What’s happening with Krupa’s case after 2 months: correspondence with SBI and new episodes about solar stations
On 4 October 2024, the SBI exposed Tetiana Krupa, head of the Khmelnytskyi MSEK, and her son, head of the Pension Fund’s regional office, for illegal enrichment.
During the searches, almost $6 million in cash in different currencies, a number of forged medical documents and lists of evaders with names and false diagnoses were found. The mother issued disability certificates to the evaders and prosecutors at the MSEC, and disability pensions were paid by the Pension Fund, headed by her son. A "beautiful" family contract. And the mother is also a local deputy from the "Servants".
The footage of millions of dollars went viral across the country. Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin lost his post due to a scandal involving pensions for prosecutors for fake second group disability.
But what is happening with this case now? And will there be new episodes in it? Censor.NET has reviewed the materials of the court registers.
On 5 October, Tetiana Krupa was served with a notice of suspicion of illicit enrichment. She faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of all property. On 7 October, the HACC arrested the official for 2 months with the possibility of bail of UAH 500 million.
On 28 November, the High Anti-Corruption Court extended the term of detention for Tetiana Krupa until 26 January 2025 inclusive. However, the amount of bail has been reduced to 280 million.
Krupa's property was also seized as part of the investigation. It is worth noting here that all family members had been officials for most of their lives (even their daughter-in-law worked in the regional office of the Ministry of Justice). People in Khmelnytskyi did not hear anything special about the family. Tetiana Krupa, although she was a deputy, was not known for her social and political activity.
Despite working in public office, the family, as it turned out, had a construction, food and energy business. According to law enforcement officers, they invested the illegally obtained funds there.
Consequently, there was a lot of seized property in the case. In particular:
1 - at the place of residence of Tetiana Krupa - USD 3,179,100, EUR 140,260 and UAH 1,275,000, two bank cards, three mobile phones of PERSON_15 (the suspect's husband) and one mobile phone of Krupa, a laptop, jewellery, a "ROLEX" wristwatch, documents (notebooks with draft notes, technical passports, a construction share participation agreement, receipts and profit orders, bank documents in a foreign language, medical documents and MSEC certificates for various persons, receipts, papers with handwritten notes, etc;)
2 - at the place of work of Tetiana Krupa in the office of the chief physician of the Municipal healthcare facility "Khmelnytskyi Regional Centre for Medical and Social Expertise" [Khmelnytskyi, 1 Pilotska Street, building 2] - USD 93,000 and EUR 2,000, an iPhone 10 mobile phone, 2 laptops, 5 flash drives, jewellery (a "bracelet" and "two earrings"), documents (documents on the design of construction of 5 houses, a request from the NACP and a draft response from Krupa, her declarations for 2021-2023, documents on the payment of dividends to PERSON_6 by "Solar Invest" LLC and "West Estate" LLC);
3 - at the place of residence of PERSON_13 and PERSON_14 (the suspect's son and his wife) [ADDRESS_2 and 23] - in particular, USD 296,200 and EUR 8,800;
4 - two depository boxes opened in the name of PERSON_13 (the suspect's son) at JSC CB "PrivatBank" - funds in the amount of EUR 50,000 and USD 494,200;
5 - office premises where "West Estate" LLC [ADDRESS_3] operates, owned by this Company - in particular, USD 500,000 and EUR 100,000;
6 - warehouses with the addition of new and superstructured office premises, residential real estate [Khmelnytskyi, 31 Trudova St.] owned by PERSON_15 (the suspect's husband) - in particular, USD 5,000 and UAH 48,450.
According to the court order, the phones [iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 10] and laptops seized from Krupa have logical security systems. They were sent for a comprehensive forensic telecommunications examination.
At the same time, the ruling states that the "Signal" application displays, among other things, chats with accounts that indicate Krupa's connections with SBI employees, the leadership of the regional prosecutor's office, customs officers, etc.
The phone also contains correspondence between Tetiana Krupa and various subscribers regarding the processing of documents on disability and deferral for various persons (inspection report of 10.10.2024 - volume 4 a, p. 148-170).
The correspondence also contains a statement by a judge of the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal addressed to the Minister of Health on permission to travel outside Ukraine for medical treatment.
Interestingly, in addition to the article for forgery of medical documents and illicit enrichment on them, the family was investigated under 3 other articles. It concerns the energy business, in which the family invested money through other companies.
In particular:
1 - under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code (information was entered on 01.07.2024, no one was served with a notice of suspicion) - during 2021-2024, the Head of the Main Department of the Pension Fund in Khmelnytskyi region (Krupa's son), by prior agreement with his father, wife, mother, seized [unjustifiably received] funds of the State Enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" in the amount of about UAH 11,971,555 by selling electricity produced by solar power plants located on fictitious individual households without separate residential buildings on them, i.e. in violation of the Law of Ukraine "On Alternative Energy Sources";
2 - under part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code (information was entered on 01.07.2024, no one has been notified of suspicion) , all four are involved because they legalised the illegally obtained profits by contributing funds to the authorised capitals of the enterprises they control ("West Estate" LLC, "Technoguma" LLC, PE "Eurosyr", "Estate Plus" LLC, "Solar-Invest" LLC, "SCM West Group" LLC, "Holding Company Energia Podillia" LLC, "Land Capital-2017" LLC, "Budproekt Podillia" LLC, "Quality Product-Plus" LLC, "Comb-Service" LLC, "Berloga" LTD LLC, and "Kaplife" LLC), as well as investing in the construction of real estate in Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi regions, and purchasing real estate abroad, including at reduced prices;
3 - under part 2 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code (information was entered on 01.07.2024, no person was notified of suspicion) - during 2021-2023, Krupa's son entered knowingly false information in the declaration, namely, did not reflect his ownership and his wife's ownership of 11 solar power plants with a total value of more than UAH 10 million, the existence of a deposit account for UAH 1.4 million opened with "Universal Bank" JSC, as well as income of UAH 34,834 received as interest on this deposit.
On 11 December, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court cancelled the seizure of a bank account of Oleksandr, the son of Tetiana Krupa, head of the Khmelnytskyi MSEC, for UAH 700,000.
The lawyers argued that this account could not be involved in the illicit enrichment of Tetiana Krupa. And as mentioned above, in the proceedings on illicit enrichment at solar power plants, no suspicions have yet been served.
"Oleksandr used this bank account to receive his salary. Approximately UAH 900 thousand from 2022 to 2024. In addition, he owns a number of solar power plants, thanks to which he receives a profit at a "green tariff" of about UAH 800 thousand," said Ivan Kostiuk, Oleksandr Krupa's lawyer.
The home of Krupa. Photo: NGL.media
Prosecutor Vadym Sidorenko stated that the funds in the account are material evidence, so there are all the grounds for seizure.
"It is difficult to distinguish what kind of funds these are. There were also dividends from organisations that are also involved in this illegal scheme," the prosecutor said, according to Suspilne from the courtroom.
On the same day, appeals against the seizure of the property of Tetiana Krupa and her family members were to be considered. However, both hearings were postponed until the following year due to the lawyer's business trip.
According to the judges, it will take place on 23 January 2025.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
