PGO sends Kaskiv case to court

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) has completed the pre-trial investigation and sent to court an indictment against the former head of the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine, Vladyslav Kaskiv, PGO spokesman Andriy Lysenko has said.

"The department for investigating especially important cases of the main investigative directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, together with the department of procedural leadership on criminal proceedings of investigators of the central apparatus of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, completed the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on suspicion of the former head of the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine in committing crimes," he wrote on his Facebook page on Friday, December 15.

Lysenko recalled that the issue concerned crimes envisaged by Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (large-scale seizure of someone else's property through abuse of office by an official, committed on preliminary collusion by a group of individuals) and Part 2, Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (official forgery, which entailed grave consequences).

He also said that the indictment against Kaskiv was sent to Pechersky District Court of Kyiv on December 14 for consideration in essence.

On December 13, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that Kaskiv had examined the materials of the pre-trial investigation and that his case should be sent to court.

Kaskiv was declared internationally wanted under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on charges of "large-scale misappropriation of property by an official through abuse of office and through collusion with a group of persons" and under Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on "forgery by an official." He is suspected of entering into a criminal conspiracy in 2012 with other persons to embezzle the means of the state budget of Ukraine in the amount of about UAH 7.5 million.

On September 8, 2016, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office received confirmation from Interpol that Kaskiv had been arrested in Panama. On September 12, a court in Panama granted Kaskiv a $600,000 bail, after which he applied for political asylum.

On November 1, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that Kaskiv had been extradited from Panama to Ukraine and taken to the Main Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office.

On the same day the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv decided to remand Kaskiv into pretrial custody for two months and set bail at UAH 160,000. The court also ordered Kaskiv to turn in all passports and to be available to investigators, as well as to inform them of his whereabouts.