Categories: BUSINESS

Thanks to NABU and SAP, an Italian castle owned by Russian-origin businessman Fedorichev has been seized

According to information from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Italian authorities have seized assets belonging to a Russian-origin businessman who is a suspect in a case involving over $60 million in damages to the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine.

The Italian publication Corriere Fiorentino reports that the businessman in question is the sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Fedorichev.

Specifically, Italy, at the request of Ukrainian authorities, has seized shares in a company valued at €3 million and four real estate properties worth nearly €38 million. Among these, the Torre del Gallo castle in Florence, which is a material evidence in the case of damages to the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, has been seized.

According to SAP, between July and October 2014, officials of the corporation arranged contracts for the sale of state grain at undervalued prices. The grain was delivered to Saudi Arabia on a deferred payment basis through a series of companies. However, the payments were never made. As a result, the state corporation suffered losses exceeding $60 million. NABU and SAP indicate that part of these funds was used to purchase the Italian castle.

$60 million is nearly UAH 2.5 billion, which exceeds the combined annual budget of NABU and SAP.

Additionally, several suspects in this case have cooperated with the investigation and admitted their guilt.
In particular, during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, former Chairman of the State Food and Grain Corporation Petro Vovchuk was extradited from Lithuania and received a conditional sentence of 5 years. Vitaliy Kornienko, the owner of a shell company, also reached a plea deal and received a 5-year conditional sentence.

It appears that in exchange for these agreements, the suspects may have provided incriminating testimony against the organizer of the scheme.

Earlier, NABU had sent a notice of suspicion to Fedorichev in Monaco, but the request was denied. Subsequently, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) refused to place Fedorichev in custody in absentia.