A joint investigation team, which included law enforcement officers from Ukraine, Estonia and France, exposed a misappropriation and money laundering scheme organized by the ex-director of the state-owned enterprise Ukraina Polygraph Combine (Kyiv), the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) has reported.

"Investigators found that the ex-director of SOE Ukraina Polygraph Combine, for his own enrichment when purchasing consumables for the manufacture of documents (including passports for traveling abroad, etc.), used a company registered in the Republic of Estonia controlled by him. Materials for the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise were purchased not directly from manufacturers, but through a shell company. Thus, prices were inflated by four-six times. This made it possible to accumulate an amount equivalent to about UAH 500 million on the accounts of the Estonian company. After that, the funds were transferred to the accounts of a large number of companies registered in different countries. Thus, their illegal origin was masked," the SAPO said on its Telegram channel.

To assist in the implementation of the scheme, the former official attracted a person close to him and one of the heads of departments of the Ukraina Polygraph Combine.

In Estonia, he was assisted by two citizens of this country, who ensured the management of the shell company in the unlawful interests of the Ukrainian civil servant.

This scheme was in effect during 2013-2016. That is why the cost of production of SOE Ukraina Polygraph Combine was artificially increased due to the corruption component.

"The suspects registered intellectual property rights to the graphic elements of Ukrainian passports for the foreign company. Thus, the offenders received additional remuneration in royalties. Every citizen of Ukraine was forced to pay an inflated price when processing documents (primarily passports for traveling abroad)," the SAPO said.

On Friday, July 21, SAPO prosecutors and NABU detectives notified the defendants in the case of suspicion of misappropriation and money laundering. In addition, at the initiative of the anti-corruption authorities, the government took action and stopped the unjustified payment of royalties to the foreign company.

As a result of the activities of the joint investigation team in Estonia, its citizen was exposed, who is being checked by law enforcement agencies of different countries for involvement in organizing a complex system of money laundering around the world. In addition to him, Estonian law enforcement officers notified three more Estonian citizens of suspicion of money laundering.

French law enforcement officers received an assessment of the legality of actions of other persons in the territory of this country.

In the period from 2011 to 2016, SOE Ukraina Polygraph Combine was headed by Maksym Stepanov. Since January 2017, Stepanov served as head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, and from March 2020 to May 2021 he was the Minister of Health of Ukraine.