Case description
On October 28, 2021, the HACC found Volodymyr Derkach, the former director of the branch of JSC State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, guilty of taking possession of state grain worth almost UAH 15 million. Derkach was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.
This is the first HACC verdict in which a convicted person was sentenced to a real prison term based on a plea agreement.
Volodymyr Derkach was the head of the Partyzanskyi grain elevator in the Kherson region. This grain elevator is a branch of the State Food and Grain Corporation.
In late 2019, the former official shipped more than 3,000 tons of grain to a private company for further sale without the owner's permission and kept the money he received from the fraud. Grain worth almost UAH 15 million was on the balance sheet of the State Food and Grain Corporation.
Derkach's actions were reclassified in court from conversion of property to abuse of office, i.e., under Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The former official entered into a plea agreement with the SAPO prosecutor, so the court sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison, which is half the maximum sanction of this article. Derkach was additionally fined UAH 8,500 and deprived of the right to hold certain positions for 3 years.
