The former director of the state-owned enterprise “Polygrafkombinat” was informed of suspicion as part of an international investigation into abuses related to the production of passports. About this reported National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The suspect once held the position of Minister of Health.
According to the circumstances of the case, we are talking about Maksym Stepanov, who held the position of Minister of Health from March 2020 to May 2021. In July 2023, he became a participant in the NABU investigation into the activities of the polygraph factory, and in September of the same year he was arrested in absentia.
According to the investigation, the suspect demanded an undue benefit from a French company that developed protective design elements for document forms. In response, the company was allowed to supply its products to the state-owned enterprise. The deliveries were made through an Estonian gasket company controlled by the head of Polygraph Complex. This company purchased materials at market prices, and then resold them to the enterprise at significantly inflated prices – 4-6 times more expensive.
Copyrights obtained illegally were registered to an Estonian company at the EU Intellectual Property Office. After a change in the management of the printing plant and the transition to direct purchases from the manufacturer, a new contract was signed with the French company. According to it, royalties for the use of the design were paid to the Estonian firm, which was also included in the price of the products for the state-owned enterprise.
Thus, every Ukrainian actually overpaid due to a deliberate increase in the cost of materials, and part of the funds went to the suspect as payment for the so-called intellectual contribution. In the period from 2018 to 2021, about 7 million euros of royalties were transferred to the accounts of the Estonian company, which were then legalized through offshore companies. Part of these funds — more than $124,000 — ended up in the account of the suspect’s daughter.
In response to the exposed abuses, detectives took steps to eliminate the scheme. At the beginning of 2022, the government supported the NABU initiative and updated the technical requirements for the design of protective elements of Ukrainian documents. A submission was also submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers with a proposal to cancel the registration of a design containing state symbols for an Estonian company.
The investigation is being carried out within the framework of an international investigative group with the participation of law enforcement officers of Ukraine, Estonia and France, coordinated by Eurojust.
