The SSU continues to bring to justice enemy accomplices involved in financing russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.

As a result of operational and investigative activities in Zhytomyr region, the SSU exposed crimes of the management of a local mining company, which was ‘earning’ money for Volodymyr Saldo, head of the occupation military–civilian administration in russian-captured part of Kherson oblast.

Saldo’s family was the ultimate beneficiary of this company, engaged in extraction, processing and sale of granite on an industrial scale.

Part of the profits were used for the needs of the occupation authorities in the temporarily seized part of southern Ukraine.

In September 2022, following the SSU’s investigation, court seized the company’s assets for cooperation with the accomplices of the aggressor state.

During the pre-trial investigation, the SSU also uncovered schemes, which the entrepreneurs used to move money to ‘shadow’ and use it in the interests of the enemy.

The organizers artificially reduced the volume of extracted raw materials and sales of finished products and also ‘changed’ their price range.

To do this, they entered false information into financial and business records.

As a result, Ukraine’s state budget lost millions of UAH in unpaid taxes.

In the meantime, the company laundered the ‘profits’ through affiliated companies, e.g. by purchasing technological products supposedly for the enterprise.

The investigation established that the criminal scheme had caused over UAH 4.5 mln (USD 111,000) in losses to the state budget.

Based on the results of the SSU’s investigation, the head of the mining company was notified of suspicion under the two Articles of the CCU:

• 209.2 (laundering of proceeds of crime);
• 364-1.1 (abuse of power by an official of a legal entity of private law, regardless of organizational and legal form).

During the searches at the suspect’s home and the company premises, the law enforcement found:

• financial and business documentation;
• draft records;
• bank cards used in the criminal scheme.

The investigation is ongoing.

The SSU Office in Zhytomyr region exposed and investigated the offence jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.