Case description
On October 18, 2023, the HACC found former Ukrtelefilm CEO Viktor Pidlisnyi guilty in the case of alienation of the state-owned enterprise's property and having caused almost UAH 70 million in damages. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine.
NABU detectives began investigating the case of alienation of property at Ukrtelefilm in February 2018. In 2017–2018, Vasyl Zaverkhovskyi, director of Lodoks LLC, together with Viktor Pidlisnyi, former head of Ukrtelefilm, Yaroslav Kurhun, a representative of the commercial structure, and Oleksandra Hudz, a lawyer, alienated property rights to 67 real estate objects in the capital.
The property in question includes 24 apartments with a total area of 2,704 square meters, 7 non-residential premises, and 36 parking spaces. All of them were transferred to Lodoks LLC for UAH 14.5 million in violation of the procedure and without the mandatory approval of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine. This is 80% of the assets owned by the State Enterprise.
In addition, the price turned out to be too low: Ukrtelefilm's accounting department reported that the apartments and non-residential premises alone were valued at more than UAH 42 million. Instead, a sales agreement of property rights was concluded worth UAH 13.5 mln.
Subsequently, Lodoks LLC sold the acquired immovable property to Bartion Group LLC with the aim of legalization at a price four times lower than the market price.
The Commercial Court of Kyiv recognized the sales agreement as invalid thanks to the NABU-SAPO; the appellate and cassation instances agreed with the ruling. The procedure of re-registering the property rights in favor of Ukrtelefilm is currently underway.
According to the investigation, Hudz financed the process of state registration of property rights, taking into account the seizures imposed on them, paid for the legalization of property, gave or intended to give bribes, awarded Zaverkhovskyi, etc.
Yaroslav Kurhun, another alleged organizer, was tried in absentia—he is in Italy, and extradition was denied due to the start of the full-scale invasion. Despite this, Kurhun remains on the international wanted list. He is charged with Article 364, part 2; Article 209, part 3; and Article 358, parts 3, 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Pidlisnyi was charged with Article 358, part 4 and Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HACC sentenced the former official to 5 years in prison with a fine of UAH 17,000 and a ban on holding certain positions for three years.
The actions of Zaverkhovskyi, head of Lodoks, were classified under Article 358, part 4; Article 364, part 2; and Article 209, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison, a fine of UAH 17,000, confiscation of half of his property, and a ban on holding certain positions for three years.
Hudz was tried under Article 364, part 2; Article 209, part 3; and Article 358, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Since she concluded a plea agreement, the court ruled that she shall get a suspended sentence with a probationary period of 3 years and a fine of UAH 8,500.
