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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Among other things, Artem Shiro must pay a fine.
The High Anti-Corruption Court approved the plea deal of former adviser to the president's office Artem Shila in the case concerning embezzlement at Ukrzaliznytsia, according to Transparency International Ukraine. As a result, he avoided imprisonment, which would have been eight years.
In particular, Shila was found guilty under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
part 3 of art. 27 (types of accomplices, in part 3 it concerns the organizer of the criminal group — ed.);
part 5 of art. 191 (appropriation, misappropriation of property or unlawful possession of it through abuse of official position, committed in especially large amounts or by an organized group — ed.);
part 3 of art. 209 (legalization (money laundering) of property obtained by criminal means, committed by an organized group or in especially large amount — ed.)
The court sentenced Shila to 8 years of imprisonment and, for three years, deprived him of the right to hold positions related to the management or administration in military formations and law enforcement agencies. However, on the basis of art. 75 (release from serving punishment with probation — ed.) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, instead of prison, a probation term of three years was set.
Additionally, according to the agreement, Shila must pay 204 million UAH as a fine. He will pay this amount in installments: 51 million UAH each quarter. The agreement with the investigation also provides for special confiscation:
an apartment of 183,5 square meters and two apartments of 102,3 square meters;
money totaling 325,7 million UAH.
“The arrest of the asset for the ex-law enforcement officer by the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) has been lifted to the extent of the personal Mercedes-Benz car,” summarized TI Ukraine.
Artem Shilo was named as a suspect in spring 2024 year. It concerns events 2021-2022 years when an organized group led by Shilo, during transformer procurements at inflated prices, embezzled money of Ukrzaliznytsia. The state losses were estimated at 94,8 million UAH. An interesting detail is that the transformers were procured through a shell company controlled in part by legal entities from Russia.
As early as November 2022 year, in the Bihus.Info investigation it was reported that Artem Shilo, during ten years of public service, accumulated property worth nearly $4 million. He was also described as close to the deputy head of the president’s office, Oleh Tatarov, and to the people who “watch over the railroad.” Additionally, Shilo is associated with the emergence of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet in Ukraine.
How does SAP use the instrument of deals? What lies behind the decisions: the possibility to expose other defendants and ensure compensation of damages, or risk of statute of limitations expiration and delaying court proceedings? How to assess the real benefit for the state? In the article “Fair deal: do deals with investigators actually work in top corruption cases?” senior legal adviser at Transparency International Ukraine Pavlo Demchuk analyzes the advantages, risks, and problems of applying this mechanism.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Розкрадання в «Укрзалізниці»: ВАКС затвердив угоду Шила, і той уникнув в’язниці". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
