Exclusive SAPO prepares a motion to impose a measure of restraint on Pashynskyi
12 February 2024 21:19
The Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is preparing a motion to impose a preventive measure on former MP Serhiy Pashynsky, reports 
“We are preparing a motion (to impose a preventive measure – ed.),”
– the SAPO press service said.
It should be noted that today the NABU, SAPO and the SBU reported the exposure of a criminal organisation that caused losses to the state in the amount of UAH 967 million during 2014-2018. It is a scheme for the misappropriation and sale of 97,000 tonnes of oil products confiscated by the state, which were supposed to be used for the needs of the army, the press service of the said bodies reports.
Reportedly, in 2014, the state confiscated almost 100,000 tonnes of oil products from Serhiy Kurchenko’s structures and transferred them to a specialised state-owned enterprise for sale. This enterprise in return sold the raw materials at reduced prices to a company controlled by one of the organisers of the scheme. The funds were withdrawn to private accounts, thus causing the state to suffer losses of UAH 967 million.
Six people have been notified of suspicion in the case, one of whom is “the former acting Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, head of one of the committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and co-organiser of the ML”.
It is known that this is a case involving former MP Serhiy Pashynskyi, who is called a co-organiser of the criminal organisation.
Pashinsky confirmed that on the morning of 12 February 2024, he was searched in a 10-year-old case.
According to Pashinsky, in 2015, he initiated the transfer of fuel from Kurchenko or, as he claims, Rosneft to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For this reason, allegedly on the orders of the Russians, criminal proceedings were opened against him. It is in connection with this case that the former MP’s home was searched today. Pashinsky emphasises that the case was initiated simultaneously with the Russian Investigative Committee.
He also stressed that he had not been served with a notice of suspicion.
Pashinsky’s story
Former Ukrainian MP Serhiy Pashynskyi has gained notoriety as an odious figure due to a number of high-profile scandals in which he was involved. For example, on 31 December 2016, he had a conflict with Viacheslav Khimikus, a resident of Kyiv region, during which Pashynskyi shot him in the leg with a firearm. In 2021, the then MP was acquitted and the case against him was closed. It was also reported that Khimikus was paid UAH 1.5 million in compensation, after which he withdrew his claims against the MP.
The most recent accusations against Pashynskyi relate to his allegedly profiting from the supply of weapons to the Ukrainian army before and at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. For example, in 2022, the revenues of Ukrainian Armor, a weapons company that supplies weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is linked to Pashynskyi, skyrocketed more than a hundredfold, reaching UAH 13 billion ($350 million). The SBI and NABU opened criminal proceedings and conducted searches in the cases. At the beginning of his presidential term, Volodymyr Zelenskyy even called Pashynskyi “100% bandit”.
At the same time, as the New York Times claimed in its own investigation, Pashinsky secured critical weapons for the Ukrainian army at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, when there was no military assistance from the West.
