Ukraine's anti-corruption court approves plea deal with former acting head of Presidential Administration Pashynsky in seized-fuel case

Why it matters

The ruling marks one of the highest-profile convictions tied to assets originally confiscated from the entourage of fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, and the 1.1-billion-hryvnia settlement, with 500 million directed to wartime charities, frames the outcome as both a punishment and a wartime contribution. Pashynsky's agreement to testify against other participants opens the door to further prosecutions in a scheme investigators say caused close to 1 billion hryvnia in state losses.

What happened

On 24 September, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) announced that the High Anti-Corruption Court had approved a plea agreement with Serhiy Pashynsky, who served as acting head of the Presidential Administration from March to June 2014. Pashynsky was charged with participation in a criminal organisation and abuse of office in connection with the misappropriation of approximately 97,000 tonnes of oil products seized in 2014 from structures linked to Serhiy Kurchenko.

Under the deal, Pashynsky fully admitted guilt under Part 2 of Article 364 and Part 1 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code and agreed to provide testimony against other participants. He must transfer 600 million hryvnia to the general fund of the state budget within 2.5 years, 400 million to the 'Come Back Alive' foundation for weapons procurement, and 100 million to the 'Sternenko Community' charitable fund within 30 days — a combined 1.1 billion hryvnia. The principal punishment is a fine of 850,000 hryvnia, with an additional 17,000-hryvnia fine and a one-year ban on holding positions in state authorities or local self-government. Asset confiscation was not applied because the relevant amendment to Article 255 was adopted in June 2020, after the crime. If Pashynsky fails to meet the conditions, SAP will ask the court to revoke the verdict and retry the case under general procedure.

A separate plea deal with another participant in the same scheme was approved on 5 September 2025: eight years' imprisonment with a three-year probationary period, 40 million hryvnia already transferred to the Defense Forces, and 110 million hryvnia to be paid to the state budget within three years.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All ten supplied articles are Ukrainian, and the coverage is uniformly critical of Pashynsky. Headlines emphasise that he will not serve time — the punishment is a fine and a one-year post ban — and that asset confiscation was not applied because the relevant amendment came after the crime. Outlets frame the 500 million hryvnia earmarked for the 'Come Back Alive' foundation and the 'Sternenko Community' as a wartime contribution, but also note that the court-imposed financial settlement (about 867,000 hryvnia in fines) is small compared with the 1.1 billion hryvnia Pashynsky has agreed to pay. Reports centre domestic anti-corruption institutions (NABU, SAP, VAKS) and detail the mechanism investigators describe: the transfer of seized Kurchenko fuel to the state enterprise Ukrtransnaftoprodukt, which was controlled by Pashynsky's business partner Serhiy Tyshchenko, and its resale at sharply reduced prices to a group of companies connected to Tyshchenko.

Where reporting differs

Two main discrepancies appear across the sources. First, state losses are reported as either more than 817 million hryvnia — SAP's estimate of the misappropriation attributed to Pashynsky in March–June 2014 — or 967 million hryvnia, the total attributed by NABU and the SBU to the criminal organisation's activity from 2014 to 2018. One source suggests these refer to different scopes of the same scheme rather than conflicting figures, but the input marks both as disputed. Second, accounts differ on the obligations imposed on the other participant whose plea deal was approved on 5 September 2025: most sources specify eight years' imprisonment with a three-year probationary period, 40 million hryvnia already paid to the Defense Forces and 110 million hryvnia to be paid to the state budget within three years, while one earlier report says that participant agreed to pay 150 million hryvnia and received a suspended sentence.

Background

In 2014 a court seized around 97,000 tonnes of oil products imported by the SEPEC company linked to Serhiy Kurchenko, who fled Ukraine after Viktor Yanukovych's escape. According to investigators, the seized fuel was transferred to the state enterprise Ukrtransnaftoprodukt, which was at the time controlled by Pashynsky's business partner Serhiy Tyshchenko, and was sold at sharply reduced prices to a group of companies connected to Tyshchenko. The Ministry of Defence reportedly received only 1.6% of the original 'Kurchenko fuel'; the rest was fuel purchased from the same group of companies, which in turn sourced it from Russia and Belarus. In 2020 a court ordered special confiscation of the products and proceeds, but investigators say all of them had already been appropriated by then. In February 2024 NABU and the SBU announced suspicions against six people in the case; Pashynsky was arrested with bail set at 272.52 million hryvnia and released on 27 February 2024 after the bail was posted. On 5 September 2025 VAKS approved a plea deal with another participant in the same scheme.