An organized criminal group led by a former State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has been exposed in Ukraine. Its members seized funds from foreign citizens and donors intended to support Ukraine at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion and laundered them through conversion centers, UNN reports, citing NABU and SAP.
Details
According to the investigation, the State Secretary of the MFA convinced international donors and subordinate employees of foreign diplomatic institutions to direct financial assistance to the bank account of a controlled public organization. According to expert conclusions, the money received by this NGO legally had the status of targeted budget funds from the special fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Subsequently, the funds were transferred to accounts of controlled individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, which then funneled them to conversion centers for cashing out. The laundered money was used by scheme participants for personal enrichment.
To create the appearance of legitimate activity of the public organization, scheme participants produced fake letters and signed grant agreements containing false information.
As reported by NABU, the investigation has so far established the laundering of funds totaling over UAH 37 million (approximately USD 1.28 million at the time of the crime).
Among the suspects:
- former State Secretary of the MFA (2020-2024), organizer of the scheme;
- former head of the office of the State Secretary of the MFA, current diplomatic employee;
- advisor to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, head of the controlled NGO;
- accountant of the NGO.
Classification: Part 4 of Article 190, Part 5 of Article 191, and Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
Materials from the State Audit Service of Ukraine were used during the exposure of the crime.
The investigation is ongoing. All circumstances of the crime are being established.
Addendum
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2020–2024 was Oleksandr Bankov.