Case description
On February 14, 2023, the HACC found Serhii Oleksiienko, who was an accomplice of Viktor Sivets, the so-called “Yanukovych's forester,” and his wife, guilty of receiving and further laundering more than EUR 10.9 million in bribes. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Serhii Oleksiienko, the former director of Listrade LLC, ran companies through which Viktor Sivets, the former head of the Yanukovych-era State Forestry Agency, and Maryna Zhuravlova, his wife, laundered their illegally gained funds.
In 2011–2014, Sivets demanded bribes from Polish, Slovak, and Romanian companies to extend timber export contracts. Sivets and his wife Zhuravlova received more than EUR 10.9 million in payments for services in analyzing the timber market and searching for counterparties for the purchase of Ukrainian timber.
The funds were paid to the accounts of companies, including the one run by Oleksiienko. The money was then legalized through Sivets's offshore companies under the guise of legitimate transactions. Part of the money was found in the Swiss accounts of Sivets's wife, and the HACC imposed special forfeiture on them.
Now Sivets and his wife Zhuravlova, a Russian citizen, are hiding in Russia. Ukraine's extradition request for the “Yanukovych's forester” was denied. They are still under investigation in absentia.
The actions of their accomplice Oleksiienko were classified under Article 27, part 5; Article 368, part 4; Article 209, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He was sent to prison for 10 years with confiscation of all his property and a ban on holding certain positions for 3 years.
The appellate instance upheld Oleksiienko's sentence.
