An indictment against seven officials and employees of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (Poltava GZK), owned by fugitive oligarch Konstantin Zhevago, was submitted to the court. By data State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), they are accused of embezzling over 370 million hryvnias.
According to the results of the investigation, in the period from 2019 to 2021, the management of the plant illegally disposed of minerals of national importance without the appropriate permits for subsoil use. They sold mineral raw materials worth almost 80 million hryvnias at discounted prices to controlled enterprises.
“They sold them to controlled entities of economic activity at reduced prices without the corresponding special permit for the use of subsoil. In this way, the accused sold almost UAH 80 million worth of mineral raw materials to “their companies” at a price of UAH 30-50 per ton.”, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
The charges were brought under the articles on the appropriation of other people’s property and the legalization of income obtained by criminal means (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The extras face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
It will be recalled that in June 2023, law enforcement officers handed suspicions to the managers of Poltava GZK PrJSC, who are accused of embezzling almost 400 million hryvnias. In July, the court chose a preventive measure for them in the form of arrest with the possibility of a bail of 2 to 60 million hryvnias.
The Poltava Mining and Processing Plant is part of the Ferrexpo plc group, which is controlled by Konstantin Zhevago. The company is one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality iron ore pellets and a significant payer of subsoil rent.
It will be recalled that in October 2019, the SBI declared Kostyantyn Zhevago wanted. He is suspected of embezzling 2.5 billion hryvnias from the bank “Finance and Credit” and declaring false information.
