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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The verdict for Pashynskyi provides for about 1,1 billion UAH in payments to the state and the Armed Forces.
Former head of the High Anti-Corruption Court Vira Mykhailenko explained why the court approved the plea agreement of the former Head of the Presidential Administration Serhii Pashynskyi, under which he must transfer 400 million UAH to the Come Back Alive fund and 100 million UAH to the Sternenko Community fund. According to her, which charitable organizations receive the payments and in what amounts is agreed by the prosecution and the defense, and the court checks whether such an agreement complies with the law.
"The court cannot say: 'No, dear prosecutor, dear defendant, defense counsel, let's have you transfer the funds not there but here.' The court does not have such powers," Mykhailenko said on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
She explained that support for the Armed Forces in the form of charitable payments is a voluntary condition agreed by the parties to the deal. If they have designated specific funds and this does not contradict the law, the court is obliged to approve such an agreement.
24 September VAKS approved a plea agreement in the case concerning the illegal disposal of seized petroleum products of Serhii Kurchenko. SAP did not name the person involved, but the Anti-Corruption Centre reported that it concerns the former member of parliament and acting head of the Presidential Administration Serhii Pashynskyi.
According to SAP, the case concerns events from March–June 2014. The investigation believes that Pashynskyi used his official position to appropriate seized petroleum products, causing the state losses of more than 817 million UAH. He was also accused of participation in a criminal organization.
Under the terms of the agreement, Pashynskyi fully admitted guilt under part 2 of article 364 and part 1 of article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and also agreed to provide incriminating testimony to the investigation.
The total amount he must pay or direct for the benefit of the state and the Armed Forces is about 1,1 billion UAH.
Of this amount, 600 million UAH are provided as compensation for damages to the state. The money is to be paid into the general fund of the state budget in installments over 2,5 years after the verdict takes effect.
Another 400 million UAH Pashynskyi must transfer to the Come Back Alive fund. The agreement also allows, instead of a transfer, to provide arms deliveries for that amount — according to a list agreed with the fund. The arms can be transferred to the fund’s balance sheet or directly to military units at its direction.
Another 100 million UAH are allocated to the Sternenko Community fund for the purchase of arms for the Armed Forces. This must be done within 30 days after the verdict takes effect.
Pashynskyi must also pay a fine of 850 thousand UAH as the primary punishment. Another 17 thousand UAH fine is provided as an additional punishment together with deprivation of the right to hold positions in state bodies and local self-government for one year.
The court did not order confiscation of property. SAP explained that the corresponding additional punishment under article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was introduced in June 2020, that is, after the events that were the subject of the case.
The Pashynskyi case
12 February 2024, the SBU, NABU and SAP informed about suspicion of the former member of parliament and acting head of the Presidential Administration Serhii Pashynskyi. On the same day law enforcement reported suspicions against his business partner and four other people.
NABU released a recording of a conversation between Pashynskyi and businessman Serhii Tyshchenko. They discussed the seizure of accounts of the company Ukroyilprodukt and petroleum products. 13 February VAKS placed Tyshchenko in custody for two months with the possibility of bail set at 363 million UAH.
In 2014 the state seized almost 100 thousand tons of petroleum products that belonged to structures of businessman Serhii Kurchenko, who was close to fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych. According to the investigation, with Pashynskyi’s help they were transferred for sale to a state enterprise in order to replenish the budget.
The SBU said that the enterprise’s officials facilitated the sale of almost 100 thousand tons of petroleum products at significantly understated prices to a group of companies owned by Pashynskyi’s business partner.
Later the state enterprise, to create the appearance of transferring petroleum products for the needs of the Ministry of Defense, made corresponding deliveries on a commercial basis. The ministry paid for them in full.
According to the SBU, the Ministry of Defense received only 1,6% of the 'Kurchenko petroleum products.' The rest, according to the investigation, consisted of petroleum products the same group of companies purchased in Russia and Belarus.
In 2020 the court decided to confiscate the petroleum products and the money obtained from their sale in favor of the state. However, according to the investigation, by that time they had already been appropriated by the members of the criminal organization. The SBU estimated damage to the state budget at at least 967 million UAH.
26 February 2024 VAKS placed Pashynskyi in custody with bail set at 272,52 million UAH. The next day bail was posted for him. Pashynskyi stated that the money was posted by enterprises that are members of the National Association of Defense Industry Enterprises.
5 September 2025 SAP reported VAKS’s approval of a plea agreement for another figure in this case — Serhii Tyshchenko. The court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but released him from serving the main sentence with a probation period of three years.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tyshchenko transferred 40 million UAH to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and must pay another 110 million UAH to the state budget within three years after the verdict takes effect.
Half of the verdicts in VAKS end with plea agreements. For prosecutors this is a saving of resources, for defendants — a chance to avoid a multi-year process. But society often perceives it as a 'buy-off' — primarily because SAP and VAKS do not publicly explain the logic of their decisions.
The head of the "Law and Order" direction at the Legislative Initiatives Laboratory, Yevhen Krapyvyn, in the article "VAKS agreements: an effective compromise or a buy-off for corrupt officials?" analyzed why agreements are not avoidance but a mechanism for the inevitability of punishment.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Чому пів мільярда від Пашинського підуть саме фондам "Повернись живим" і Стерненка: пояснення ексголови ВАКС". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
