Today, the High Anti-Corruption Court was unable to hold a full preparatory hearing in the case concerning an alleged corruption scheme involving the sale, at undervalued prices, of seized property transferred to ARMA for management. During the hearing, it emerged that one of the defendants—a property appraiser—could not appear due to military service. However, the court did consider a motion filed by the defense of another defendant, Viktor Vyshniov, seeking a change to his interim measure.
The defendants in this case include former ARMA Head Anton Yanchuk; former SE SETAM director Viktor Vyshniov; former head of the Asset Management Department at ARMA’s central office Vitalii Riznyk; a specialist from SE SETAM’s enterprise development division; two appraisers; the founder and director of a private company; and four lawyers.
According to investigators, the organizer of the entire corruption scheme is lawyer Andrii Dovbenko. The case materials allege that he organized a scheme to sell seized property at an artificially reduced value. The assets include land plots, several thousand tons of river sand, urea, and grain, cereal, and oilseed crops.
Notably, social media users have pointed out that Andrii Dovbenko is currently building a public image as an investor interested in defense and agricultural technology companies and in increasing the commercial potential of startups in these sectors. It is also reflected on his website. During court proceedings, he has repeatedly stated that he lives and works in the United Kingdom.
On April 10, 2023, the NABU placed Andrii Dovbenko on the wanted list, and on April 19, 2023, HACC ordered his in absentia detention. A special pre-trial investigation was later conducted in his case. There is no publicly available information about any attempts to extradite him.
On May 1, 2025, the SAPO referred the indictment in this case to court. Investigators identified four episodes of alleged criminal activity involving the sale of:
- three land plots in the Odesa region purchased for the construction of retail chain stores (their real value was reduced 18-fold),
- 2.6 thousand tons of medium- and fine-grained river sand in the Kyiv region (valued more than six times below market),
- more than 4.5 thousand tons of urea (valued nearly five times below market),
- grain, cereal, and oilseed crops (valued four times below market).
The first preparatory hearing was scheduled for May 23, 2025. As of today, the case remains at the preparatory stage; among other things, Andrii Dovbenko participates via videoconference.
