Border guard Marushchak from Zakarpattia paid SSU officer Katerynich $358,000 to destroy compromising evidence: both are now under suspicion, according to media reports. VIDEO
Transcarpathian border guard Oleksandr Marushchak owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property and luxury cars and was blackmailed by an SSU officer.
This is stated in the investigation of the project "Khapuha.ua", Censor.NET informs with reference to the publication "Zakarpattia".
Alexander Marushchak
"We would never have known about the existence of such a border guard if it hadn't been for a criminal case involving this officer. The head of the Border Guard Service paid the SBU $358,000 to hush up the criminal case and compromising information about his personal life. The details of this case are worthy of a Hollywood detective story, which is hard to believe at first," the project says.
TSN also draws attention to this story.
According to the investigation, Marushchak had recently found himself in a very piquant situation. An SSU officer, Vyacheslav Katerynych, learned about Mr Marushchak's corruption affairs, as well as about his intimate life, which did not involve his official wife.
Holding the position of a senior operative for especially important cases of the SBU in Vinnytsia region, under unspecified circumstances, using opportunities related to his position, he received electronic documents in the form of photos, videos and text files containing information about possible criminal offences committed by the head of the border service department of the border detachment and other persons of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. These materials also contained information about the person's personal life. But instead of dealing with this package of documents in accordance with the law, the SSU officer began to blackmail border guard Marushchak. This is recorded in the case file and in the verdict of the Anti-Corruption Court.
The SSU estimated the dirt on Marushchak at $350,000. And the border guard agreed and transferred this fabulous money to the crypto wallet specified to him. The intermediary in this scheme was Serhiy Pankush. He valued his services at $10,000, which he received from the SSU officer Katerynych.
However, Marushchak's blackmail was not limited to a one-off tranche. He was put on a meter. Every month, he was extorted another $5,000. Only after that, in March last year, border guard Oleksandr Marushchak reported the extortion by the intermediary. That is, he filed a complaint against Pankush.
The NACB took control of the case. Pankush was promptly convicted. After being exposed, the accomplice entered into a plea bargain and pledged to cooperate with law enforcement in criminal proceedings against both the SSU officer and the border guard. The court sentenced him to 8 years in prison, but released him on probation for 3 years.
The court's verdict against the mediator, Pankush, raises many questions in this case. First of all, to the border guard Marushchak himself. What kind of corruption did he commit? And where did he get the $350,000 for the bribe he gave to the SBU officer?
According to journalists, the estate in Uzhhorod is Mr Marushchak's family home. This was established by the photographs of his wife.
Anna Marushchak
"In order not to be unfounded, we made up a legend that the house was flooded and called Marushchak's wife, who confirmed that it was their family's house. These cottages are worth around $400,000. However, this is not all of the Marushchaks' property," the project authors note.
Sobranetska Street, Bavaria business class residential complex. One-bedroom apartments here cost around $100,000. Anna Marushchak is registered here as an individual entrepreneur, and the apartment is registered in her father's name. Anna Marushchak hasn't been doing official business for long, less than a year. For some reason, she is not ready to talk to the press.
She uses a Toyota RAV4 and a Mazda CX-5, which is immodest for a start-up sole trader. And she is also the wife of a border guard, who, incidentally, also did not want to answer journalists' questions.
"You might think that Mr Marushchak or his wife have a rich family. This could explain their considerable wealth. But Svitlana Marushchak, the border guard's mother, is just a kindergarten teacher. This leads to the conclusion that border guard Oleksandr Marushchak could indeed have been involved in illegal activities. And it seems that the journalists have found confirmation of this," the investigation says.
Marushchak's corruption deals
In February 2023, Hungarian customs officers at the Tisa customs post found 283 boxes of contraband cigarettes hidden in a minibus with a false diplomatic mark. After that, Mr Marushchak was searched in connection with this case. And the final chord in the case of border guard Oleksandr Marushchak is the receipt of a suspicion from the NACB, which, according to our information, was received by the defendant the day before.
As a result of the interrogation, the latter was served a notice of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Currently, border guard Marushchak has been transferred from Transcarpathia to Luhansk region, where he serves in the 3rd Border Guard Detachment.
But as for the SSU officer Katerynych, who demanded the bribe, there is no "happy ending" to speak of. Media reports say that he is currently under arrest with bail of UAH 10 million and suspected of extortion.
"So, what do we see in the end? Some domestic border guards, despite their low salaries, live quite well because they can afford to pay off corrupt SSU officers and continue to live large. And this is all during the war," the investigation says.
