Case description
On April 7, 2023, the HACC found Volodymyr Skorodynskyi, former official of the Production Support Center of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC, guilty of abusing the procurement of natural gas, which caused UAH 204 million in losses to the state. He got a suspended sentence based on a plea agreement with the SAPO prosecutor.
Volodymyr Skorodynskyi is a former head of the Fuel Warehouse Accounting Department of the Oil Products Accounting and Warehousing Department of the UZ Production Support Center. In addition to him, the case involved Serhii Belashov, a member of the Poltava Regional Council, as well as Vitalii Tsvihun and Yevhen Nikitin, former directors of the branch of the UZ Production Support Center.
According to the investigation, from December 2016 to February 2020, officials of the UZ Production Support Center, in collusion with representatives of gas companies, organized the purchase of gas bypassing tender procedures and agreed on an additional markup for gas supplies, which ranged from UAH 200 to UAH 1,000 per thousand cubic meters.
Skorodynskyi received his position without any work experience and, according to the investigation, decided to unconditionally follow the instructions of his superiors in order to be promoted. He was introduced to representatives of Yug-Gaz LLC and Skela Tercium LLC: he was to buy gas only from them. The first company is connected to Odesa-based businessman Ihor Uchytel, and the second belongs to the sister of Poltava MP Belashov.
Between March 2018 and January 2020, the former official deliberately failed to initiate the announcement of tenders and ignored the AMCU's decisions in the announced procedures. This blocked further bidding and caused state losses of UAH 204 million.
Skorodynskyi was charged with Article 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He concluded a plea agreement, so the court exempted him from 5 years in prison with a probationary period of 2 years, fined him UAH 17,000, and banned him from holding certain positions for 2 years. In addition, he was ordered to pay UAH 2 million in damages to Ukrzaliznytsia.
