Case description
On January 20, 2023, the HACC found Denys Antoniuk, former head of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, guilty of providing Ukraine International Airlines with impoper advantage for more flights for self-serving motives. He was imprisoned for 3.5 years with additional penalties.
Antoniuk headed the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine (SAAU) from March 2014 to September 2015. Prior to that, he was Director of Route Network Development at Ukraine International Airlines.
In 2014, two airlines operated passenger flights on the Kyiv-Tehran-Kyiv route—UIA and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines (UM Airlines). According to international agreements, the number of flights on this route was not to exceed 4 per week, and only from one airline. However, in fact, this limit was exceeded, which is why Iran repeatedly appealed to the SAAU.
In November 2014, Iran did not allow UIA to fly to Tehran, so Antoniuk instructed the head of one of the departments to reject the application of Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines for an additional flight, thus giving UIA the upper hand. As a result, a UM Airlines flight was canceled, and the airline suffered UAH 250,000 in losses.
In June 2015, Mikheil Saakashvili, the then-head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, harshly criticized Antoniuk for the decisions taken by the SAAU to allow or deny access to the Ukrainian market to a number of airlines. The next day, the then-president Petro Poroshenko announced that Antoniuk would be suspended and that an internal investigation would be conducted in his department.
Later, Antoniuk wrote to Viktor Shokin, then-Prosecutor General, claiming that he had been unlawfully removed from office due to what he said were Saakashvili's unlawful actions.
In August 2015, Antoniuk returned to his duties after the investigation was completed, but a week later, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed him from his post.
The court classified Antoniuk's actions under Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison with a fine of UAH 8,500 and a ban on holding certain positions for 3 years.
The appellate review of the case is currently underway.
