“Raiding instead of justice: the story of NABU’s decade-long persecution of businessman FedorychevNABU, together with the police, is once again trying to seize the assets of Ukrainian businessman Oleksiy Fedorychev, who owns two
terminals in the Pivdennyi port. This is a new stage in a 10-year persecution, which, according to the businessman, is an attempt
to raid his assets.
”, — write: unn.ua
It is indicative that after the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to extend the terms of the criminal investigation against Fedorychev for the umpteenth time and numerous attempts to choose a preventive measure for him, NABU detectives used a “loophole” in the legislation and transferred the case to the National Police. Formally, only the investigative body changed, but the detectives joined a joint investigative group and actually continued to manage the process. This allowed them to push through an extension of the investigation period for another year in the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv. Now, NABU detectives are apparently trying to achieve the arrest of assets and the selection of a preventive measure, that is, everything that the High Anti-Corruption Court denied them, by blackmailing investigators and prosecutors.
The reason for such zeal of NABU officers is obvious. Fedorychev is a co-investor of the TIS group of companies and the beneficiary of two large terminals in the Pivdennyi port – TIS-Zerno and TIS-Dobryva. It is these terminals that have been the subject of attempted raider seizures with the help of NABU detectives for ten years. In fact, the case from the very beginning looked like an instrument of pressure on business, and not as a criminal prosecution with a solid evidence base.
Accusations against Oleksiy Fedorychev began to emerge after the signing of contracts between the State Food and Grain Corporation (SFGCU) and TIS-Zerno in 2013–2014. The state corporation did not have sufficient capacity to transship grain under its obligations to Chinese creditors, so it was forced to conclude an agreement with Fedorychev’s terminal. The discounts that the businessman’s company provided to SFGCU did not prevent claims from being made later that the state allegedly lost tens of millions of dollars. Although the actual calculations under the agreements confirmed the opposite.
Since then, various methods have been used against the businessman. For example, he was offered to “negotiate” for 25 million dollars and re-register the terminals in favor of a certain group of people. And after his refusal, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine was involved in pressuring the businessman, which acted with proven methods of harsh criminal prosecution. A criminal case was written “on the knee” and numerous attempts were made to seize property, serve a notice of suspicion, and choose a preventive measure.
Even the court in the Principality of Monaco, where Oleksiy Fedorychev already resides, in its decision to refuse to serve him with a notice of suspicion, noted that the case against the businessman is purely economic in nature and there is no crime in his actions.
…the information contained in the requests does not allow to define the nature of the case as criminal, which allows the competent authorities of the Principality of Monaco to conclude: the essence of the case largely concerns facts that underlie a dispute of a purely economic nature
Repeated refusals of Ukrainian courts to choose a preventive measure for Fedorychev and to arrest the businessman’s assets only confirmed the conclusions made by their foreign colleagues regarding the persecution of business. However, NABU detectives are trying again and again to persecute Fedorychev and are now doing it through the hands of the National Police and prosecutors.
It seems that after ten years of investigation, NABU has not been able to gather sufficient evidence, not only to bring the case to court, but also to arrest assets and the businessman himself. A breakthrough for anti-corruption officials was the arrest of Fedorychev’s real estate in Italy in 2024, which was allegedly recognized as “material evidence.” Although in reality, this was another confirmation that it is not about justice, but about years of pressure on business in order to gain control over strategic terminals in the Pivdennyi port.
NABU is increasingly turning from an instrument of combating corruption into a commercial structure that persecutes businesses on order and keeps strategic assets in limbo for years. Ten years of investigation against Fedorychev without real evidence is the best proof that the goal here is not the law, but control over his terminals in the Pivdennyi port.
This is not the only high-profile scandal in NABU; there are other confirmations of anti-corruption officials’ love for money. For example, former detective Taras Likunov took a position at “Ukrzaliznytsia” shortly after investigations into the company. Before that, he facilitated criminal proceedings and the removal of an official from office, thereby “freeing up” a place for himself. This is a direct violation of Article 26 of the Law “On Preventing Corruption” and an obvious conflict of interest.
Even more resonant was the case of NABU detective Ruslan Magamedrasulov, who, together with his father, a citizen of the Russian Federation, according to the investigation, was engaged in cannabis trafficking with Dagestan. He is accused of treason. In addition, he is suspected of abusing influence for illegal tax manipulations of Ukrainian enterprises totaling 30 million hryvnias, for which he was supposed to receive 900 thousand hryvnias. The NABU detective was supposed to influence the bodies of the State Tax Service of Ukraine to make illegal decisions regarding the exclusion of about ten companies from the list of risky ones.
Such stories not only destroy trust but also confirm that the body created to fight corruption itself is mired in corruption scandals and suspicious connections, and detectives, for their own gain, are ready to engage in raiding, fraud, pressure, and fabricating cases.