Former advisor to the President’s Office Artem Shylo pleaded guilty in the case of embezzlement of Ukrzaliznytsia funds: the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeals approved the agreement

The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court has approved a plea agreement with former advisor to the Office of the President Artem Shyl, who is a defendant in the case of misappropriation of funds from JSC Ukrzaliznytsia. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released from serving the sentence with a three-year probationary period.

This was reported by the non-governmental organization Transparency International Ukraine on October 13.

The court found Shyl guilty of committing criminal offenses under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. This includes organizing the misappropriation of property on a particularly large scale and legalizing property obtained by criminal means.

UAH 204 million fine and confiscation of property

According to the approved agreement, Artem Shyl was sentenced to eight years in prison with an additional three-year ban on holding positions related to organizational and managerial or administrative and economic functions in military formations and law enforcement agencies.

At the same time, based on Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, he was released from serving the main sentence with probation, setting a probationary period of three years.

In addition, Shyl must pay UAH 204 million in fines. The court allowed the payment to be deferred for one year – in four installments of UAH 51 million each quarter.

The agreement also provides for special confiscation of assets, in particular:

one apartment with an area of ​​183.5 sq. m;

two apartments with an area of ​​102.3 sq. m each;

funds totaling UAH 325.7 million.

At the same time, the VAKS canceled the arrest of Shylo’s personal Mercedes-Benz car.

How the scheme worked at Ukrzaliznytsia

According to the investigation, Artem Shylo, together with Ukrzaliznytsia officials and other members of the organized group, facilitated the purchase of power transformers at artificially inflated prices.

The equipment was initially purchased in Uzbekistan, and then transported to Bulgaria. There, the transformers were purchased by a private company controlled by a Belarusian citizen who, according to law enforcement officers, regularly visited Russia.

Subsequently, Ukrzaliznytsia purchased this equipment at an inflated cost. According to the investigation, such actions caused losses of UAH 94.8 million to the state-owned company.

In addition, Shylo was involved in an investigation into the possible appropriation of company funds during the purchase of cable products.

Three agreements have already been concluded with the investigation in the case

The agreement with Artem Shyl became the third in the framework of the criminal proceedings regarding the activities of the so-called back office, through which, according to law enforcement officers, the appropriation of Ukrzaliznytsia funds was carried out.

Earlier, plea agreements were concluded by realtor Oleksandr Liskovatskyi and SBU employee Oleksandr Kovalyuk.

Another defendant, whom the investigation considers to be a co-organizer of the scheme, Kostyantyn Melnyk, also expressed his willingness to conclude a corresponding agreement. However, as of October 13, the court has not yet approved it.

Recall that in April 2024, NABU and SAPO reported on the exposure of a corruption scheme with procurements for Ukrzaliznytsia and detained Artem Shyl. In August 2026, the Supreme Court of Ukraine began a trial of the case.