“Criminal cases without corpus delicti: why law enforcement agencies keep the aviation business in limbo for yearsThe criminal prosecution of Roman Mileshko’s group of aviation companies has been ongoing for more than three years without any
charges being filed. A number of law enforcement agencies have found no evidence of a crime, which indicates possible pressure
from competitors.
”, — write: unn.ua
Criminal prosecution without any groundsIn November 2022, National Police investigators opened criminal proceedings No. 12022000000001276 based on a statement from the NGO “Council of ATO Veterans,” which is associated with the owner of PJSC “Ukrainian Helicopters” Volodymyr Tkachenko. This public organization also initiated a number of criminal cases against Mileshko’s group of companies in other law enforcement agencies, which were eventually closed due to the absence of a crime.
In a statement to law enforcement agencies, the head of the NGO, Pavlo Moshkovsky, reported a “Russian conspiracy” allegedly developed by the businessman’s father, who was an aviation specialist and lived in Russia.
Thus, the investigation tried to establish whether Mileshko Sr. coordinated his actions with his son in 2022–2023. It was allegedly about an attempt to seize the state enterprise “Antonov” and PJSC “Ukrainian Helicopters” in the interests of the aggressor country.
However, as businessman Roman Mileshko himself explained, his father had been ill for a long time and died in 2022, and therefore physically could not participate in any actions that he is being accused of.
The investigation also believes that several companies from the UAE are allegedly controlled by Russian residents and that Mileshko’s companies cooperate with them. However, according to Vadym Vdovenko, CEO of Constanta, this information is also untrue.
We have all the documents confirming that there have never been any Russian residents. Every company with which Roman Mileshko cooperates has been checked by banks in the EU, UAE, and Ukraine. The group of companies is directly contracted with the UN, WFP, and the governments of many EU countries. The compliance of these international and national structures is one of the highest in the world, and talking about financing the aggressor state is, to put it mildly, absurd.
Despite the obvious absurdity of the case, the investigation lasted three years, after which the police transferred the proceedings to the SBU. UNN sources in law enforcement agencies claim that after Mileshko’s interrogation, where he reported his father’s death under protocol, investigators realized the futility of the proceedings. But, obviously, not wanting to take responsibility for closing the proceedings and prosecuting the businessman for fabricated reasons, it was “transferred” to another body.
It should be noted that in 2023, Security Service investigators already checked similar accusations during the investigation of criminal proceedings No. 22023000000000628. At that time, the statement was also submitted by the aforementioned NGO “Council of ATO Veterans,” associated with “Ukrainian Helicopters.” At that time, the investigation found no violations and no one was notified of suspicion.
A similar scenario occurred in 2023 at the State Bureau of Investigation. Case No. 62023000000000305 was opened on similar charges, but the investigators also found no evidence of a crime as a result of the investigation.
It should be added that the SBU and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, according to UNN, previously officially confirmed the absence of grounds for including Mileshko’s companies in the sanctions lists.
What is behind the attack on the group of companiesFormer First Deputy Head of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksandr Babikov explains that an all-out attack is typical for custom-made cases.
When they want to order a competitor and, so to speak, knock him out, create additional problems for him so that he is not so competitive, such statements are deliberately sent to various law enforcement agencies in order to create problems for this enterprise.
According to him, sometimes law enforcement officers use an even more dangerous approach in their work.
When law enforcement officers attack, for example, an entrepreneur, conduct investigative actions against him, make property claims, receive illegal benefits, allegedly close criminal proceedings, transfer information to another law enforcement agency, which repeats this mechanism. And this happens 2-3-4 times, until everyone has gone through it.
At the same time, according to him, there is often manipulation with the Criminal Code – law enforcement officers change the articles of the Criminal Code that are incriminated to match the jurisdiction of a particular body, and the facts of the case remain the same.
Babikov explained that if one investigative body closes criminal proceedings, it is a legal basis for closing the rest of the cases. However, unfortunately, Ukrainian legislation lacks a mechanism that would force a law enforcement agency to close its criminal proceedings.
They can qualify the same fact under different articles of a criminal offense, so that it fits their jurisdiction. For example, the same event can be investigated by NABU as Article 191 of the Criminal Code, by the SBI as Article 364 of the Criminal Code, by the National Police as Article 190 of the Criminal Code, and by the Security Service, for example, as financing terrorism or adding some collaborative activity or another crime that is exclusively within their jurisdiction. That is, this is manipulation with the articles of the Criminal Code, and our Criminal Procedure Code does not provide for a mechanism to prevent this.
Therefore, it is obvious that the persecution of Mileshko’s group of companies may be a typical example of a custom-made criminal prosecution, where the law enforcement system is used as a tool for business struggle.