The NABU and the SAPO accuse former Member of Parliament Serhii Pashynskyi (Verkhovna Rada convocations 5–8) of allegedly misappropriating seized “Kurchenko’s oil products” worth nearly UAH 1 billion.

“Kurchenko’s oil products” are oil products seized in 2014 in the case of the owner of the East European Fuel-Energy Company, which were stored at the Odesa Oil Refinery, Kherson Oil Transshipment, and the Vasylkiv Oil Depot. They were planned to be sold under the “interrupted transit” scheme: legally, they were to pass through Ukraine, but instead, they were to be sold there.

According to investigators, Serhii Pashynskyi (then head of the Presidential Administration) and businessman Serhii Tyshchenko formed an intent to take control of this property. They created a criminal organization that also included former head of the state-owned enterprise Ukrtransnaftoproduct Volodymyr Havrylov, his deputy, another enterprise manager, and the director of a private company. Using Pashynskyi’s political influence, the group allegedly established control over Ukrtransnaftoproduct by installing loyal managers.

To implement the scheme, prosecutors say Pashynskyi helped secure the appointment of his wife, Ruslana Pashynska, to a position in the Presidential Administration to develop mechanisms for transferring seized property to state enterprises, and pressured officials at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Ultimately, Interior Ministry units secured control over the fuel storage sites, and courts transferred the petroleum products for sale to Ukrtransnaftoproduct. The defendants then allegedly arranged sales contracts with Ukroilproduct LLC, a company controlled by Tyshchenko. The fuel was priced well below market value (explained as a “forced sale”), and the contracts provided for deferred payment for two years.

Proceeds from the sale were allegedly routed through Fortuna Bank, owned by Tyshchenko’s mother. Funds were transferred to the accounts of Itanix Strong and Trade Invest Company as advance payments for goods, which allowed the group to control both the fuel and the money at the same time.

To disguise the scheme, detectives allege that Pashynskyi and Tyshchenko attempted to purchase other petroleum products in Belarus and Russia, with the intention of later reselling them to the state at inflated prices.

After Fortuna Bank was declared insolvent in 2017, payments to the state enterprise stopped, and Ukroilproduct LLC was allegedly liquidated through a bankruptcy procedure. As a result, part of the funds disappeared. NABU’s updated estimate of the losses is UAH 967 million (earlier reports cited UAH 817 million).

Pashynskyi’s and Tyshchenko’s actions were classified under Article 255(1) and Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In February and March 2024, HACC investigating judges seized assets registered in the name of Ruslana Pashynska. The couple has been married since 1989, and in March 2013, they signed a prenuptial agreement stating that each spouse’s property is the separate property of the spouse in whose name it is registered.

The court viewed this agreement as an attempt to avoid confiscation, noting that it was concluded 24 years after the marriage and appeared aimed at preventing negative legal consequences in the event of confiscation, given that Pashynskyi is accused of offenses allegedly committed between 2014 and 2018.

The seizure covers half of the assets registered to Ruslana Pashynska: a residential house of more than 1,000 square meters in the village of Lisnyky (including a chapel, a guard house, and a gazebo) and five land plots totaling more than one hectare. A 2022 Mercedes-Benz and two additional land plots were also seized initially, but in October 2024 the HACC Appeals Chamber lifted the seizure from those assets. In May 2025, the court refused to fully lift the seizure from the remaining property.

In May 2025, the HACC granted Pashynskyi permission to temporarily leave Ukraine to attend the IDET-2025 international defense industry exhibition in the Czech Republic, where he was invited in his capacity as head of the National Association of Defense Industry of Ukraine.

On September 5, 2025, the HACC approved a plea agreement with Serhii Tyshchenko. He received an 8-year prison sentence and a 3-year ban on holding positions in state and local government bodies and at state and municipal enterprises, institutions, and organizations, without confiscation of property.

At the same time, under Article 75(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the businessman was released from serving the prison term on probation with a 3-year probationary period, also without confiscation. The court imposed standard probation obligations, including reporting for registration, notifying authorities of changes of residence/work/study, and not leaving Ukraine without approval.