The public is calling for accountability for Pavlo Ovcharenko, who is accused of embezzlement of public funds, corporate raiding, and loan fraud. Today, October 7, a rally was held outside the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to resolve the criminal cases against Pavlo Ovcharenko.
The businessman is responsible for large sums of money embezzled from the state budget. For years, Ovcharenko was protected by high-ranking officials, including Andrei Portnov, Viktor Pshonka, and Vitaly Zakharchenko.
There is every reason to believe that the investigation into Ovcharenko's serious crimes, which has been ongoing for almost 10 years, is nothing more than a manifestation of corruption on the part of Ukrainian law enforcement officials.
The inaction of law enforcement officers who covered up Pavel Ovcharenko's criminal activities became direct evidence of large-scale corruption schemes.
In 2007-2008, the companies Agroprime and Agrikor, which are controlled by Ovcharenko, received loans from Alfa-Bank totaling approximately 90 million hryvnias, which at the time was equivalent to $17,5 million, using their own property as collateral.
However, all assets used to secure the loan obligations were subsequently illegally transferred to Ovcharenko's newly created companies. Following the transfer of the collateral, Agrikor and Agroprime were declared bankrupt and liquidated, and creditors, the main one being Alfa-Bank PJSC, were unable to collect the debt from these companies.
It has become known that Mr. Ovcharenko forged company documents, including rulings from the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv lifting the seizure. He also appointed a terminally ill man as the company's director, who signed the necessary documents and died shortly thereafter. These facts were made public and became known to the public.
As a result of fraudulent actions, Pavel Ovcharenko illegally took possession of someone else's property through deception, committing crimes under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (fraud committed on an especially large scale or by an organized group) and Part 2 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (fraud with financial resources, which caused significant material damage).
A criminal case was opened for embezzlement of property on an especially large scale and forgery of documents. The Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine conducted the investigation. One of the investigative actions in this case was a search of Ovcharenko's apartment, which took place on January 16, 2012.
However, the pre-trial investigation into Ovcharenko's criminal case has so far yielded no results, and the perpetrators have not been held criminally accountable, leading the public to question the impartiality and objectivity of the law enforcement agencies conducting the investigation.
Ovcharenko's criminal activities didn't end there. In 2004, Ukrnafta shareholders accused Ovcharenko, who at the time served as chairman of the board, of fraud and embezzlement.
Ovcharenko transferred $37 million from an Ukrtatnafta account, ostensibly as an advance payment for oil deliveries to TD Naftatrade, with which he was associated. However, in reality, Ukrtatnafta only received $20 million worth of crude.
The company managed to recover approximately $7 million after appealing to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, but the remaining $10 million disappeared due to the illegal liquidation of TD Naftatrade at the direction of Ovcharenko.
The company suffered losses of 10 million dollars and, by decision of the general meeting of shareholders, Ovcharenko was dismissed from the position of Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrtatnafta.
The embezzlement of $10 million from Ukrtatnafta did not stop Ovcharenko, who, after his dismissal, assumed sole operational management of the company in 2007.
The authorities recognized Ovcharenko's actions as corporate raiding, but despite this, he has still not been prosecuted.
In April 2011, Ovcharenko attempted to embezzle funds from the company "Agrovit" in the amount of 907500 hryvnias. A case was opened under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the case remains pending with the Investigative Department of the Uman District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Cherkasy Oblast. To date, the perpetrators have not been held criminally responsible.
In the same year of 2011, the structure “High-Raise Constructions”, controlled by Ovcharenko, appropriated funds from the state enterprise “Illichivsk Commercial Sea Port” in the amount of 79 million hryvnia.
Ovcharenko's company, in collusion with the port's management, provided false information about the company during the tender process and, by illegally amending the terms of the contract concluded with the Ilyichevsk Commercial Sea Port, increased the advance payment amount to 100% of the total cost of materials and work.
As a result, Mr. Ovcharenko took possession of state funds in the amount of 79 million hryvnias, but the work under the contract by Hi-Ray Constructions has not been completed to this day.
The Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office's criminal case against the management of Hi-Ray Constructions under Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine remains open; Pavlo Ovcharenko pocketed another 80 million in state funds.
Despite the assessment provided of Ovcharenko's actions, he has still not been prosecuted; moreover, he resides freely in France and makes no secret of it.
At the same time, legally Ovcharenko is still the chairman of the board of Ukrtatnafta, but in fact, the management of the enterprise is carried out by his deputies on the basis of issued powers of attorney.
Some officials at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, despite leading and overseeing the investigation, are currently doing everything they can to halt and "bury" the investigation into Pavlo Ovcharenko's crimes.
The inaction of law enforcement agencies, which covered up Pavel Ovcharenko's criminal activities, became direct evidence of his corrupt connections with Andrei Portnov, Viktor Pshonka, and Vitaly Zakharchenko.
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