Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities have sent a case to trial charging former lawmaker Heorhii Lohvynskyi and five others with misappropriating 54.18 million hryvnias (about $1.3 million) in state funds and laundering the proceeds.
Investigators allege that between 2013 and 2016, Lohvynskyi organized a scheme involving Golden Mandarin Oil LLC and a debt dispute with energy company Kyivenergo. The group allegedly used a fraudulent "friendly settlement" at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to trick the Ukrainian government into paying off a private corporate debt with public money.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), a representative of Golden Mandarin Oil applied to the ECHR seeking payment from the state over a debt Kyivenergo allegedly owed under a 2009 domestic court ruling. Investigators say the company concealed from the ECHR that the legal right to claim the debt had already been transferred to a third party.
NABU alleges that Lohvynskyi colluded with senior Justice Ministry officials to secure the friendly settlement before the European court and trigger the payout from the state budget. The funds were then transferred to a company controlled by members of the scheme and laundered through illicit financial clearing fronts.
The investigation was completed in January.
Among the defendants is Borys Babin, who served as Ukraine’s government representative before the ECHR. Babin denied wrongdoing in a written response to OCCRP.
“I do not admit the charges brought against me and believe that my innocence will be established by the court through due process,” he said.
Babin added that he intends to challenge the prosecution’s claims in court and personally participate in the proceedings. Maintaining the position he has held throughout the inquiry, Babin said that on Oct. 5 he asked the High Anti-Corruption Court to transfer the case to another jurisdiction.
Former First Deputy Justice Minister Nataliia Bernatska also denied wrongdoing. In a statement provided to OCCRP by her lawyer, Denys Shkarovsky, she maintained that she acted strictly within her legal authority and never made unlawful decisions or pressured other officials. Bernatska said she did not approve the settlement with Golden Mandarin Oil, stating that the decision rested solely with the government’s ECHR representative acting within his own powers.
She added that the state payout was a lawful consequence of Ukraine’s obligation to enforce ECHR rulings. Describing the nearly decade-long prosecution as baseless, Bernatska noted that investigating judges at the High Anti-Corruption Court had already rejected several prosecution arguments against her. She said she is seeking a “swift and open” trial and has lodged a complaint with the ECHR alleging human rights violations during the criminal proceedings.
The investigation was launched in 2017. Lohvynskyi was identified as the key organizer and formally notified of suspicion in 2023. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
Representatives for Heorhii Lohvynskyi, Feliks Kozakov, and Liudmyla Trubchaninova did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
