Police Ran Over a Dealer Who Told Journalists About Corruption in Medicine

The police began a thorough check of the pharmacom company right after journalists published comments from its owner in the investigation into the new deputy minister of health Ihor Ivashchenko and his work at a scandalous firm that supplied medicines at inflated prices and has potentially corrupt ties with the Security Service of Ukraine. This is what Bihus.Info learned from National Police letters.

20 In July, the investigation “Fear and Profligacy at the Ministry of Health” about the new deputy minister of health Ihor Ivashchenko was published. Before his appointment he worked as commercial director at LLC Link-Medital, which supplied healthcare facilities with medicines and other medical goods at inflated prices and siphoned money to offshore firms-”shells,” including one controlled by the owner’s family of “Link.” Similar schemes should have been investigated by the SBU, but it turned out that the owner of “Link” maintains close relations with employees of the Service responsible for the medical direction—the firm is housed in the office of one wife and uses the legal services of another wife. In the plot, comments by Serhiy Leden, owner of another pharmacom pany “Diaviti,” were heard. He told journalists that these two SBU employees demanded kickbacks on tenders, and after the businessman refused, the firm received several criminal proceedings involving the SBU.

A day after the air date, 22 in July, the Main Investigative Department of the National Police sent two letters to “Diaviti.” They stated that the police are investigating a criminal case 12020000000000257 from 13.03.2020 “on the fact of appropriation of budget funds by officials of the Health Department of the Kyiv city state administration, in conspiracy with officials of commercial entities – suppliers of medicines.” In this regard, they request documents from the company about cooperation with the Kyiv City Administration for the last three years.

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The police want contracts, invoices, waybills, acts, receipts, certificates and certificates, the full package of documents on the import of goods. In addition, documents on price calculation, the company’s capacity to fulfill contracts. Also the National Police asks to release all tax accounting, internet provider, all IP addresses, list all persons who worked in the company, who submitted documents for tenders, who calculated the price of goods, and who in the last three years received non-repayable financial support from the company. Moreover, the police request that within two weeks they copy and hand over three years’ documentation, and they require signing and stamping each page.

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Serhiy Khrystyinchanko, director of the “Diaviti” department, in a comment to Bihus.Info said that the police’s demands are strange, because the information about procurements that the law enforcement officers are demanding is publicly available in the public procurement system: “The volume of information is tons of paper, while 95% is in Prozorro.” He also noted that after half a year of the proceedings, the company is first receiving requests from the National Police in this case.

By contrast, a similar list of documents the police had already demanded in the spring, Khrystyinchanko adds. Then “Diaviti” received a letter demanding information within another proceeding, No. 12018100000000939 from 24.09.2018 year. According to the court registry, this is an old proceeding concerning supply of medicines and medical tests not by “Diaviti” but by the international organization UNDP, under a contract between internationals and the MOH. Nevertheless, documents were prepared for the company—but the police did not take them. At that time, the country announced a quarantine due to the coronavirus; the investigator said he would take them later, but since then has not contacted.

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