Case description
The NABU accuses Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, of complicity in the malversation of more than 2.5 million budget funds. Stefanishyna is one of the defendants in the so-called Lukash case, which concerns the events of 2013–2014.
According to the prosecution, in 2013–2014, officials of the Ministry of Justice embezzled UAH 2,523,000 of budget funds intended for the adaptation of national legislation to EU legislation. The defendants transferred funds to the European Legal Group LLC and several individual entrepreneurs without sufficient legal grounds.
Olha Stefanishyna, then Deputy Prime Minister and at the time an employee of the Department of European Integration, together with Olena Lukash, the former Minister of Justice under Yanukovych, organized and conducted a tender for the procurement of these services. As the Deputy Prime Minister explained, she initiated research on European integration. According to investigative journalists from Bihus.Info, the quality of the work, in which one page cost from UAH 1,500 to 4,500, does not look satisfactory.
In addition to them, the NABU and the SAPO charge 10 other people, including the executors of the allegedly fictitious order and accomplices. Ms. Stefanishyna commented on the investigation as follows: “For my part, I cooperated with the investigation as much as possible, provided all the documents and all the facts, and I hope that everyone will have an understanding that this case has a nominal factor, and is not a stormy criminal proceeding. Throughout my professional career, there have been no episodes that would indicate that I could be involved in something like this. And I'm sure there will not be any in the future”.
The Deputy Prime Minister is charged with Article 191, part 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Earlier, Stefanishyna was in for prosecution for forgery, but the statute of limitations under the article had already expired. The trial is ongoing.
