Under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, two beneficial owners of non-resident companies and the CEO of a Ukrainian company have been notified of suspicion regarding fraud and official forgery (part 4 of Article 190, part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to the investigation, the owners of a group of companies engaged in grain transshipment from the terminals of the Odesa port signed a loan agreement with an American investor for 20 million US dollars. The collateral was allegedly defined as products available in the port area, with the final settlement date set for December 2021.

The accomplices organized the forgery of official documents regarding the existence of the pledged property, as well as its quantity, type, class, and year of harvest. In this way, they created the impression of proper security for the fulfillment of obligations to the representatives of the American company, thereby misleading them.

After the loan repayment period expired, specifically between May and August 2022, the suspects simulated the destruction of the pledged agricultural products due to spoilage to conceal the crime. For authenticity, they transferred funds from the company for the alleged disposal of the grain, although in fact, it did not take place.

As part of documenting the criminal activity, law enforcement conducted searches in the Odesa, Sumy, Kirovohrad, Lviv regions, Kyiv, and Odesa at the locations of the offices of legal entities, grain terminals, a shell company, as well as at the residences of the suspects.

As a result of the measures taken and the conducted examinations, it was established that there were no grain products that had been transferred by the pledgor as security for the fulfillment of obligations under the loan agreement.

Currently, one of the organizers of the criminal scheme has been chosen as a preventive measure in the form of detention with a bail set at 557 million UAH. Two others, who are citizens of foreign states, have been declared wanted.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police of Ukraine.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict.