Segezha Ukraine chief probed for passing state assets to son – PGO

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (PGO) has said the Director General of JSC Segezha Ukraine with a share of state ownership is suspected of abuse of power or official position, which caused the state more than UAH 46 million in losses.

"Some 25% of the shares of the Segezha Ukraine company belong to Oriana JSC (state stake – 99.99%), the remaining 75% are owned by a company with Russian capital, which is subject to National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) sanctions and additional National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) restrictions. The imposed restrictions prohibit the use of property, conduct financial transactions and withdraw capital outside Ukraine. Instead, the suspect decided to appropriate state property. As the general director of Segezha Ukraine, acting in the interests of her son's private company, without the consent of the shareholders and in violation of the law, she transferred to him the entire property complex of the enterprise - buildings, equipment and other assets with a total value of over UAH 184 million," the department's website reports.

The private company began to use these production facilities in its own business activities and make a profit, which caused losses of UAH 46 million to the state, as the owner of 25% of the company's shares.

The suspect's actions are qualified under Part 2 of Article 364-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of authority by an official of a private legal entity, regardless of its organizational and legal form). Prosecutors have prepared a motion to select a preventive measure in the form of detention for her.

According to open sources, the company Segezha Ukraine has existed since 2000 and is based in the city of Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region, its main activity is the production of corrugated paper and cardboard, paper and cardboard packaging. The company's General Director since 2013 is Olha Hryshchuk.