Case description
On June 1, 2023, the HACC convicted Ihor Buksanchuk, former head of the state-owned enterprise Radon, of bribing the head of the Chornobyl zone, Kateryna Pavlova, in exchange for bonuses. He was sentenced to 5 years with confiscation of property.
In late February 2020, Ihor Buksanchuk, the General Director of the state specialized enterprise Radon, sent a letter to the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. At that time, Kateryna Pavlova was acting head of the Agency.
In the letter, Buksanchuk asked for a 300% bonus for the 4th quarter of 2019 and a bonus for 2019 in the amount of 15 salaries in exchange for a bribe. The official offered an amount equal to 50% of the total bonus. In the spring, he was approved for a UAH 430,000 bonus, and he gave Pavlova a bribe of UAH 210,000.
Buksanchuk himself denied that he had given Pavlova a bribe and emphasized that the decision to award the bonus was made collectively by the relevant commission. Later, he tried to change the jurisdiction of the case. Buksanchuk believed that his position as a civil servant was not within category A, and the criminal offense was not committed against an official as defined by law.
Buksanchuk's actions were classified under Article 369, part 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He was sent to prison for 5 years with the confiscation of all his property, except for half of his apartment.
The appellate instance upheld Buksanchuk's sentence. In March 2023, the Supreme Court refused to suspend the enforcement of the sentence against the official.
