Former freelance adviser to the Office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Artem Shylo is suspected of heading a group that embezzled money from Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways), Kyiv Post sources in law enforcement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) reported on Telegram on Tuesday, April 2 that it, along with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, uncovered a criminal group that had embezzled Hr.94.7 million ($2.4 million) from Ukrzaliznytsia, through a scheme where they purchased transformers at nearly twice their cost.
As of now, the leader, co-organizer, and two members of the group have been detained, NABU stated.
Shylo’s name has appeared in many journalistic corruption investigations, and he is linked to Oleh Tatarov, the deputy head of Zelensky’s office.
When Kyiv Post reached out to NABU regarding Shylo, the anti-corruption agency responded that it could neither confirm nor deny Shylo's involvement in the alleged criminal group because it does not release suspects’ names until court decisions have been made.
In its post, NABU stated that from June to December 2022, the leader of the criminal group, by controlling officials at Ukrzaliznytsia, ensured the selection of a predetermined company as the railway company’s supplier of power transformers at an inflated cost.
Shylo allegedly arranged the preparation and submission of the letter “Regarding Threats to State Security” to the State Security Council, which was used to reject offers from other procurement participants with better prices.
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According to law enforcement officials, the “winning” company is controlled by a Belarusian citizen with ties to Russia.
As NABU reported, this “winner” used a company registered in Bulgaria to purchase transformers from a manufacturer in Uzbekistan and resell them at inflated prices to Ukraine.
Ukrzaliznytsia suffered nearly $2.5 million in losses between 2022 and 2024, which the crime's participants took possession of and disposed of at their discretion, NABU said.
Through the efforts of detectives and prosecutors, a Ukrainian court seized Hr.53 million ($1.4 million) from the supplier company's bank accounts.
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Comments (2)
They are falling like dominoes and soon the one at the top will fall too.
Good sleuthing Ukrainian investigators!
That was a very tricky, convoluted crime trail to track. Right back to a Belarusian owner with ties to Russia.....figures. During a war in particular, and given the tie back to the russian invaders, I would expect this amounts to treason.
Everyday Ukraine's leadership is reducing the model of corruption that festered under their decades of Russian oppression. That was the goal of both democratic leaders post that nations unified departure from russian control. They had already done an amazing job pre-war in reducing embedded corruption in their nations.
In Transparency International's 2023 global corruption ranking Ukraine made a 37 position improvement over what they had when under russia's control. That was amazing. Their corruption improvements are now accruing faster, what with EU aspirations and other allied compliance oversight.
Worth remembering in a US election year is that 'putinrump' aspires towards the more corrupt putin model of governance. He regularly lavishes praise on it. No wonder given his past 4000 lawsuits, 2 impeachment, Sexual abuse and fraud charges, and 91 felony charges one related to trying to overthrow the elected US government. Russia under putin ranks in 141st place for corruption. Thats a >5X worse ranking presently than the USA under Biden.
@John,
@John, what is "worth remembering" is that Navalny was also pursued relentlessly by Putin but you fail to recognize that Russia presents a formidable threat to the American election system and those that criticize Putin become instant targets (making it much more difficult to be elected in the first place) so antagonizing him publicly like Hillary Clinton did will not ultimately work out in President Trumps best interest.
I volunteered 6 months of my life and spent at least 500,000 HUA of my pension to help them after I saw with my own eyes what happened in Irpin and Bucha; but eventually I learned that Ukrainians are best at accepting donations and demanding something for nothing. In the end those that I trusted were the ones responsible for stealing more than I was offering. Corruption is still a very big problem and that's why many American's are withdrawing their support. I found many instances while I was there and met many Ukrainian men living in hostels in Krakow, Bucharest, Budapest, and Chisinau that refuse to defend their own country. They are like strippers that take off their clothes for money and they put on a good show as long as someone is willing to pay, but no mater how much you give it's never enough, and at least in my case if the donations end so does their friendship that I thought was real.
@John, Clinton made a deal with the devil when he signed the Budapest Memorandum that Obama refused to honor when Putin attacked Crimea. Biden is a buffoon that doesn't know what day of the week it is and Turkey is a fake NATO ally playing both sides of the fence while taking billions in business with the enemy. I respect Zelensky, but he saw Putin's forces massing at the border and did nothing to stop him until it was too late. Trump has warned all of Europe that they were failing to prepare for their own security and now you think the USA should be the one's to pay your debts.
I tried to get a contract with the military and they said I was too old even though I'm in better physical condition than have their army. I tried to get a job to teach English to those that I worked with but they weren't interested in 40 years of specialized and highly technical metal working skills working with military contractors because in their own words "those jobs are for Ukrainians" (even though they can't find workers with the expertise to fill those positions.
@John ... but they are happy to accept CASH donations as long as it doesn't cost them anything so I think it's time to require Ukraine to stand on their own two feet because no one even knows how many Russian sympathizers are playing both sides of the fence simply to obtain western technology and steal whatever they can. Even the Baptist church in Irpin used donations to make their own lives easier instead of sending those building materials to refugees at the front.
Biden is the one who got the Ukrainian prosecutor fired because of Hunters involvement with Burisma in exchange for "aid" and you praise him for being "less corrupt" than another. You're clearly as corrupt as the rest if you refuse to acknowledge the truth.