The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) together with the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), notified five participants of the scheme of illegal production and sale of fuel in Transcarpathia. A deputy of the regional council is involved in it, the compadre of Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected of high treason.
This was reported by SBU press service.
Law enforcement officers exposed an underground oil refinery in Transcarpathia back in October 2023. According to the investigation, the participants of the scheme purchased oil from Ukrainian suppliers and processed it at their own plant, and sold the finished products to gas stations in the Kyiv, Transcarpathia, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions without permits and paying taxes. Then, during the searches, more than 600 tons of fuel, equipment for its production in the total amount of almost 150 million hryvnias and forged documents were discovered.
The investigation claims that a deputy of the regional council, who has the status of a criminal authority, was involved in the organization of the arrangement. He is a long-time associate and compadre of Viktor Medvedchuk, and for a long time he headed the regional branch of the banned OPZZH party. Although SBU does not name him, it is probably about Ivan Chubirko. In order to hide his connection with illegal business, on the eve of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the deputy "transferred" the refinery to a company controlled by him in Kyiv.
SBU writes that the director of the company involved four employees of the enterprise in organizing the equipment. They were informed about the suspicion of illegal production of excise goods. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
- The above-mentioned deputy of the Transcarpathian Regional Council — godfather Medvedchuk — was detained on October 7, 2023. According to the investigation, he organized a gang that "extorted" money from residents of Transcarpathia. If they refused to pay, they threatened violence and "confiscation" of property.