Former acting the head of the National Agency for Asset Management (ARMA) and his deputy were charged with misappropriation of seized funds that were transferred to ARMA for management. The prosecutor's office also filed charges against the head of the asset management department and two lawyers for misappropriating $398,000, which were under arrest and were handed over to ARMA for management.
According to the case, the defendants falsified a court decision to cancel the seizure of funds and transferred this money to the account of an individual who had nothing to do with these funds. After that, the money was distributed among the criminals.
These actions are qualified under Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as a particularly large amount of property embezzlement, and the actions of one of the lawyers are additionally incriminated under the articles of incitement to crime, fraud and forgery of documents.
Among the accused was also Vitaly Sygydyn, who held the position of acting Chairman of ARMA from November 2019 to August 2021. We will remind that the previous head of ARMA, Anton Yanchuk, also came under suspicion for embezzlement of over UAH 426 million.
Research has shown that ARMA employees, with the help of representatives of SE "SETAM" and private companies, organized a scheme to sell property at a reduced price. At least four cases of such activity have been identified, including the sale of three plots of land in the Odesa region, which were sold 18 times cheaper than their market value.
