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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General are investigating a possible scheme to siphon funds from the municipal enterprise Kyiv Metro through leasing payments for 100 rail cars. According to the investigation, Pavlo Fuks may be involved in the transactions, and some of the money may have been transferred to accounts of related persons and converted into cryptocurrency.
According to the case materials, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, at the prosecutor’s request from the Office of the Prosecutor General, froze funds in accounts at the payment institution Papaya Ltd that are linked to Fuks and another person, as well as the remaining balance of loyalty program points of the Estonian Baltic Technology Solutions OU. Expenditure operations have been suspended.
How the wagon leasing scheme arose
In July 2009, Ukrrosleasing LLC won a tender to supply 100 rail cars to Kyiv Metro under a lease. The total contract amount with the payment schedule was 1,391 billion UAH. Part of the financing was provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
In February 2010, the owner of the Ukrainian company became the Cypriot Ukrrosleasing Cyprus Limited. It provided the Ukrainian subsidiary with a loan of over 42 million USD to purchase cars from Russian manufacturers. According to the case materials, the funds for the loan initially came from the Russian state bank VEB.RF.
In April 2017, Pavlo Fuks, through the Seychelles company TOP STONE LTD, bought 100% of Ukrrosleasing Cyprus Limited from a structure affiliated with VEB.RF. Available data indicate the deal was executed at nominal value, while the investigation suggests actual settlements may have been made via parallel payments.
In December 2018, the formal owner of the company became the Hungarian Odelus-Construkt KFT, represented by Austrian citizen Uwe Christian Eschner. At the same time, the managers of the Cypriot and Ukrainian companies did not change.
Open Ukrainian registries list Eschner as the ultimate beneficiary of Austro-Hungarian Leasing Company LLC, formerly known as Ukrrosleasing. The founder is listed as Ukrrosleasing Cyprus Limited, and the director as Oleh Tolstyk. Fuks himself has stated that he sold the company in 2018.
Where Kyiv Metro’s money was transferred
According to the investigation, from late 2018 to 2022, over 1,75 billion UAH — approximately 57 million EUR — was transferred from Kyiv Metro’s accounts to the leasing company’s account.
Of that sum, 886,5 million UAH, or about 28,88 million EUR, the company transferred to accounts of Ukrrosleasing Cyprus Limited at Austria’s LGT Bank AG and Bank Winter & Co. AG. The payment descriptions stated repayment of a loan under the 2010 contract.
The investigation also points to possible nonpayment of corporate income tax on these amounts of at least 54 million UAH. Previously, the Supreme Court recovered 1,924 billion UAH from the leasing company in favor of Kyiv Metro.
Further, according to the case materials, funds from the Cypriot company’s Austrian account were transferred to Fuks’s personal account at LGT Bank, to accounts of Odelus-Construkt KFT, the Swiss IAS INCOR ALLIANCE SWISS AG, and the Cypriot company’s corporate secretary.
Part of the money from Odelus-Construkt KFT’s accounts and the personal account, the investigation alleges, was transferred to relatives and former partners of Fuks. Among the amounts listed in the materials are 1,63 million EUR for a daughter, 1 million EUR for a wife, 5 million EUR for a son, and 4,6 million EUR for an ex-wife. Some funds also went to Emirates NBD bank in the United Arab Emirates.
Cryptocurrency transactions and asset seizure
Since 2025, the investigation has recorded cryptocurrency transfers through the Lithuanian and Polish companies Manerio, as well as the Maltese electronic money institution Papaya Ltd.
According to the case materials, tens of millions of euros accumulated on Fuks’s accounts at Papaya and the related Estonian company Baltic Technology Solutions OU, which administers a loyalty program. Sources of inflows are said to include sales of the stablecoin USDC and transfers from the Austrian Petrotek Assets Holding GmbH. According to the investigation, some funds were routed to other persons.
The criminal proceeding includes charges under the Criminal Code of Ukraine for sabotage, legalization of proceeds from crime in especially large amounts, and evasion of tax payment in especially large amounts.
Currently, the court has frozen the specified funds and the remaining loyalty program points, prohibiting their disposal and use. The circumstances of the case and the role of each suspect must be established during the investigation.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Від вагонів метро до криптовалюти: суд заблокував 2 мільярди гривень, пов’язані з Павлом Фуксом". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: HAB Media.
