Hranovskyi pleaded guilty, but others will pay: details of the scandalous SAPO and HACC deal

Hranovskyi pleaded guilty, but others will pay: details of the scandalous SAPO and HACC deal

«Global Conspiracy with the Poroshenko Era». What the verdict against Oleksandr Hranovskyi in the corruption case means.

The media reports this.

Last week, an almost unnoticed news item flashed by about the court verdict against former MP Oleksandr Hranovskyi for corruption at the Odesa Port Plant.

The sentence turned out to be strangely lenient — Hranovskyi got off with a fine of 5,100 hryvnias.

Such leniency starkly contrasts not only with the damage caused to the state enterprise according to the investigation (93 million hryvnias), but also with the significance of Hranovskyi himself. During Petro Poroshenko’s presidency, the media and opponents called him the shadow controller of the law enforcement system (especially in creating «ordered» cases), as well as a key figure in corruption schemes. In particular, with state enterprises (OPP is just one example). Hranovskyi denied these accusations, but one of them led to a real suspicion in a criminal case, for which he received such a lenient verdict.

SAPO and NABU emphasize two aspects, presenting the verdict as a success.

First, the statute of limitations has expired for Hranovskyi and some other defendants. Therefore, Hranovskyi won’t even pay a fine of 1,500 and will remain without a criminal record.

Second, despite this, the defendants agreed to compensate 77 million hryvnias in damages, transfer 50 million hryvnias to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and fully admit guilt (including Hranovskyi).

But there are important details here.

First, according to the HACC  verdict, Hranovskyi (mentioned as «Person_6») pays nothing. Neither to the army nor for compensating damage to the budget. The 77 million will be paid equally by two others — «person_7» and «person_8» (former OPP board member Olha Tkachenko and owner of the intermediary company Newscope Estates Pavlo Chumak, both released from punishment).

Second, even after the statute of limitations expired in the criminal case, the funds could have been recovered through a civil process. According to lawyers, this is standard practice, especially in tax cases: the criminal case is closed, and then a civil lawsuit is immediately initiated to compensate the damage to the state. Now, after the agreement with the defendants, this option is blocked.

Third, the initial damage (93 million hryvnias) at the exchange rate of that time is almost 4 million dollars. And the current compensation, even taking into account the Armed Forces, is about 3 million dollars (without the army — even less, 1.7 million).

A source in law enforcement agencies calls the court’s decision a «global deal».

«Hranovskyi has accumulated many episodes that could become criminal cases. But the OPP verdict seems to zero them all out for 3 million dollars, and not even from him. And he walks away without a criminal record. This is a global conspiracy with the Poroshenko era, where Hranovskyi played a key role. It looks like if they give the same verdict to Mindich and others in his case. The steam will go down the whistle», the source noted.

Let us recall that in political circles, there is a version about Poroshenko’s coordination with the leadership of anti-corruption agencies since spring as part of the «anti-Zelenskyy coalition».

A source in parliament does not rule out political agreements regarding Hranovskyi.

«Moreover, during Poroshenko’s time, Hranovskyi had close ties with the head of NABU. The media wrote about a case when Sytnyk drove to Poroshenko at night and met with Hranovskyi. The lenient verdict, dragged out until the statute of limitations expired, contrasts with the acceleration of the case against Yuliya Tymoshenko, where the investigation has already been completed. That is, the approach and pace depend on the political value of the cases for the anti-corruption officials and their allies», the source explained.