The SBU announced a new suspicion against Viktor Medvedchuk and representatives of the former top management of “Prykarpatzakhidtrans”

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have collected a large-scale evidence base that confirms the illegality of the privatization of the state oil pipeline “Samara-Western direction” in 2015. According to these data, suspicion was reported to ex-Nardeput Viktor Medvedchuk and four representatives of the former top management of “Prykarpatzakhidtrans”, which took over and managed the oil pipeline. About this reported in the SBU.

Suspicions were declared under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 28, Part 3 of Art. 365-2 (abuse of authority by persons providing public services);
• Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 28, Part 2 of Art. 384 (misleading the court or other authorized body);
• Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 5 of Art. 191 (appropriation of other people’s property by abuse of official position, committed on a particularly large scale by an organized group);
• Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 209 (organization of the acquisition, possession and use of funds, as a result of the commission of a socially dangerous illegal act, which preceded the legalization of income, committed by an organized group and in a particularly large amount).

The organizer of the illegal privatization scheme was Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected of high treason. According to available data, he started implementing the scheme in 2015, acting in coordination with the then top political leadership of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

Medvedchuk involved third parties, who later received management positions at the company that “privatized” the oil pipeline.

After the collapse of the USSR, the oil pipeline “Samara-Western Direction” remained in the possession of Russia. Since 2005, Ukraine has been proving its right to own it through the courts, and in 2014-2015 this right was confirmed by the Appellate and Higher Economic Courts. However, with the support of the Ukrainian leadership at the time, Medvedchuk managed to overturn this decision through the Rivne Commercial Court and formalize the sale of the oil pipeline to a Swiss company controlled by the participants in the scheme.

Medvedchuk and his accomplices ensured the operation of the oil pipeline through the Prykarpatzakhidtrans enterprise, and the profits received were transferred to the accounts of affiliated foreign companies.

This information is confirmed by the evidence collected by NABU and SBU, as well as the testimony of Viktor Medvedchuk himself, which he voluntarily provided before the exchange with Russia.

Since May 2019, the pumping of diesel fuel through the pipeline has been blocked for its return to state ownership. Law enforcement agencies investigated the legality of privatization. In January 2024, the Supreme Court of Ukraine finally recognized the Ukrainian part of the oil pipeline as state property.

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. A complex of measures is being taken to bring the suspects who are abroad to justice, and also to establish the circle of all those involved in this illegal arrangement.

According to the first part of Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until his guilt is proven in a legal manner and established by a court verdict.