Case description
On July 7, 2020, the HACC found Bohdan Pedchenko, ex-Chair of the Board of Kherson CHPP, guilty of providing an illegal loan to another LLC and causing losses to the CHPP. He was imprisoned for 5 years and fined UAH 17,000, with a ban on holding certain positions for 3 years.
PJSC Kherson CHPP at that time had 99.8% of the state share in the authorized capital. This means that such a company could spend no more than 1% of the net profit on charitable, sponsored, and other assistance (including loans) based on the results of the previous reporting year, but on condition of the approval of the annual financial plan of PJSC Kherson CHPP for the next year. If the amount is higher, this must be additionally agreed upon with the relevant authorities.
According to the results of 2014, the net profit of Kherson CHPP amounted to UAH 15,629,000, of which 1% amounted to more than UAH 156,000. Given this and the fact that as of 2015, the CHPP had significant debts, and its financial plan for 2015 was not approved, Pedchenko independently decided to provide an interest-free loan to LLC Quadro-Finance.
This loan amounted to more than UAH 8 mln, with a full repayment period of 7 months. Later, he concluded an agreement with this LLC, which unreasonably extended the loan repayment period for another year.
LLC Quadro-Finance did not return this money within the specified period, and Kherson CHPP suffered significant property damage.
The crime was qualified under Art. 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court regarded the execution of such an agreement as a means of providing a bribe. Pedchenko was sentenced to 5 years in prison, fined UAH 17,000, and deprived of the right to hold certain positions for 3 years. The court refused to compensate the State Property Fund for damages at the expense of Pedchenko.
In court, Pedchenko pleaded not guilty because he allegedly had acted solely in the interests of the CHPP, which, in his opinion, was not a state-owned enterprise.
The defense of Pedchenko and the SPFU filed appeals, which were dismissed. The defense also asked to postpone the execution of the sentence for six months because Pedchenko allegedly suffered from a serious illness, but the court rejected this. Subsequently, the HACC Appeals Chamber and the Supreme Court left the verdict unchanged.
