Omelyan case: the court published the text of the acquittal

The High Anti-Corruption Court published the text of the verdict in the case of ex-minister Vladimir Omelyan: with the arguments of the parties and the motives of the court, which became the basis for acquitting the ex-official.

It follows from the text of the verdict that High Anti-Corruption Court considered the arguments of the prosecution unproven.

The document, dated October 18th, 2021, can be found in the Unified Register of Court Decisions.

“The court found the absence in the actions of the accused of the mandatory elements of the corpus delicti under Part 2 of Article 211 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely, the object, the objective and subjective side, the court, guided by the above mentioned provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, recognizes the accused as not guilty of committing the crime incriminated to him, and the charge brought against him – unproven,” the document says.

As noted by High Anti-Corruption Court, most of the witnesses indicated that Omelyan’s decision to reduce port dues rates was the result of lengthy negotiations, meetings and meetings with business and was caused by numerous appeals from business associations and domestic manufacturers.

Also, when the ex-minister signed an order to reduce the rates of port dues, he actually satisfied the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to increase the level of competitiveness of domestic producers and seaports.

“On December 6th, 2017, a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was carried out, at which Resolution №990 “Some issues of increasing the level of competitiveness of domestic manufacturers and seaports” was adopted, according to paragraph 2 of which the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development, the State Registration Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice were charged of taking measures to reduce the rates of ship, canal, lighthouse, sanitary, anchor, berthing, administrative port dues starting from January 1st, 2018,” the court notes.

Also, the statements of the prosecutor about Omelyan’s intention to reduce the state budget revenues by issuing a corresponding order were not confirmed.

“The decrease in port dues rates was not initiated directly by the accused, it was not his independent decision and the latter did not exert any inappropriate influence on the members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for its adoption, but this issue was the subject of lengthy negotiations at the government level, at meetings with business representatives,” noted in the court decision.

Thus, the court did not found that the ex-minister of infrastructure was aware of the socially dangerous nature of his act and wanted to commit a socially dangerous act. The panel of judges stated that there were no signs of the crime incriminated to Volodymyr Omelyan.

The criminal proceedings against the former Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan lasted two years.

In 2019, National Anti-Corruption Bureua of Ukraine and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported that Omelyan was suspected of committing illegal actions, as a result of which the state budget did not receive UAH 30.5 million (USD 1.15 million). According to the investigation, in December 2017, the former Minister issued an order to reduce all port dues (except for the lighthouse) by 20%. At the same time, one of these fees – administrative, is a revenue part of the state budget, therefore, only the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine), and not the Minister, could change its ammount.