Court Gives Year Of Probation To Person Involved In Sytnyk And Kholodnytskyi Bribery Case And Ordered To Pay UAH 100 Million To AFU

The High Anti-Corruption Court approved the agreement between the prosecutor's office and the person involved in the bribery case of former heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SACPO), Artem Sytnyk and Nazar Kholodnytskyi, giving him a 1-year of probation term and ordering him to pay UAH 100 million for the purchase of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The court announced such a decision on March 28, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

In accordance with the agreement, the court found the former manager of Burisma Group company Andrii Kicha guilty of aiding and abetting the granting of an unlawful benefit to the heads of the NACB and SACPO, i.e. of committing a criminal offense provided for in Part 5 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to the court's verdict, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

On the basis of Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court released him from serving the prescribed sentence with a probationary period of one year.

According to the terms of the agreement, Kicha is obliged to cooperate with the prosecution, and within 5 days after the approval of the plea agreement, transfer UAH 100,000,000 to a special account of the United 24 fund for a joint project of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, State Special Communications Service and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine - Army of Drones.

On June 12, 2020, the head of a group of companies affiliated with the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine during the Yanukovych era, Mykola Zlochevskyi, was detained along with other individuals for an attempt to provide illegal benefits in the amount of USD 5 million to the leadership of anti-corruption agencies.

The money was intended for closing the criminal proceedings against Zlochevskyi.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, USD 6 million in bribes for closing the case against former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevskyi was transferred to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The High Anti-Corruption Court began to judge ex-Minister of Ecology Zlochevskyi in absentia.