Chief forensic expert Ruvin’s stepson is served a notice of suspicion for " dealing with customs"

Chief forensic expert Ruvin’s stepson is served a notice of suspicion for " dealing with customs"

Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau have served Nazar Sheptytskyi with a notice of suspicion in a criminal proceeding over trading in senior positions within the State Customs Service. According to the investigation, Sheptytskyi incited several well-known and influential people to give and receive bribes for the appointment of "suitable" candidates for senior positions. In the future, they were to jointly "split" the illicit profits from the customs unit under their control.

Bihus.Info learned about this from the text of suspicion that was in the possession of the editors.

Sheptytskyi was served a notice of suspicion for a completed attempt to incite bribery (Articles 15, 27 and 369 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, in the summer of 2023, Sheptytskyi decided to appoint people under his control to high positions at the customs by bribing the acting Head of the State Customs Service. To communicate with the latter, Sheptytskyi engaged an intermediary, Ruslan Cherkaskyi, who was already a former deputy head of the customs service (he was dismissed in early 2023, in particular amid numerous corruption scandals). Cherkaskyi was supposed to pass on a bribe offer to the head of the customs office for positions in the western regions. For example, the position of the head of Lviv Customs was valued at a total of one million dollars.

Sheptytskyi, according to detectives, planned to "finance" these appointments and select a list of suitable candidates together with his accomplice Oleh Hatalyak. In addition, Hataliak was also supposed to control and distribute bribes at the future customs unit under his control. For example, if successful, the "partners" planned to receive about $2 million a month from the Volyn customs office, of which they would keep half.

Sheptytskyi later met with Cherkaskyi several times to discuss the plan, calling Hatalyak during the meetings. During these conversations, they discussed not only the "rates" for positions in various customs departments, but also the scheme of phased payment. For example, half a million dollars was offered for Volyn, and 200,000 for Chernivtsi. However, judging by the content of the conversations, this was the "first payment" for the appointment to the position, and in the future, regular additional payments were planned - a share of the monthly illegal profits.

As a result, according to the text of the suspicion, Sheptytskyi’s plan failed for "reasons beyond Sheptytskyi’s control". However, in the list of "suitable" candidates, which Cherkaskyi was to pass on to the head of the State Customs Service, Sheptytskyi personally marked the candidacy of Kharkiv customs officer Herasimov. In January 2024, Yuriy Herasymov, who had previously headed Kharkiv Customs, was indeed appointed head of Chernivtsi Customs.

We would like to remind you that Nazar Sheptytskyi is the stepson of Oleksandr Ruvin, the head of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, the largest and most influential forensic institute in the country. Both were the subjects of a Bihus.Info investigation in 2021. Back then, journalists reported on the dubious origin of Ruvin’s family’s wealth - against the backdrop of scandalous and controversial examinations conducted by the institute he headed, sometimes in conditions of potential conflict of interest.

In particular, regarding Nazar Sheptytskyi, it was possible to find out that at that time he owned and used expensive real estate and a large number of luxury cars, which were disproportionate to his official income. For example, a Range Rover worth about 3.5 million hryvnia, an apartment in the French Quarter residential complex with an estimated cost of 150 thousand dollars, an apartment in the Lypska Tower residential complex in the government quarter of Kyiv, the rent of which cost 8 thousand dollars a month. Also, for several years, Sheptytskyi was noticed in cars registered to strangers who wrote out powers of attorney for his stepson Ruvin. Among them are a Mercedes-Benz G 63 AMG, two Toyota Land Cruiser 200, and an Aston Martin DB9. The estimated total cost of the cars was 9 million hryvnia.