Son of former "Motor Sich" president Bohuslaiev detained in Monaco for embezzlement of company assets, - SSU. PHOTO
The son of Motor Sich's former president, Oleksandr Bohuslaiev, has been detained. Together with his father, he is suspected of embezzling the company's assets.
This was reported by the press service of the SSU, Censor.NET informs.
According to the investigation, the defendants illegally appropriated a controlling stake in the state-owned enterprise and then sold it for USD 650 million.
At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, Bohuslaiev's son helped his father to appropriate the company's shares and then sell them to third parties.
"To implement the transaction, Motor Sich's CEO at the time organised an inventory of the company's assets, which artificially lowered the value of its shares. He then acquired 65% of the securities at a significantly reduced price and subsequently transferred most of them to six offshore entities owned by his son.
To legalise the stolen assets, the criminals sold them to foreign companies and used the proceeds to purchase luxury real estate in the EU," the statement said.
Simultaneous searches were conducted at the detainee's place of residence in a coastal villa in Monaco and at the residences of his affiliates in Zaporizhzhia.
Currently, Bohuslaiev's son has been served a notice of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime committed by an organised group on a particularly large scale). He faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
A new suspicion was also served on the former head of "Motor Sich", who is currently in custody on charges of collaboration with Russia. His crimes are additionally classified under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- p. 5 Art. 191 (misappropriation of property through abuse of office committed on a particularly large scale by an organised group);
- p. 3, Art. 27, Art. 209 (organisation, legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime committed by an organised group on a particularly large scale).
Bohuslaiev's case
On 22 October 2022, Viacheslav Bohuslaiev, the chairman of the board of one of Zaporizhzhia's largest enterprises, "Motor Sich", was detained by law enforcement officers.
The SSU reported that it had detained Bohuslaiev on suspicion of working for Russia. Later, the SSU published evidence of cooperation between the president of "Motor Sich" and Russia.
According to the editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, the SSU had been wiretapping Bohuslaiev since 2019 and knew about his ties to Russia.
At the same time, "Schemes" journalists found out that Bohuslaiev had Russian citizenship.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) to recover the assets of the former "Motor Sich" JSC president.
On 19 February, the court remanded Bohuslaiev in custody until 18 April without the right to bail.
