Case description
The HACC found the defendants guilty in the “Silk Road” case of embezzling more than UAH 98 million from JSC Ukrzaliznytsia during the procurement of fuel at inflated prices.
According to the investigation, in 2016–2017, officials of the Lysky Transport Service Center branch of Ukrzaliznytsia abused their positions and embezzled UAH 98.2 million by formally documenting non-commodity transactions for the purchase of naval fuel oil and diesel fuel from Skela Tercium LLC.
The case involves:
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Ruslan Husak — head of the Lysky branch
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Oleksii Shevchenko — chief engineer of the branch
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Valerii Vovk — first deputy head of the Odesa branch of the Lysky Transport Service Center
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Inna Dyshliuk — chief engineer of the Odesa branch of the Lysky Transport Service Center
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According to the investigation, Husak signed a payment order for UAH 14 million for diesel fuel that was never delivered and passed it to the accounting department. Together with Shevchenko, he signed a request for centralized financing for another UAH 34 million, creating only the documentary appearance of fuel delivery.
The documents signed by the defendants artificially confirmed the presence of fuel. The inventory commission, unaware of the absence of the product, prepared reports based on custodial receipts from Skela Tercium.
When the NABU investigation began, the defendants introduced false data into documents to demonstrate the formal return of fuel that never existed. They later arranged the actual delivery of small volumes of fuel to Heroi Shypky and Heroi Plevny ferries, indicating false storage locations in documents while real shipments occurred from other facilities.
These actions included falsifying payment orders, invoices, acceptance and transfer certificates and reports, which allowed them to embezzle company funds on a large scale and conceal their unlawful activity from oversight bodies.
The HACC found the defendants guilty. The court sentenced Ruslan Husak to 9 years of imprisonment with a 3-year ban on holding executive positions and confiscation of all property. Oleksii Shevchenko received the same sentence. Valerii Vovk and Inna Dyshliuk were each sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment with the same restrictions and confiscation of property. The court rejected JSC Ukrzaliznytsia’s civil claim.
The appeal review is ongoing.
In addition, in 2020 the HACC reported an attempt of unlawful influence on the panel of judges. According to the court, before a ruling on the merits was issued, defendant Ruslan Husak together with his lawyers filed a statement to the Prosecutor General accusing the judges of allegedly issuing a knowingly unjust ruling. Based on these claims, they also filed motions to recuse the judges, which the HACC regarded as interference aimed at obstructing the proceedings.
