Former president of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelko has been informed of a new suspicion in the corruption case. According to the investigation, he, together with a group of other football functionaries, appropriated 9.32 million euros that the UAF received from UEFA in 2015–2016.
Other defendants in the case include former UPL president Volodymyr Geninson, former UAF financial director Yevhenia Sagaydak, former UAF secretary general Yuriy Zapisotsky, and Kateryna Krasnokutska, who was Pavelko's assistant in the Verkhovna Rada during his time as a deputy from Poroshenko's party.
According to media reports, back in 2024, Pavelko, suspected of corruption during the construction of a factory for the production of artificial grass for football fields, left abroad, presenting a certificate of disability. In the first criminal proceedings, he spent more than eight months in a pre-trial detention center, but in February 2024 the Lviv Court of Appeal released him. Soon, he was replaced as president of the UAF by the famous football player Andriy Shevchenko.
At first, the persecution of Pavelko was perceived in political circles as pressure from Bankova to force him to give way to Shevchenko. After that, when he was released, it was thought that the problems in Ukraine were solved for him. However, the new criminal proceedings show that the situation remains difficult for the former head of the UAF.
