On November 27, 2024, the panel of judges of the HACC acquitted Judge Tetiana Denysiuk, who is associated with the gas schemes of former MP Onyshchenko, due to the lack of evidence of criminal offense elements in her actions. The court also overturned the seizure of her property.
According to the presiding judge Khamzin, “the behavior of the accused Denysiuk was not impeccable, but the court, guided by the principle of the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt, did not find elements of the criminal offense in her actions under Art. 364, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.”
Tetiana Denysiuk is a judge of the Economic Court of Kharkiv Oblast. According to the investigation, in 2016, she ruled in favor of the Karpatnadrainvest company in a dispute with the state-owned Ukrgazvydobuvannya. Namely, she reduced the amount of penalty for LLC by UAH 40 million and postponed the enforcement of the decision to recover more than UAH 3 million of debt for a year, despite the absence of documentary grounds for such a decision.
The judge also ordered the state-owned enterprise to transfer the seized gas and condensate to the private company. In particular, the prosecution points out that Denysiuk exceeded her powers in adopting such a decision and established grounds for canceling the arrest in criminal proceedings while hearing an economic case. Subsequently, such a decision was overturned in the appellate instance.
Karpatnadrainvest is associated with former MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko. Natural gas of this company was previously seized in criminal proceedings on the “gas schemes” of Onyshchenko. Back in 2015, the NABU investigated a case of embezzlement during the extraction and sale of natural gas. In order not to lose profits, the participants of the scheme decided to sell this gas to intermediaries on fictitious exchanges at low prices. Losses for the state for the year of the scheme's operation amounted to approximately UAH 3 bln. In April 2024, the HACC sentenced Onyshchenko in absentia to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.
On May 26, 2021, the HACC acquitted Denysiuk because her indictment was based only on assumptions. In December 2022, the HACC AC partially granted the prosecutor's appeal, overturned the HACC decision and ordered a new trial in the court of first instance.
The prosecutor asked to sentence Denysiuk to 5 years in prison with a fine of UAH 17,000 and deprivation of the right to hold positions in public authorities for 3 years.
Instead, the defense asked to acquit the judge due to the lack of elements of the offense and socially dangerous consequences. In their opinion, no new circumstances have been established after the case was heard in the HACC AC.