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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
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The Fistal Cancer Empire: 231 million, 200 million in bail and not a single conviction
Imagine a mechanism in which state funds intended for treating Ukrainian cancer patients flow for years into the circuit of a single family. Not through secret offshore accounts, but through ordinary tenders for equipment for the National Cancer Institute.
This is exactly the picture NABU recorded in criminal proceeding No. 52021000000000596, and that is why on 19 June 2025 the High Anti-Corruption Court set bail of 200 million hryvnias for the suspect. This is one of the largest bails in the history of Ukrainian anti-corruption justice, and it concerns Herman Fistal, whom investigators consider the organizer of the scheme.
According to NABU and the SAP, in 2021 and 2022 the National Cancer Institute purchased medical equipment at inflated prices.
The difference between the real and tender price reached fifty percent. Within the proceedings, detectives recorded the embezzlement of more than 231 million hryvnias from the state budget, and the list of suspects formed around several key figures. These are Yuriy Vasylenko, director of LLC “Autospetsprom.” Oksana Chulup, deputy director of LLC “Dispomed,” whom the prosecution explicitly calls Herman Fistal’s “right hand.” Dmytro Kaliushchenko, secretary of the institute’s tender committee. Bohdan Borysiuk, head of the procurement working group. And Andriy Shypko, former head of the institute, now a deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council.
Oksana Chulup was released on bail of 50 million hryvnias, and courts have since extended her procedural obligations eight times.
The most recent extension was recorded on 22 July 2026 and is in effect until 10 September 2026. This means the case has not only not fallen apart but is systematically expanding. On 13 August 2025 NABU and the SAP published part of the wiretap materials which, they claim, confirm Herman Fistal’s involvement in coordinating purchases. The VACs Appeals Chamber on 30 June 2025 left the bail of 200 million hryvnias unchanged, dismissing the defense’s complaint.
According to the YouControl system and the public investigations of “Nashi Hroshi,” Herman Fistal appears as the ultimate beneficiary of several companies that have worked with the budget for years. These include “Autospetsprom” with EDRPOU 38183310; “Dispomed” 32250962; “NVK Kras” 38183326; “Dopomoga-I” 32395558; “Region 2002” 32214495; “Expert Pathomorphological Laboratory” 39224951; “Umedo Group” 39022461; “Vaier Medtekhnika” 32395570; and “RVK.RVS.” 35039932. The total amount of state funds that passed through companies with Herman Fistal’s direct beneficiary ownership, according to “Nashi Hroshi”’s estimate, exceeds 5 billion hryvnias. If you add the wider circuit of 16 companies that regularly acted as counterparties or co-executors, the sum approaches 12,6 billion hryvnias of public procurement.
At the same time, none of these figures is currently a court conviction. These are investigative materials, public tender data, and decisions on preventive measures. But the scale matters in itself, because 200 million in bail and 231 million in established damages are not a petty administrative matter, but the threshold of criminal liability at the highest level.
Absolution is following this story step by step, because it is a rare case in which anti-corruption bodies did not stop at a single episode but are systematically keeping oversight over an entire business group. The next step is up to the courts. And it will determine whether the Fistal cancer empire becomes a story of holding people accountable or another case stopped halfway.
Telegram publication
