What is currently happening with the case of the notorious mega-corruption figure MSEC Krupa?

What is currently happening with the case of the notorious mega-corruption figure MSEC Krupa?

What is happening with the case of MSEC-corrupt official Tetyana Krupa after 2 months: correspondence with SBI officials and new episodes concerning solar stations.

On October 4, 2024, the SBI uncovered the illegal enrichment of the head of Khmelnytskyi MSEC, Tetyana Krupa, and her son, the head of the regional Pension Fund. During the searches, they found almost $6 million in various currencies, a number of forged medical documents, and lists of dodgers with names and false diagnoses. The mother in MSEC was issuing disability certificates to dodgers and prosecutors, and disability pensions were paid by the Pension Fund headed by her son. A "wonderful" family contract. And the mother is also a local deputy from the "Servants of the People" party.

Footage of millions of dollars went around the country. Due to the scandal involving pensions to prosecutors for fake second-group disabilities, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin lost his position.

But what is happening with this case now? And will there be new episodes? Journalists of the publication Censor.NET reviewed the court registry materials.

On October 5, Tetyana Krupa was informed of suspicion of illegal enrichment. She faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of all property. On October 7, the High Anti-Corruption Court arrested the official for 2 months with the possibility of bail set at 500 million hryvnias.

On November 28, the High Anti-Corruption Court extended Tetyana Krupa’s detention until January 26, 2025, inclusive. However, the bail amount has already been reduced to 280 million.

As part of the investigation, Krupa’s property was also arrested. It is worth noting that all family members spent most of their lives as officials (even the daughter-in-law worked in the regional branch of the Ministry of Justice). Nothing special was heard about the family in Khmelnytskyi. Although Tetyana Krupa was a deputy, she was not known for her social or political activity.

Despite working in public positions, the family, as it turned out, had a construction, food, and energy business. They are believed by law enforcement to have invested illegally obtained funds there.

Therefore, there was quite a lot of arrested property in the case. Specifically:

1 - at the place of residence of Tetyana Krupa - $3,179,100, €140,260, and ₴1,275,000, two bank cards, three mobile phones of PERSON_15 (the husband of the suspect), one mobile phone of Krupa, a laptop, jewelry, a "ROLEX" wristwatch, documents (notebooks with rough notes, technical passports, a contract for participation in construction, receipts and income orders, bank documents in a foreign language, medical records and MSEC certificates for different individuals, receipts, handwritten notes, and more);

2 - at the workplace of Tetyana Krupa in the office of the chief doctor of the "Khmelnytskyi Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise" [Khmelnytskyi, Pilot Street, 1, building 2] - $93,000 and €2,000, an iPhone 10, 2 laptops, 5 USB flash drives, jewelry (type "bracelet" and "two earrings"), documents (documents on the design of the construction of 5 houses, request from NACP and Krupa’s draft response, her declarations for 2021 - 2023, documents regarding dividends paid to LLC "Solar-Invest" and LLC "West Estate" to PERSON_6);

3 - at the residence of PERSON_13 and PERSON_14 (the son of the suspect and his wife) [ADDRESS_2 and 23] - including $296,200 and €8,800;

4 - two deposit boxes, opened in the name of PERSON_13 (the son of the suspect) at JSC CB "PrivatBank" - monetary funds in the amount of €50,000 and $494,200;

5 - an office premise, where LLC "West Estate" [ADDRESS_3] operates, which is owned by this company - including $500,000 and €100,000;

6 - warehouse premises with added new constructions and office premises, residential real estate [Khmelnytskyi, Trudova Street, 31], owned by PERSON_15 (the husband of the suspect) - including $5,000 and ₴48,450.

According to court ruling information, the phones seized from Krupa [iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 10] and laptops have logical protection systems. They have been submitted for comprehensive forensic telecommunication examination.

At the same time, the ruling states that the "Signal" app shows, among other things, chats with account information indicating connections between Krupa and SBI employees, regional prosecution leadership, customs workers, etc.

The phone also contains correspondence between Tetyana Krupa and various subscribers regarding the processing of disability documents and deferments for various persons (examination protocol from 10.10.2024 - volume 4 p. 148-170).

The correspondence also includes a judge’s statement from the Khmelnytskyi Court of Appeal addressed to the Minister of Health for permission to travel abroad for treatment.

Interestingly, in addition to the charges of forging medical documents and illegal enrichment from them, the family has become involved in investigations under 3 more articles. It’s about the energy business in which the family invested money through other companies.

Specifically:

1 - under part 5 of Article 190 CC (information added 01.07.2024, no one has been informed of suspicion) - from 2021-2024, the head of the PFC in Khmelnytskyi region (Krupa’s son) in collusion with his father, wife, and mother took possession [unjustifiably received] funds from SE "Guaranteed Buyer" in the amount of approximately ₴11,971,555 by selling electricity generated by solar power plants located on fictitious separate households, without separate residential facilities on them, thereby contrary to the Law of Ukraine "On Alternative Energy Sources";

2 - under part 2 of Article 209 CC (information added 01.07.2024, no one has been informed of suspicion) all four are involved because they laundered illegal proceeds by investing funds into the authorized capital of businesses under their control (LLC "West Estate", LLC "Technoguma", PE "Eurocheese", LLC "Estate Plus", LLC "Solar-invest", LLC "SCM West Group", LLC "Holding Company Podillia Energy", LLC "Land Capital-2017", LLC "Budproject Podillia", LLC "Quality Product-plus", LLC "Comb-service", LLC "Berloga LTD", LLC "Caplife"), as well as investing in the construction of real estate properties in Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi regions and acquiring real estate abroad, including at understated prices;

3 - under part 2 of Article 366-2 CC (information added 01.07.2024, no one has been informed of suspicion) - from 2021-2023, Krupa’s son knowingly entered false information into the declaration, specifically omitting his ownership rights and his wife’s ownership rights on 11 solar power plants valued over ₴10 million, the existence of a deposit account with ₴1.4 million at JSC "Universal Bank", and income of ₴34,834 earned as interest on this deposit.

On December 11, the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court canceled the arrest imposed on the bank account of the son of the head of Khmelnytskyi MSEC Tetyana Krupa, Oleksandr, for the amount of ₴700,000.

Lawyers argued that this account could not be related to the illegal enrichment of Tetyana Krupa. And as mentioned above, in proceedings regarding illegal enrichment involving solar power stations, suspicions have not yet been issued.

"This bank account was used by Oleksandr for receiving salary payments. Approximately ₴900,000 from 2022 to 2024. Additionally, he has several solar power stations, from which he earns income through the "green tariff" approximately ₴800,000," said Oleksandr Krupa’s lawyer Ivan Kostyuk.

Prosecutor Vadym Sydorenko stated that the funds in the account are evidence, providing grounds for arresting them.

"It is difficult to separate what these funds are for. Dividends from organizations involved in this illegal scheme also came into this account," said the prosecutor, according to a report from Suspilne from the courtroom.

On the same day, it was planned to review appeals against the arrest of Tetyana Krupa’s and her family members’ property. However, both hearings were postponed to next year due to the lawyer being on a business trip.

According to the judges’ decision, it will take place on January 23, 2025.

Tetyana Nikolayenko, published in the publication Censor.NET