The High Anti-Corruption Court has completed the hearing of the case against former DNMU rector Petro Kondratenko under the in absentia procedure. The court found the former official guilty of extorting and receiving an unlawful benefit (two BMW cars) in exchange for signing orders on the enrollment of foreign students. The HACC's sentence: nine years' imprisonment with confiscation of all his property.

The investigation established that in 2018 DNMU rector Petro Kondratenko extorted and twice received a bribe from a representative of Ukrainian Educational Services LLC, which handled the recruitment of foreign students for the university. Beforehand, he had created artificial obstacles for the company, in particular by ceasing to sign the orders admitting applicants until the firm's representative agreed to buy cars for him and his wife.

The first bribe was a BMW X3 worth UAH 1.27 million. It was registered to a front person but actually handed over for the use of the rector's wife. Immediately after receiving the documents for the car, the former DNMU rector signed the orders on the enrollment of foreign students. The second episode was the receipt of a BMW X5 worth UAH 1.64 million under an identical scheme.

In addition, to legalize the property, Petro Kondratenko entered false information in his declaration about supposedly using the car under a loan-for-use agreement.

In court, SAPO prosecutors stressed that Kondratenko had acted systematically and brazenly. He deliberately blocked the enrollment of foreign students until he received his “reward.” The prosecution called the registration of the luxury BMWs to front persons and the fake data about loan-for-use agreements in the declaration a deliberate attempt to “cover his tracks” and conceal the true origin of the property.

Kondratenko's defense, for its part, insisted on his complete innocence. His lawyers claimed that the criminal proceedings were fabricated and were “revenge” by the management of Ukrainian Educational Services LLC. The intermediary firm, they said, had reacted in this way to the rector's principled stance on recovering from it a debt of over UAH 40 million for the tuition of students. The defense explained the appearance of the luxury cars by friendly relations: according to their version, the cars belonged to other people, and the rector and his wife merely used them lawfully.

Kondratenko's actions were classified under Article 368(4) and Article 209(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The court sentenced the former official to nine years' imprisonment, with full confiscation of property and a three-year ban on managing higher education institutions. Since the luxury BMWs were registered to front persons, it is impossible to physically seize them for the benefit of the state. The HACC therefore applied special confiscation: the convicted man must compensate the state for the full value of the cars — over UAH 2.9 million in total.