The King of Smuggling Yuriy Kushnir has once again avoided imprisonment

The King of Smuggling Yuriy Kushnir has once again avoided imprisonment

A businessman from Bukovyna, known for his scandals, has signed another agreement with the prosecutor.

The High Anti-Corruption Court approved a plea agreement reached between the SAPO prosecutor and an entrepreneur from the Chernivtsi region, which will allow him to avoid imprisonment.

This decision was made by the HACC on February 10, according to Censor.

According to the agreement, the court found the entrepreneur guilty of providing undue benefits to the head of the Chernivtsi Regional Council for facilitating the lease of a health complex, which constitutes a crime defined in Part 4 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to the court’s verdict, the businessman was sentenced to a final punishment (considering the sentence in another criminal case) of 6 years of imprisonment with a fine of 83.26 million UAH, with the deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the export and import of goods for a period of 2 years and 8 months, with an additional fine of 17,000 UAH.

"Based on Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the court released the individual from serving the main sentence of imprisonment with probation, setting a probation period of 3 years," stated the SAPO.

In addition, the entrepreneur is obligated to transfer 10 million UAH to the charity fund "Return Alive" within one year, and 5 million UAH deposited as a bail on his behalf will be directed to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The SAPO does not name the entrepreneur, but according to the publication "Word and Deed," it refers to Chernivtsi businessman Yuriy Kushnir. In this case, he was accused of bribing the former head of the Chernivtsi Regional Council Ivan Muntian with $180,000 for the right to lease the communal sanatorium "Brusnytsia" for 50 years.

According to the investigation, Muntian in total demanded $400,000 from the entrepreneur to resolve the lease of the sanatorium, and the official also received a suspicion in this case; however, the judicial review of the case regarding him is still ongoing.

What is known about Yuriy Kushnir?

Yuriy Kushnir is a well-known Chernivtsi businessman, owner of the company "Chernivtsi Building Materials Plant" and the security agency "Sokil," was a deputy of the Chernivtsi Regional Council from the "Party of Regions."

In April 2021, the National Security and Defence Council imposed sanctions against him and nine other individuals, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the "top ten of Ukrainian smuggling" following the NSDC meeting.

What else was Kushnir suspected of?

It is worth noting that this is the second case in which Yuriy Kushnir avoids imprisonment in a corruption case through a plea agreement with prosecutors.

In September 2024, the HACC approved a plea agreement with Kushnir in a case concerning a corruption scheme at the Chernivtsi customs.

According to the court’s verdict, Kushnir, as a co-organizer of the crime, was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months of imprisonment, with a fine of 83.26 million UAH (the amount of damage caused by the criminal offense), with the deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the export and import of goods into Ukraine for 2 years and 8 months and another fine of 17,000 UAH. At the same time, the court released him and three accomplices from serving the sentence of imprisonment with probation, setting a probation period of 3 years.

Furthermore, Kushnir committed to compensating the state for damages in the amount of 83.26 million UAH within 1 year and to transferring 2 million UAH to the "Army of Drones."

What is known about the Chernivtsi customs case?

In April 2024, NABU uncovered a criminal organization of 11 people, including well-known entrepreneurs from Chernivtsi and officials of the Chernivtsi customs, including its former head Mykola Salagor and a former deputy of the Chernivtsi Regional Council.

According to the investigation, members of the criminal organization implemented a number of schemes to avoid customs payments, resulting in total damages to the state amounting to almost 290 million UAH.

During 2017-2019, commercial goods were imported through a checkpoint on the Romanian-Ukrainian border by freight vehicles based on forged documents, which led to the application of lower or even zero import duty rates. In some cases, vehicles with goods were declared as empty upon entering the customs territory of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the customs management ensured the priority passage of such vehicles and the unhindered customs clearance of the declared goods "cover group."

These schemes operated for a long time, and its participants behaved cynically and arrogantly, according to NABU. When journalists tried to expose the criminal organization’s activities, the customs management organized their brutal beating.