10:50 09.11.2017

Criminal case against runaway ex-Ukroboronprom chief could be closed – Lutsenko

3 min read
Criminal case against runaway ex-Ukroboronprom chief could be closed – Lutsenko

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said that a criminal case against a runaway former Ukroboronprom chief, which is investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) and law enforcers from Western Europe, could be closed due to amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which limit the terms of pre-trial investigation to 18 months.

He said at a meeting of the Ukrainian parliament's committee on legislative support of law enforcement activity in Kyiv on Wednesday, November 8, that he doubted the constructiveness of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which were approved by the Verkhovna Rada in October. While explaining his opinion, he recalled an "elementary case" investigated by the PGO with respect to a high-ranking official "who stole money from Ukroboronprom of the previous period."

"This high-ranking official fled abroad. In this framework we ask for legal assistance from our colleagues from Western Europe. Such assistance comes to us at least six months later, and sometimes even within two years," Lutsenko said.

He said that "in such conditions" it was problematic for law enforcers to finish the pre-trial investigation within 6-18 months, as envisaged in the updated Criminal Procedure Code.

"How can [investigators] finish a pre-trial investigation in such conditions in 6, 12 or 18 months?" he said.

As reported, in January 2015, the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine approved a notice of suspicion for former head of state-owned company Ukrspecexport Serhiy Bondarchuk in embezzling $7.5 million of the company's funds. Under the government's decision, Ukrspecexport became part of the Ukroboronprom State Concern in 2011.

Bondarchuk is suspected under Part 5, Article 191 (gross embezzlement via abuse of office under a preliminary collusion by a group of persons) and Part 2, Article 366 (fabrication triggering serious consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

On January 29, the investigating magistrate of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv permitted to detain the former head of Ukrspecexport and sent him to court to decide on his arrest.

The court also arrested assets of the suspect - $10 million at one of the Ukrainian banks and two Range Rover cars worth over UAH 2 million.

In February 2015, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry put Bondarchuk on the wanted list.

Interpol placed Bondarchuk on the international wanted list on June 15, 2015.

Bondarchuk headed Ukrspecexport from March 2005 through June 2010 and signed the largest arms deals in Ukraine's history with China, India, Thailand and Iraq.

In February 2010, ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko awarded Bondarchuk the "Hero of Ukraine" medal for outstanding services to the state in the development of Ukraine's Armed Forces.

From 2010, Bondarchuk was a member and later head of the political council of Yuschenko's Our Ukraine Party.

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