NABU has been obliged to initiate proceedings based on the statement from the "Pivdennyi" port

NABU has been obliged to initiate proceedings based on the statement from the "Pivdennyi" port

The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) partially satisfied the complaint of the State Enterprise "Pivdennyi Sea Commercial Port" and obligated the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) to enter information about a possible criminal offense into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations.

This is stated in the court’s decision.

The SE "Pivdennyi SCP" appealed to the bureau on November 29, 2024, with a statement about a probable corruption violation, which, according to the enterprise, caused damages of 2.68 million UAH. It concerned unlawful payments to the enterprise’s officials in 2020-2021.

According to the SE "Pivdennyi SCP", during the period of 2020–2021, port officials committed violations during: salary calculations and payments, provision of material assistance, reimbursement of business trips, and reward payments to the acting director.

Possible violations, according to the results of an internal investigation, may involve former managers of the enterprise and officials from the personnel and financial departments.

However, on December 11, 2024, NABU officially refused to initiate proceedings, stating that there was not enough data within the materials to start an investigation. As a result, SE "Pivdennyi" appealed the inactivity of NABU in the High Anti-Corruption Court.

The court recognized that the enterprise’s statement contains enough circumstances that may indicate a criminal offense. NABU was obligated to enter the relevant information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations and start a pre-trial investigation.

Interestingly, the claim was initiated under the leadership of Oleksandr Oliynyk, who himself is accused of misappropriating bonuses. The claim concerns the management of the port by Serhiy Kovshar and others. It may be a matter of settling scores.