The National Anti -Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti -Corruption Prosecutor's Office have completed an investigation into a large -scale theft of funds of the State Enterprise "Polygraphic Combine" Ukraine ". It is more than UAH 500 million. According to the investigation, the organizer of the scheme was former Minister of Health Maxim Stepanov, who left Ukraine in 2023.
NABU did not name the names of the suspects, but the circumstances of the case indicate Stepanov. In 2011–2016 he headed the plant, later was the chairman of the Odessa Regional State Administration, and in 2020-2021 he was the Minister of Health.
The investigation found that in 2013, the then management of the plant purchased from the exponential persons of the Estonian company. Through it, a state -owned enterprise was forced to buy protective elements - holograms - for Ukrainian documents. The gasket purchased holograms from the French manufacturer and sold the plant 4-6 times more expensive, actually making money on public procurement.
In addition, the design of holograms used in passports, driver's licenses and other official documents was patented to the Estonian company. According to NABU, it was a bribe of the organizer of the scheme from the French manufacturer in exchange for maintaining a monopoly position.
After the departure of Stepanov from the enterprise, the plant switched to direct purchases. But even then, he paid annually the Estonian company Royalty - for a patent, which, as it turned out, also belonged to the suspect. That is, each citizen, when formulating documents, paid some of the funds in favor of the author of the scheme.
Only from 2018 to 2021 the Estonian company received about 7 million euros of Royalty. Some of these funds got into the accounts of Stepanov's daughter - in particular, $ 124.79 thousand. The investigation found that the funds were washed through the offshore network.
In 2022, at the initiative of NABU, the Cabinet of Ministers changed the technical requirements for the hologram and began the procedure for canceling the patent that actually belonged to the defendants of the case.
In July 2023, Stepanov and four more were reported suspicion. The experts were presented in absentia in absentia - at the time of the announcement he was already abroad. In September of that year, the High Anti -Corruption Court chose him a preventive measure in the form of a correspondence arrest. Despite this, his name has not yet appeared in the search bases of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The case was transferred to the defense party for review before being sent to court.
