Ex-adviser of OP Artem Shylo was taken into custody. He is suspected of causing damages to “Ukrzaliznytsia” for almost UAH 95 million

Author:
Oleksandra Opanasenko
Date:

The Higher Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) remanded a former freelance adviser to the Office of the President (OP), an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), into custody until May 31. He is suspected of embezzling 94.8 million hryvnias from “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ).

This became known from the broadcast of the court session.

The organizer of the group is Artem Shylo, a former freelance adviser to the OP. He was taken into custody with an alternative bail of 30 million hryvnias. If he posts a bond, he will be subject to the relevant procedural obligations.

During the court session, the defense side claimed that two combat officers, who received the title of Hero of Ukraine after the start of the full-scale invasion, wanted to take the ex-adviser of the OP as bail. They did not appear at the court, because they are performing combat tasks.

Since 2012, Artem Shylo worked in the SBU. First in Kharkiv, and since 2016 — in Kyiv, in the department for countering cybercrimes.

In 2021, he was released from service, he became a freelance adviser to the OP. Within a year, the man returned to the SBU and immediately headed the newly created Main Department of counterintelligence protection of critical infrastructure facilities and countering the financing of terrorism. Abbreviated — main management "I".

More about the scheme

On April 2, the law enforcement officers announced that they had exposed an organized group headed by a former adviser to the OP. Itʼs about the seizure of 95 million hryvnias from "Ukrzaliznytsia" during the purchase of transformers during martial law.

According to the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecution (SAP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), this company supplied goods at an inflated cost. According to the investigation, the organizer of the group was Artem Shylo, a former freelance adviser to the OP.

Transformers were purchased through a gasket company from a manufacturer partially owned by Russian companies, and then resold to “Ukrzaliznytsia” at double the price. Therefore, UZ suffered a loss of 94.8 million hryvnias.