Case description
On September 10, 2021, the HACC found Volodymyr Ivantsov and Serhii Afonin, two directors of private companies, guilty of aiding and abetting abuse of office in the procurement of works for a mine in the Luhansk region at inflated prices.
The Ivantsov and Afonin case is an episode of the larger Pervomaiskvuhillia case. In 2017, a critical situation occurred in the occupied Luhansk region with the flooding of two mines, which led the Cabinet of Ministers to allocate funds to prevent a man-made disaster at the Zolote mine, then under Ukrainian control. Pervomaiskvuhillia was supposed to manage the funds.
The state enterprise chose the general contractor outside the tender, which turned out to be E-MKZ LLC (Experimental Mechanical Kurakhiv Plant), run by Volodymyr Ivantsov. He signed an additional subcontract with another company, Alliance Zhytlobudinvest, headed by Serhii Afonin.
The investigation established that Ivantsov implemented the criminal plan in collusion with Afonin and the head of the national enterprise. Thus, Ivantsov gave directions to the subcontractor to purchase materials at inflated prices from two private companies. Afonin also signed contracts with the mine to have its employees carry out the necessary work. In June-October 2018, the total value of all service acceptance certificates amounted over UAH 38 million.
Of this money, the overpayment amounted to more than UAH 16 million, but over UAH 14 million was illegally paid. The investigation assured that the embezzlement of more than UAH 3.5 million was prevented.
Ivantsov and Afonin's actions were classified under Article 27, part 5 and Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as well as Article 366, part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (forgery in office). Both got suspended sentences with a 3-year probationary period, were fined UAH 8,500 and deprived of the right to hold certain positions for a year and a half. Prior to that, they concluded plea agreements under which they agreed to testify in a major corruption case against Pervomaiskvuhillia.
