The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv on Tuesday imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 999 million 991 thousand on Viktor Lotous, chairman of the board of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, which belongs to the Ferrexpo group of companies owned by MP of the VII and VIII convocations Konstantin Zhevago.
According to the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, without specifying the names of the suspect and the owner of the group of companies, the court made the decision at the request of prosecutors from the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office.
According to Ferrexpo’s website, Viktor Lotous is the Chairman of the Board of Poltava Mining.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the suspect was taken into custody in the courtroom.
As reported, on September 22, Lotous was served with a notice of suspicion of illegal mining worth over UAH 157 billion. He is charged with illegal mining and abuse of power committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 240, Part 2 of Article 364-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, he, in collusion with other unidentified officials of the mining and processing plant, set up an illegal scheme for the use of minerals. The company, licensed to mine only iron ore, illegally processed and sold other minerals obtained in the course of mining. They processed them and produced crushed stone of three different fractions, which were sold to business entities. Thus, from 2015 to 2021, more than 20 million cubic meters of minerals were illegally extracted, and the amount of damage caused is more than UAH 157 billion.
On January 10, 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation conducted several searches in connection with the investigation of the alleged illegal extraction of minerals and their subsequent sale. The National Police of Ukraine also investigated the same case and conducted searches and took samples from the dumps on January 17. On June 29, 2023, the SBI served suspicion notices to three members of the top management of the Mining and Processing Plant and the head of one of its divisions on suspicion of selling crushed stone without a permit. The employees were detained by the SBI and later released after posting bail totaling UAH 122 million, which was approved by the court.
Ferrexpo’s semi-annual report stated that the company continues to monitor and analyze the situation with the allegations against the company’s management. “The position of the company is that the minerals in question are not a separate mineral resource, but are waste products obtained as a result of crushing iron ore during the technical process of iron ore pellets production,” the report stated.
The report explains that crushed stone sales were controlled by the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine for many years and were discontinued by the group in September 2021. “It is the position of the Group that based on the existing mining license, the Group complies with the relevant legislation. The Group continues to monitor and analyze the situation regarding the suspicions announced by the SBI,” the company’s report summarized.
Earlier, the SBI issued a press release claiming that the plant’s executives had illegally seized almost UAH 400 million from the extraction and sale of minerals of national importance without the appropriate permits, and “cash from the sale was withdrawn through conversion centers and distributed among members of the criminal group.” “SBI officers, in cooperation with the SBU and the Prosecutor General’s Office, served suspicion notices to the management of the company: the management of the plant’s board, heads of departments through which the company’s financial transactions were carried out, and the management of the company through which the fraud was carried out,” law enforcement officials said in a statement.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine, owning a 100% stake in Yeristovo Mining, 99.9% in Bilanivsky Mining and 100% in Poltava Mining.
