Former regional official Ivanyushchenko has been remanded in custody in absentia — he is a defendant in a case involving land fraud amounting to 160 million hryvnias

This was reported by the court’s press office.

Ivanyushchenko fled Ukraine back in 2014, so the arrest warrant was issued in his absence. He is suspected of misappropriating 18 hectares of state-owned land worth over 160 million hryvnias.

Yuriy Ivanyushchenko: what is known about him

Yuriy Ivanyushchenko (also known as Yura Yenakiivskyi) was a Member of Parliament in the 6th and 7th convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. He fled Ukraine at the end of 2014. In early 2015, he was placed on the wanted list in connection with charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of property on a particularly large scale, and was charged with illicit enrichment.

In early 2017, the courts dismissed all cases against Ivanyushchenko. The Supreme Court stated that the Prosecutor General’s Office was to blame for the dismissal of the cases. And on 3 July 2019, it emerged that Ivanyushchenko had been removed from the wanted list.

The SBU believes that Ivanyushchenko is an FSB agent and acts as the Russian security service’s ‘supervisor’ for the ‘DPR’. He is also implicated in the case concerning alleged Russian influence on the NABU — the security service has stated that the former Party of Regions member is in close contact with Fedir Khrystenko, a Member of Parliament from the Opposition Platform – For Life party.

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