Key facts
- Lawmaker Vadym Stolar has been charged in absentia with organized crime, embezzlement, corporate raiding, forgery, and hacking.
- Stolar reportedly fled Ukraine over a month ago.
- The case involves officials from the President's Office, including former Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra and Viktor Dubovyk.
- Suspects are accused of illegally seizing real estate by hacking the corporate register, forging documents, and bribing officials.
- Mudra and Mykytas are also accused of laundering Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) to post bail.
- Stolar previously belonged to the pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life faction.
Lawmaker Vadym Stolar has been charged in absentia as part of a major corporate raiding case that involves officials from the President’s Office, according to Semen Kryvonos, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). Stolar reportedly fled the country over a month ago and faces charges including organized crime, embezzlement, corporate raiding, forgery, and hacking.
Previously, former Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra, lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, and Viktor Dubovyk, head of the legal policy department at the President's Office, were also charged in connection with the case. The suspects are accused of corporate raiding and money laundering, specifically the illegal seizure of real estate through hacking corporate registers, forging documents, and bribing judges and law enforcement. Mudra and Mykytas are additionally accused of laundering Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) to post bail for former Justice and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
Stolar previously represented the pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life faction in parliament before it was banned. He is now affiliated with the Restoration of Ukraine group. Investigative journalists have linked Stolar to controversial construction projects in Kyiv and a scheme that allegedly defrauded homebuyers in the 2000s, accusations he denies. Under a previous administration, Stolar was reportedly influential in Kyiv. He has also been linked to a former business partner of Andriy Yermak, the current head of the President's Office.