Sept. 14, 2023, 3:27 p.m.
(Maxim Stepanov. Photo: Facebook)
A HACC investigative judge has imposed a measure of restraint in the form of arrest in absentia on former Health Minister Maksym Stepanov.
According to the Center for Public Investigations (CPI), citing the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the former official, who served as the head of the state-owned Polygraph Plant Ukraine and the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, is suspected of embezzling and legalizing half a billion hryvnias.
The court agreed with the prosecutor's arguments and imposed a custodial measure of restraint on the suspect. After the person is detained and brought to the place of pre-trial investigation, the investigating judge will decide on the application of this measure of restraint.
The CPR notes that, according to media reports, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the former official left for the Croatian capital Zagreb.
Stepanov was suspected in a money laundering case at the state-owned enterprise Printing Plant Ukraine. In 2013-2016, he headed this enterprise.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, an international corruption scheme worth UAH 450 million in losses was exposed.
The report says that on July 20, 2023, the former official was served a notice of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 (misappropriation of property) and Part 3 of Article 209 (money laundering) of the Criminal Code. According to detectives, there are five suspects in the case. In addition to Stepanov, they are the former head of a department at the polygraph plant, two Estonian citizens who worked for the gasket company, and another Ukrainian who is considered an accomplice.
<span><span><span>See the infographic: NABU</span></span></span>
The CPR's material also states that, according to NABU, in 2013, the former head of the Printing Plant Ukraine acquired an Estonian company through a front company, through which he organized the purchase of materials for the production of forms for passports, ID cards, driver's licenses, etc. The company purchased the materials directly from manufacturers and then resold them to the state-owned enterprise at prices that were four to six times higher.
It is believed that the suspects registered intellectual property rights to the graphic elements of Ukrainian passports to a foreign company, which allowed them to receive additional remuneration in the form of royalties. The Cabinet of Ministers stopped these payments in early 2022.
It is also known that the NABU and the SAPO exposed a corruption scheme at the state-owned enterprise Polygraphic Plant Ukraine in 2013-2016, when it was headed by Maksym Stepanov, who later became the head of the Odesa State Administration and later the Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
Володимир Шкаєв