Ex-deputy justice minister charged with embezzlement, faces 12 years in jail if convicted

The State Bureau of Investigation has pressed charges against the former deputy minister of justice, who allowed the embezzlement of property worth more than 10 million hryvnias ($275,005), reported the press service of the SBI.

Before working at the Ministry of Justice, a former government official, and now a lawyer, was appointed liquidator of an indebted company from Vinnytsia.

"Instead of dealing with the company's debts, he sold its property at an undervalued price. According to expert estimates, the difference amounted to more than 10 million hryvnias ($275,005)," the SBI reported.

The law enforcement officers believe that the buyers of the debtor's property were directly related to the former owner of the same enterprise.

The lawyer was charged with embezzlement of property by an official abusing his official position, committed on a particularly large scale (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The sanction of the article provides imprisonment for a term of up to 12 years.

The SBI does not name the former deputy minister. According to news agency Interfax-Ukraine, the man in quesiton is Vitaly Vasylyk, who held the post of deputy minister of justice from November 2019 to August 2022. Before that, he worked as a lawyer for 15 years.