The court refused to hand over $30 million to ARMA in the case of ex-minister Pivovarskyi

The high anti-corruption court refused to hand over to ARMA the seized $30 million from shipping fees in the case of the former minister of infrastructure.

VAKS refused NABU and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in the request to transfer to ARMA the arrested $30 million, reports Forbes with reference to the case materials.

It is about $30 million, which the companies of the “TIS” group allegedly did not pay as shipping fees.

NABU proved that the seized property does not contain traces of a criminal offense, so it can be transferred to ARMA without prejudice to criminal proceedings.

In its turn, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office explained the request for the transfer of the seized funds to ARMA by supervision of the pre-trial investigation.

The Defense Intelligence of the MoD of Ukraine also appealed to the court, which requested the cancellation of the seizure of property and its transfer to the needs of the state under martial law.

VAKS refused to grant the request of NABU and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, because it did not find any reasonable grounds for this. The court decision is not subject to appeal.

The Context

It will be recalled that in February NABU and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office informed the ex-minister of infrastructure Andriy Pyvovarsky about suspected abuses, due to which the state allegedly suffered losses of more than $30 million. The former official commented on the situation.

According to the investigation, in July 2015, the then minister together with his deputy (at that time also the head of the Tariff Council of the Ministry of Infrastructure) ensured the adoption of an order, according to which the shipping fee from ships in the seaport “Pivdennyi” together with the state-owned enterprise “USPA” began to be collected and private company (50/50). Whereas, according to the law, the collection of such a fee is the exclusive prerogative of a state-owned enterprise as a user of the water area of ​​the port, which belongs to the state, the NABU Telegram channel reported.

The investigation established that the order was passed without proper economic reasoning and contrary to the comments of the Department of Economy and Finance of the Ministry of Infrastructure and State Enterprise “USPA”.

On April 4, the former First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Volodymyr Shulmeister, was given a precautionary measure in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 4 million.

The suspect was also charged with:

• arrive at the first request to the detective, the prosecutor and the court;

• notify the detective, prosecutor or the court about a change of place of residence and work, travel abroad;

• refrain from communicating with other suspects in the case and witnesses.

On May 15, the preventive measure was extended for ex-minister Pyvovarskyi. He, like Schulmeister, must appear at the request of the investigator, the prosecutor and the court, report on a change of residence and work, etc.

“We have confirmation that there is still no civil lawsuit against me for compensation of damages to the injured party. Because there is no injured party. Because there are no losses. Because if there were, then there would be an injured party. But on February 27, 2023, the assets were seized to compensate the injured party. It turns out that something in the case did not go as the prosecution wanted from the very beginning. The master plan is broken. Therefore, the investigation was continued for six months after the suspicion was served. They will carry a different plan,” Andrii Pivovarskyi commented on Facebook.