The former director of the state-owned enterprise "Poligrafkombinat" has received new suspicion as part of an international investigation into passport fraud.
This was reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
The bureau does not name the suspect, but the circumstances of the case indicate that it is Maksym Stepanov, who also headed the Ministry of Health.
He was suspected of receiving a bribe in the form of copyrights for the design of protective elements of foreign passports and ID cards, as well as of legalizing income from their use.
According to the investigation, Stepanov demanded a bribe from a French company that had developed these security features (a stylized image of a trident, a map of Ukraine, etc.) and used them in the production of holograms for Ukrainian document forms. In exchange, the company received the opportunity to supply its products to the state-owned enterprise.
The supply was carried out through an Estonian gasket company controlled by the director of the state enterprise, which purchased materials at market price and resold them to Polygraph Plant at 4-6 times more expensive.
Illegally obtained copyrights were registered for the same Estonian company at the EU Intellectual Property Office.
After Stepanov was dismissed from his position as head of Polygraph Plant and the new management switched to direct purchases from the manufacturer, he concluded an agreement with the French company, under which the Estonian company was paid a fee (royalty) for the use of the design. The amount of the royalty was included in the price at which the products were supplied to Polygraph Plant.
During 2018-2021, the Estonian companyʼs accounts received about €7 million in royalties, which the suspect then legalized through controlled offshore companies. Part of them ($124 790) ended up in his daughterʼs account.
- Stepanov received his first suspicion in this case in July 2023. According to the investigation, the money laundering scheme he organized caused damage to the budget by 450 million hryvnias. In September 2023, the Supreme Court of Ukraine arrested Stepanov in absentia.
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