Ukraine discloses name of Estonian firm involved in corruption case

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) disclosed that the Estonian company against which suspicions have been brought in connection with a national documents maker's corruption investigation is Feature OÜ, ERR's Russian portal reported Sunday.
"OÜ Feature is a modern and rapidly developing company in the field of safety printing of IDs and other official documents. We offer consultation, innovative solutions, sell and broker print materials, the firm's home page reads.
The website also reads that Feature OÜ has successfully implemented a certified quality management system based on the ISO 90001:2015 standard.
The Prosecutor's Office said the suspicions were brought back in 2021 but have not reached court yet.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said in July that it had uncovered a large-scale international criminal embezzlement scheme at the state-owned "Ukraine" printing house, which produces forms of official documentation including Ukrainian citizens' passports, ID cards and driver's licenses.
The Ukrainian authorities have also brought suspicions against the Estonian company's managers who allegedly organized materials for blank document samples. The company bought the materials direct from manufacturers before selling them to state-owned firms for 4-6 times the money. NABU said that Estonia has brought suspicions against four persons.
The Estonian Prosecutor's Office has previously told ERR Russian news that the Central Criminal Police brought suspicions of extensive money laundering against three persons, while another person is suspected of aiding money laundering.
"The case is in the pretrial proceedings phase, meaning that no one has been charged yet," a representative of the prosecution said.
The Prosecutor's Office had previously stated suspects Priit (aged 55), Aivar (54) and Dmitri (50) are under suspicion of helping to conceal the origin and real owners of property obtained via criminal means, as money laundering services (Estonian law requires that the suspects' full names not be published-ed.). A network of firms registered in various different countries, along with bank accounts controlled by the suspects, had been used to conceal these funds.
According to the suspicion, the money laundering activity totaled a value of nearly €28 million.
Another suspect, Svetlana (51) is under suspicion of contributing to these money laundering activities, while according to preliminary data, the funds were the proceeds of crimes committed in Ukraine, where a separate investigation is also underway.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski