Four accused of laundering embezzled Ukrainian money to stand trial

The Office of the Prosecutor General has charged three individuals with large-scale money laundering and a fourth with aiding in money laundering in a case where investigative evidence indicates that more than €35 million, derived from a crime in Ukraine, was funneled into circulation.
Prosecutors have charged Priit Porila, Dmitri Fokin and Aivar Riis with large-scale money laundering and Svetlana Kalinina with aiding in money laundering.
According to prosecutors, the accused provided Ukrainian citizen Maksym Volodymyr Stepanov with money laundering services, enabling him to conceal criminal proceeds from an offense and integrate them into the legal economy.
Stepanov was the director of the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise Polygraph Combine "Ukraina" (PCU). According to Ukrainian law enforcement authorities, he set up a scheme to generate illicit profits which allowed him to unlawfully transfer at least €35 million out of the Ukrainian company between September 2013 and April 2021.
Evidence collected during pretrial proceedings indicated that this sum ended up in Feature OÜ, a company established in Estonia and managed by Dmitri Fokin, one of the four individuals accused in the case.
According to the indictment, the accused created a supply chain in which the Estonian company was supposed to act as an intermediary in supplying raw materials needed for document production to the Ukrainian company, but the cost of these materials was inflated several times over compared to their actual value.
Funds received in the Estonian company's account were then transferred through Estonian and foreign companies controlled by the accused, moving between dozens of different accounts. To make the transactions appear more legitimate, various contracts were allegedly drawn up to fabricate fictitious debt obligations, allowing the true origin of the money to be concealed.
According to the investigative evidence gathered, a large share of the money ultimately made its way back to Stepanov or individuals closely associated with him.
One convicted in Ukraine
State prosecutor Jürgen Hüva said that the evidence suggests the accused deliberately attempted to cover their tracks.
"According to the evidence, the accused knew that the funds they received originated from a crime committed against a Ukrainian state-owned company at a time when Ukraine has had to defend itself against Russia's unlawful aggression since 2014," Hüva said.
"Nevertheless, they chose to conceal the criminal origin of the money, exploited Estonia's banking system and, according to the indictment, introduced nearly €35 million in criminal proceeds into circulation," he added.
In a ruling that entered into force in January, a Ukrainian court has convicted one individual of committing the predicate offense in Ukraine. Criminal proceedings in Ukraine are ongoing to bring other suspects in the embezzlement case to trial.
The pretrial investigation in Estonia was led by the Office of the Prosecutor General and conducted by the Central Criminal Police with support from the Financial Intelligence Unit.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Aili Vahtla