Female lawyer to stand trial over 70 million UAH scheme

 An attorney in Odesa is set to stand trial on charges of illegally seizing 30% of the corporate rights of an enterprise that owns a grain elevator. The value of this share is nearly 70 million UAH.

The investigation established that the woman had long provided legal services in the agribusiness sector and was well acquainted with the enterprise's co-owners, its structure, and the specifics of carrying out registration actions.

However, while the legitimate owner of the 30% corporate rights was abroad, the other co-owner—together with the suspect—executed a scheme to re-register his share.

The grain elevator itself is located in the Sumy region. To execute the scheme, the enterprise was re-registered in Odesa. For this purpose, documents were used regarding a purported general meeting that, in reality, never took place.

Subsequently, the legitimate owner of the 30% share was excluded from the company's participants. The corporate rights were initially re-registered to a foreign company and later transferred to the other co-founder. As a result, he became the owner of 100% of the enterprise, which has a charter capital of 270 million UAH.

However, thanks to the measures taken by ESBU detectives, the 30% corporate rights—valued at nearly 70 million UAH—were returned to the legitimate owner. The court confirmed the legality of the order issued by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, which canceled the unlawful registration actions regarding the change of the company's owners.

The attorney is charged with introducing and submitting false data for state registration, as well as the unlawful seizure of a company share using forged documents under Part 2 of Article 205-1 and Part 3 of Article 206-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The indictment has been forwarded to the court.

The suspect faces 5 to 10 years of imprisonment, a ban on holding certain positions or engaging in certain activities for up to three years, and the confiscation of property.

The pretrial investigation and operational support were carried out by detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Odesa region. Procedural guidance was provided by prosecutors of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court's guilty verdict.