The HACC approved a plea agreement with businessman Serhii Tyshchenko, one of the organizers of the scheme to embezzle the seized “Kurchenko's oil products.” The court gave Tyshchenko a suspended sentence of 8 years of imprisonment, without confiscation of property.

“Kurchenko's oil products” are oil products seized in 2014 in the case of Serhii Kurchenko, owner of the East European Fuel-Energy Company; they were stored at the Odesa Oil Refinery, Kherson Oil Transshipment, and the oil depot in Vasylkiv. They were planned to be sold under the “interrupted transit” scheme: legally, they were to pass through Ukraine, but instead, the intention was to sell them here.

The investigation established that in 2014–2018, a criminal organization operated in Ukraine, allegedly headed by Serhii Pashynskyi, then head of the Presidential Administration, and businessman Serhii Tyshchenko. The aim of the individuals in the case was to take possession of nearly 97,000 tons of oil products and misappropriate the funds from their sale. The fuel was to be recovered for the state, which is why they decided to arrange its transfer to entities under their control under the guise of the “sale of physical evidence.”

Read more about the main episode of the case at the link.

The criminal organization established full control over the state-owned enterprise Ukrtransnaftoproduct, including by appointing loyal persons to managerial positions.

Ukroilproduct LLC, a company under their control, was chosen for the role of buyer of the seized oil products, and two more firms, Itanix Strong and Trade Invest Company, which were under their de facto control, were chosen for the subsequent siphoning off of the funds. SE Ukrtransnaftoproduct and Ukroilproduct LLC concluded a contract under which the state-owned enterprise sold the fuel at a below-market price, citing a “forced sale” and granting deferred payment.

Proceeds from the sale were allegedly routed through Fortuna Bank, owned by Tyshchenko’s mother. To disguise the scheme, detectives allege that Pashynskyi and Tyshchenko attempted to purchase other petroleum products in Belarus and Russia, with the intention of later reselling them to the state at inflated prices.

After Fortuna Bank was declared insolvent in 2017, payments to the state enterprise stopped, and Ukroilproduct LLC was allegedly liquidated through a bankruptcy procedure.  As a result, part of the funds simply disappeared.As a consequence of these actions, the total losses, according to NABU's current data, amounted to UAH 967 million (UAH 817 million taking into account the excise duty paid).

Tyshchenko's actions were classified under Article 255(1) and Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In September 2025, Serhii Tyshchenko concluded a plea agreement with the prosecutor. The HACC approved the agreement and sentenced Tyshchenko to 8 years of imprisonment, with deprivation of the right to hold positions in state and local government bodies and at state and municipal enterprises, institutions, and organizations for a period of 3 years, without confiscation of property. Tyshchenko was, however, released from serving the principal sentence with a 3-year probationary period.

In addition, under the terms of the agreement, Tyshchenko has already transferred UAH 40 million for the needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine and must pay another UAH 110 million to the state budget within 3 years of the verdict entering into legal force. The agreement was approved in a closed hearing, for security reasons and to preserve the secrecy of the investigation.