we demand punishment for the real culprits of the technological catastrophe at the storage depot in Hlevaha

Національний рівень, 15.01.2016 Центр Протидії Корупції – громадська організація, яка об’єднує експертів з юридичного, медійного та громадсько-політичного секторів.
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LATEST NEWS OF THE CASE:

The “Anti Corruption Action Centre” team demands a more active investigation into the large-scale fire at the storage depot in Hlevaha, near Kyiv, and to punish the real culprits of the technological catastrophe. According to journalists, the fugitive minister Eduard Stavytsky owns the petrol base and AZS “BRSM-Nafta” network, although in the investigation documents his name is nowhere to be found. So we turned to the Prosecutor General, outraged that six months after the fire, the owner has not been investigated as a suspect in this crime.

BOTTOM LINE:

“Our Money” writes, that following the enormous fire the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated criminal proceedings identified as case №12015110140000881. The case was opened based on facts that showed violations of safety procedures for companies that deal with flammable materials, the safe operation of facilities, and the marketing of unsafe products (st. 227, Part 2 of Art. 273 and Part 2 of Art. 275 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). GPU prosecutor Eugene Shablin oversaw procedural guidance.

It has taken six months, and the case has stayed in that same spot. Pre-trial investigations have been carried out with bias and have not been aimed at punishing the real culprits of this man-made disaster that killed six people and caused immense environmental damage.

The investigators have already found that the company “Pobutrembudmaterialy” (depot holder), LLC “BRSM-Nafta” (old depot user), Ltd “Park Trans” and Ltd “UkrTransOil-2009” (last tenant of the oil depot) used the oil depot since 2010 without any permits, particularly with regard to operations. There is also a possibility that “Pobutrembudmaterialy” received 1.2 hectares of property near the oil depot illegally since the State Bank mortgaged both the plot and some buildings of the depot.

Фото: РБК-Україна

Фото: РБК-Україна

The pre-trial investigation also found that four companies violated safety regulations while using the oil depot. However, journalists did not find claims against “Pobutrembudmaterialiy” and “BRSM-Nafta”, both owned by Stavytsky, rather there was an administrative claim against the chief engineer of “Pobutrembudmaterialiy”, which the court fined him a measly 340 UAH for minor violations.

Instead, fire chief Olexiy Nikolayenko, who immediately put out the fire, named the following reasons for the tragedy:

Obviously, there were gross violations, specifically by the “Pobutrembudmaterialy” company, who, as the owner of the depot should have taken into account all the regulations in the construction of the facility. However, for some reason the investigation focused on the structures under the tenant who received the depot with a various disorders.

In particular, the suspects in the violation of safety rules that resulted in the explosion were Yuri Yuzhanin of “Park Trans” and Deputy Director of “Ukrtransoil-2009”, Yuri Shkvyrya. They spent their summer under house arrest and face up to ten years in prison. That makes them guilty of the spilled fuel on the oil depot due to poor conditions of the equipment that resulted in a fire.

The owners of LLC “Pobutrembudmaterialy” and “BRSM-Nafta” were not asked any questions by the investigators. Who are these people? The founders of the company “Pobutrembudmaterialy” are: son of the former MP of the Regions, Andriy Biba and Valentyna Ushakova –Eduard Stavytsky ’s mother-in-law. Moreover, Ushakov and Biba were previous co-founders of LLC “BRSM-Nafta”. Read “Our Money’s” archives for more information about the tangle of offshore companies related to the oil storage depot in Hlevaha and how Stavytsky is involved.

LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE CASE:

Given the above facts, we:

  1. Appealed to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine V. Shokin, demanding an independent inquiry into the crime and checking the procedural head in these proceedings.
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