of criminal activity: transfer of large batches of oil products to affiliated companies, tax evasion, creation of bad debts of oil refineries which led to impairment and reduction of the value of their assets.

As of the beginning of June Ukrtatnafta's management transferred to the budget more than UAH 1.2 billion in taxes unpaid by the company's former management.

Note: Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved by law and established by a court verdict of guilty.