APPEAL THE CLOSING OF THE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE KATSUBA BROTHERS, WHO ARE INVOLVED IN THE THEFT OF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF HRYVNIA

Національний рівень, 12.05.2016 Центр Протидії Корупції – громадська організація, яка об’єднує експертів з юридичного, медійного та громадсько-політичного секторів.
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LATEST NEWS IN THE CASE:

The “Anti Corruption Action Center” wants to know on what basis did the Prosecutor General’s Office close the criminal proceedings against the Katsubа brothers, who are suspected of embezzling public funds on a large scale. Turned to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) about this issue.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Recall, the Katsubа brothers, Serhiy and Olexandr, were both involved in proceedings under case №32014000000000025, which was carried out by The Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation revealed that one of the Katsuba’s, holding the position of deputy chairman of “Naftogaz Ukraine”, signed off on work orders worth 285 million UAH for the alleged 3D seismic work on Palace Square (Black Sea shelf).

The funds were transferred to Ltd. “Universal Commercial Partnership”, who on the audit appeared to be a fictitious company, registered under a falsified person. However, this fictitious company performed no work and there wasn’t any special equipment or specialists found. Ltd. “Universal Commercial Society” transferred large sums of money to the accounts of businesses, one of which was fictitious; actually the received funds were derived from conversion centers and converted into cash.

According to the investigators, the organizor of the criminal schemes was Serhiy Katsuba, who held the deputy head post of “Naftogaz Ukraine” until 2012. However, Oleksandr Katsuba, who replaced Serhiy at the same position, implemented the criminal schemes.

On September 25 th , 2015, in agreement with the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, who conducted procedural management in the criminal proceedings, the Katsuba’s were reported as suspects in committing a series of crimes. In a “strange” coincidence, on that same day Oleksandr Katsuba boarded a flight from Kyiv, Ukraine to Nice and his brother Serhiy Katsuba, on September 27 th , left Kyiv, Ukraine on a flight to Bordum. On October 1 st , after making sure the Katsuba brothers were in a safe place, the GPU announced an international search.

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Despite a number of investigations (court issued 61 rulings: temporary access to objects and documents, the seizure of property and the seizure of a preventative measure in the form of detention, etc, which to some extent shows the activity of the implementation of the pre-trial investigation), the Prosecutor General’s Office decided to close the №32014000000000025 criminal proceedings because they saw no offense. Thus, despite the collected evidence base that directly indicates the damages brought onto the state and the embezzlement of budgeted funds of nearly a half a billion UAH (284,4m UAH + 203,6m UAH), the GPU did not notice any illegal actions of the fugitives.

It is safe to assume that the person who closed the proceedings based on the interests of the Katsuba brothers committed a crime because the hefty financial losses incurred by the state will not be reimbursed. Moreover, the GPU officials provided the basis for the subsequent withdrawal of funds from the arrested bank accounts of the Katsuba brothers, which transferred funds collected from the crime.

In addition, the Katsuba family is related to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov. Thus, the participants of Ltd. Scientific and Production Company “Tehproekt”, which is controlled by Serhiy Katsuba, is a Panamanian company called Marko Development S.A. The registered address of the company and its Panamanian directors is the same as the Kingston Group S.A., which on its account is Ihor Kotvitskyy, a deputy and ally of Avakov, who transferred an outrageous $40m.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE CASE:

Given the above, the Centre Team:

  1. Appealed to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) with an application of the crime regarding the closing of the criminal proceedings based on the interests of Katsuba, S.V. and Katsuba O.V. In a letter dated 07.04.16, NABU answered that it is initiating familiarization with the application and that the results would be announced.
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