Case description
The HACC found the management of several state grain procurement enterprises guilty of embezzling nearly UAH 50 million and causing an additional UAH 20 million in damages.
According to the investigation, the defendants, in cooperation with affiliated private companies, orchestrated a scheme to create artificial debt for state enterprises. Funds and claims obtained illegally were transferred through a complex chain of transactions and assignments to controlled entities, including foreign-registered firms.
Key defendants:
- Andrii Yakovenko, former director of Novopokrovsk Grain Processing Plant
- Dmytro Hostrenko, former director of the state-owned Nizhyn Grain Processing Plant
- Yevhen Svystunov, former head of Barvinkove Grain Processing Plant LLC
- Svitlana Bulychova, former head of Agro-Industrial Union of Kharkiv Region LLC
- Oleh Mohylnyi, former head of Agromlynprom PE
- Nadiia Bulychova, former head of a private enterprise
- Serhii Korostyliov, attorney.
The scheme worked as follows: state-owned enterprises signed supply or service contracts with fictitious or inflated values. The resulting debts were formally recorded on the companies’ balance sheets, and claims were reassigned to intermediary firms.
The funds and assets were then moved through a chain of affiliated companies, some of which were registered abroad, to conceal the true ownership and origin of the money. This created a closed system for legally withdrawing state assets without direct alienation.
One particular episode involved Nizhyn Grain Processing Plant: between 2012 and 2014, its management signed loss-making contracts that artificially increased liabilities, which were then transferred to affiliated firms. This provided a basis for further court claims and asset misappropriation.
A similar mechanism operated at Novopokrovsk Grain Processing Plant, where fictitious contracts and inflated service prices created artificial creditor debt. As a result, the enterprise lost control over a significant portion of its assets.
Another episode related to Bread Base No. 85 involved the reassignment of inflated, but formally valid, financial obligations to “third-party” companies actually controlled by the same individuals. This established a closed-loop scheme through which state assets were placed under the control of private entities.
The defendants were charged under Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HACC approved a plea agreement and found them guilty. The verdict is not yet available in the official registry. Andrii Yakovenko was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment with a 3-year probationary period. Yevhen Svystunov — 7 years of suspended sentence with a 2.5-year probation. Dmytro Hostrenko, Svitlana Bulychkova, Oleh Mohylnyi, and Serhii Korostyliov — 4 years of imprisonment with a 2.5-year probation.
The defendants are required to write off a UAH 31.53 million debt of Novopokrovsk Grain Processing Plant to a Slovak company; compensate UAH 49.85 million in damages; transfer the trademark “Pokrovchanka” to the state, valued at UAH 19.83 million; transfer UAH 9 million, €40,850, and $21,500 for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, they are required to transfer assets into state, municipal, or territorial ownership in the interest of the state enterprise Novopokrovsk Grain Processing Plant.
The HACC had earlier approved plea agreements with Oleksii Mytrokhin, representing Boroshno Pokrovske LLC, and Liudmyla Shashkova, former head of the state-owned Bread Base No. 85.
