The NABU and the SAPO accuse former CCESHM director Vasyl Sakhnenko and the beneficiary of the Kozelshchynskyi and Shyshatskyi pellet plants, Ihor Trushenko, of causing losses to a state-owned enterprise by selling its products at reduced prices.

According to the investigation, during a conspiracy in 2020, officials from the Center for Certification and Expertise of Seeds and Horticultural Material (CCESHM) agreed to contract terms that allowed the state enterprise to accept payments for work at inflated rates, benefiting companies owned by Bobyl. Additionally, the products grown by CCESHM were sold to these enterprises at significantly lower prices, which caused financial losses to the CCESHM.

The scheme allegedly involved inflating costs and specifying unreasonable work volumes in the contracts, while ignoring the actual market price of the products. As a result, the CCESHM spent more on its work than it received after selling its products through an intermediary.

For example, the SE CCESHM entered into agreements to supply future corn harvests to two private companies. Under the terms of the contracts, the price of the grain was initially to be considered a preliminary price for planning purposes, with the final price to be determined at the time of delivery, taking into account market data published on the agricultural portal. In May of that year, the parties further clarified the pricing procedure, confirming that the final price would depend on the real market.

However, when the market price for corn had already reached UAH 7,200 per ton, the management of the SE CCESHM, in agreement with representatives of the private companies, decided to preserve the previously agreed lower price of UAH 4,200 per ton as the final price.

Based on official memos and powers of attorney, the director of the Poltava branch of the enterprise signed additional agreements that excluded the requirement to consider the market price on the date of shipment. Thus, in November 2020, the state enterprise supplied corn to private companies for a price of UAH 3,570 per ton (after a reduction factor was applied), while the market price at the time was almost twice as high.

According to the documents, the SE CCESHM transferred over 3,000 tons of corn to the Kozelshchyna Pellet Plant and over 500 tons to the Shyshaky Pellet Plant. Additionally, another 29 tons of grain were sold for UAH 7,000 per ton, but investigators believe this transaction was also conducted with violations.

The total losses are estimated at over UAH 13 million.

The actions of the suspects are classified under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

HACC found Sakhnenko and Trushenko guilty. They were sentenced to four years and three years and ten months of imprisonment, respectively, and were also barred from holding managerial positions and fined UAH 13,600 and UAH 12,700. The court further ordered them, jointly and severally, to pay more than UAH 13.4 million in damages. The verdict is currently under review by the HACC Appeals Chamber. 

The case against the mastermind, Sakhnenko, and the other suspect, Trushenko, is still in the pre-trial investigation phase, and the latter has even been placed on the wanted list. At the same time, the High Anti-Corruption Court has already issued verdicts against the former director of the Kozelshchyna and Shyshaky pellet plants, Volodymyr Bobyl, and the director of the Poltava branch of CCESHM, Andrii Chuiasov, both of whom pleaded guilty.