Former chairman of the board of PJSC State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine Joint-Stock Company Petro Vovchuk, wanted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) since March 2017, was detained in Vilnius (Lithuania), the NABU website reported on Thursday.

The detained ex-chairman of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation was wanted as a suspect in criminal proceedings for damaging the company in the amount of more than $60 million. His actions are qualified according to Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position), Part 3 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 368 (acceptance of an offer, promise or unlawful gain by an official) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the website of NABU reported on Thursday.

"According to the investigation, the representative of the international grain trader and officials of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine Joint-Stock Company organized a corruption scheme, according to which grain belonging to a state-owned company was delivered to Saudi Arabia through a number of business entities. Delivery was carried out on a postpaid basis, which did not comply with established market rules. As a result, State Food and Grain Corporation did not receive the funds, incurring losses of more than $60 million," the report said.

The Bureau does not disclose the names of the detainee, but earlier it was reported that the chairman of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine was in the case in July-October 2014, when this position was held by Petro Vovchuk (appointed in March, dismissed in December 2014).

As reported, NABU detectives began investigating these facts in July 2016. The Bureau established a number of persons involved in the crime, among them - the ex-chairman of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine. Two people made a deal with the prosecution and compensated for the damage caused by them in the amount of $60,000, and the cases against two more people - an adviser to the chairman of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation and a representative of the international grain trader - were sent to court. Another person was wanted.

According to the Bureau, resident of Monte Carlo, Hungarian citizen, businessman of Russian origin Alexei Fedorychev met with the head of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation and offered to sell barley and wheat at below-market prices for undue profit and reached "criminal agreements." In March 2017, the NABU initiated criminal proceedings against Fedorychev on suspicion of corruption in 2014 of the head of the board of the State Food and Grain Corporation (Petro Vovchuk held the post then) and secured the arrest of fixed assets of TIS-Mineral Fertilizers LLC owned by Fedorychev.

In February 2019, the NABU reported that it had completed a pretrial investigation into the involvement of an international grain trader in the case of causing the State Food and Grain Corporation $60 million in damage. "NABU detectives have evidence that a representative of an international grain trader, through foreign companies registered in Cyprus, legalized more than $40.9 million (UAH 577 million), acting according to the instructions of the organizer of the scheme, which turned out to be the Hungarian citizen," the Bureau said.