A Nov. 2 bail hearing at the High Anti-Corruption Court set a Hr 100 million ($4.04 million) bail for controversial For the Future parliamentarian Yaroslav Dubnevych on embezzlement charges. The lawmaker hasn’t been arrested as requested by prosecutors.
Dubnevych allegedly siphoned more than Hr 93 million ($3.76 million) from the state rail enterprise Ukrzaliznytsia. He denies any wrongdoing.
The Verkhovna Rada lawmaker will have five days to make bail. Otherwise, he will be arrested. Dubnevych will also have to hand over his passports and wear an electronic tag.
In a comment to Hromadske media, the lawmaker said he would file an appeal against the decision.
Dubnevych has been elected to parliament three times since 2012. During his second term, the lawmaker served as the head of the parliamentary transport committee.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine suspects Dubnevych, his brother Bohdan and their associates of abusing their positions to embezzle funds intended for Ukrzaliznytsia’s procurement of railroad switches. The suspects allegedly organized the purchase of switches at inflated prices by involving enterprises that they controlled.
If found guilty, the lawmaker faces seven to 12 years in prison.
The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested to lift Dubnevych’s parliamentary immunity several times between late 2018 and early 2019. Then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko denied the first request saying it contained errors and rejected the second one citing insubstantial evidence.
The case had new developments after the new Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka said on Oct. 17 that there was sufficient evidence to place Dubnevych under suspicion.
While Verkhovna Rada recently voted to eliminate immunity for lawmakers, the change does not come into effect until 2020.
Ryboshapka requested that parliament lift Dubnevych’s immunity from arrest, and on Oct. 31, lawmakers passed three motions supporting his detention and arrest. The lawmaker received a notice of suspicion after the vote.
Prosecutors asked the High Anti-Corruption Court to arrest the lawmaker for 60 days with the right to post bail of Hr 93 million, or $3.76 million, a figure equal to the amount Dubnevych is accused of embezzling.
The court denied the prosecutors’ arrest request and only set a bail for Dubnevych.
After the hearing, the lawmaker said he was surprised by the ruling because the bail exceeds the prosecutors’ request.
“I don’t know where I can find Hr 100 million,” he said to the media.
The judge justified the decision by pointing to the Dubnevych and his family’s assets according to the lawmaker’s annual financial declarations.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, are reportedly investigating additional criminal cases against Ukrzaliznytsya officials and the Dubnevych brothers.
According to a separate investigation, the Dubnevyches also profited from an embezzlement scheme through the purchase of natural gas from the state energy company Naftogaz, taking more than Hr 1.4 billion ($50.5 million).
