Defendant in $20 million NABU case gets away with suspended sentence
The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine has approved a plea agreement with Yuriy Davydov, the former chairman of the board of Kreativ Private Joint Stock Company. He received a five-year suspended prison sentence with a three-year probationary period, the press service of the High Anti-Corruption Court reported.
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The notification itself does not specify the name of the accused and the name of the company, but it follows from the court case number.
According to the investigation, between 2013 and 2015, officials of private companies that were part of the Kreativ group, in collusion with officials of the state-run Oschadbank, illegally received a loan of $20 million (the equivalent of UAH 160 million at the then exchange rate) from the state bank, allegedly to buy sunflower seeds. After receiving the money, the owners of Kreativ transferred it abroad to the accounts of companies they controlled, registered in Belize and Switzerland.
On September 27, 2019, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office pressed charges against former MP Stanislav Berezkin, who was the beneficial owner of Kreativ and was considered to be the organizer of the corruption scheme. A year later, Berezkin died, and the proceedings against him were closed, but the trial of his case continued, with more than a dozen suspects, including Berezkin's son Maksym.
The former head of Kreativ PrJSC was ready to plead guilty back in 2020, but the HACCU refused to approve the plea agreement.
Now, the anti-graft court has agreed to find the defendant guilty under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 (misappropriation of property) and Part 3 of Article 209 (money laundering) and hand down such a sentence that allows him to avoid imprisonment.
In 2021, the Commercial Court liquidated Kreativ, which had accumulated UAH 7 billion ($252 million) in debts at the time.
