The NABU and the SAPO have charged former director of the Healthcare Center Branch of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia Nataliia Bilinska and others with attempting to misappropriate nearly UAH 5 million during the procurement of PCR tests.

According to the investigation, Bilinska, together with officials of the Healthcare Center Branch and representatives of Medical Center of Health LLC, organized an attempt to misappropriate funds during the procurement of PCR testing services. They amended the technical requirements of the procurement, agreed on inflated prices, and submitted bids from companies under their control.

According to the investigation, the conspirators planned to ensure that the tender would be won by a pre-selected company — Medical Center of Health LLC. To that end, the prosecution alleges, they planned to artificially inflate the expected procurement cost and to alter the technical specifications so that they would match this particular company's capabilities.

The defendants conducted a public procurement of 11,000 COVID-19 PCR tests. The officials helped the company win by accepting prices 50% above the market average — UAH 1,280 per test instead of UAH 837. However, Ukrzaliznytsia's structural units refused to approve the contract due to the obvious discrepancy between the offered prices and market rates, preventing the embezzlement of UAH 4.94 million.

The defendants in the case include: Svitlana Borodai; businessman Vadym Khanenko; Oleksii Sarnov; MP and former director of Medical Center of Health LLC Nina Mezentseva; former director of Kyiv Regional Council municipal enterprise Obrii Maksym Haievyi; former director of the Healthcare Center Branch of Ukrzaliznytsia Nataliia Bilinska; and former lead economist of a department of the Healthcare Center Branch of Ukrzaliznytsia Uliana Velychko.

The defendants are charged under Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The HACC approved the plea agreement and found one of the defendants — Vadym Khanenko — guilty. He was sentenced to seven years and three months' imprisonment. Under the terms of the agreement, he was released from serving the custodial sentence on three years' probation. Khanenko also undertook to transfer UAH 4 million to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in addition to the UAH 805,200 in bail he had paid.

Trial proceedings against the other defendants are ongoing.

In June 2023, MP Nina Mezentseva — who has been on the wanted list since June 2022 — filed a complaint with the High Council of Justice seeking disciplinary action against HACC Appeals Chamber judges Serhii Bodnar, Viktor Pankulych, and Ihor Panaid. She alleged that at one of the hearings the judges resumed proceedings after an air raid alert, but without the participation of her defense counsel.

The First Disciplinary Chamber of the High Council of Justice imposed disciplinary liability on the judges in the form of a warning.