Shabunin's Anti-Corruption Action Center was caught in large-scale grant fund fraud. This was stated by the public initiative Grant Watch Ukraine "Stop-Parasite", which published relevant documents, - wrote Volodymyr Boyko, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war and journalist, as reported by UNN.
He listed a number of dubious grant projects that the Anti-Corruption Action Center received in its first years of existence, among which he specifically noted the Lazarenko case.
A true masterpiece of international aid embezzlement is Shabunin's receipt of $22,929 from the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Ukraine for "returning to the people of Ukraine funds stolen by P. Lazarenko." The period during which Shabunin allegedly returned to Ukraine the money withdrawn abroad by the former Prime Minister of Ukraine was from July 15, 2013, to April 30, 2014. That is, if we believe the reporting of the "Anti-Corruption Action Center," at a time when the Maidan was raging in Kyiv, Shabunin ensured the receipt of at least $22,850,000 into the State Treasury of Ukraine.
However, he emphasized, no one heard about the return of these funds, except Shabunin himself and employees of the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy. Soon after receiving funds for the project, Shabunin purchased a land plot near Boryspil, which he registered in his wife's name and forgot to declare, Boyko noted.
In addition, he wrote, in 2014 Shabunin and Co. received:
- $19,934 from the International Renaissance Foundation for "transparent and effective procurement of medicines for children with cancer";
- $127,419 from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for "saving the lives of critically ill Ukrainians";
- $35,443 from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for "Creating a national platform for monitoring prices of medicines and medical products";
- $88,113 from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine for "forming a strong anti-corruption agenda for the Ukrainian chapter of GOPAC (Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption)".
Back in 2012, Shabunin did not even have money to buy medicine for his wife, who suddenly fell ill, and was forced to post ads asking for financial help. Under the guidance of the experienced Sherembey, Shabunin, as well as his acquaintance Daria Kalenyuk, together with her husband Orest Rudyi, quickly registered a pseudo-public organization called the "Anti-Corruption Action Center" and by early 2013, Shabunin had no financial problems.
The veteran emphasized that professional "public activists" who live on foreign grants insist that the sources of their income and the circumstances of their embezzlement of international aid should not concern Ukrainian society. According to them, it is about using the funds of American and European taxpayers – Ukraine has nothing to do with it.
In fact, "grant-eaters" are embezzling money that Western governments allocated not to Shabunins, Maselkos, or Zhernakovs, but for financial assistance to the people of Ukraine.
As previously reported, a public initiative Grant Watch Ukraine "Stop-Parasite" was launched in Ukraine. Its goal is to combat the embezzlement of financial aid from partners by pseudo-activists.