Defendants in $260,000 bribery case may escape punishment

Participants in a scheme linked to a $260,000 bribe allegedly intended for the former head of the Ukrainian Danube Steamship Company (UDSC), Dmytro Chalyi, may avoid punishment. This is the conclusion reached by journalists from the Absolution detective bureau.

The case in question is No. 42018040000001410, which began back in 2018. At that time, law enforcement agencies exposed an attempt to illegally sell the state-owned riverboat "Nikolai Savitsky", which belongs to the UDSC. The vessel, built in 1988, had a market value of approximately $700,000.

The Ministry of Infrastructure put the vessel up for sale via auction, and the organisation of the bidding process was entrusted to the UDSC jointly with the First Ukrainian Interregional Commodity Exchange. However, instead of a transparent transaction, officials set up a corruption scheme.

How the deal was planned

Mark Kryvopaltsev, an advisor to the general director of the UDSC, together with a representative of the exchange, proposed that the buyer purchase the vessel at a discounted price. In return, they demanded a $260,000 bribe, allegedly to ensure the necessary decision from the ministry officials.

The essence of the scheme was that the riverboat was sold for less than its actual value, and the difference between the sale price and the market price was to end up in the pockets of the deal's organisers.

The arrest took place in Dnipro, the hometown of Kryvopaltsev and his alleged accomplice Yuri Serebrianyi. When $100,000 was being handed over at a currency exchange point, law enforcement officers conducted an operation and seized the money.

The defendants were charged with abuse of influence (Part 3, Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). However, in court, the charge was changed to fraud (Part 2, Article 15; Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code). The last hearing in the case took place on 28 May 2024, and new hearings have been scheduled for the end of the month.

Prospects for exemption from punishment

According to legal analysis, given the prolonged consideration of the case, the statute of limitations for holding the defendants liable may expire, which would lead to exemption from punishment.

Although Dmytro Chalyi, who headed the UDSC in 2018, was not officially detained, his name has repeatedly surfaced in corruption scandals surrounding the state enterprise. The implementation of such schemes would have been impossible without the knowledge or tacit consent of the management.

Chalyi himself denies involvement in the fraud. He is currently running a restaurant business in Europe.