The High Anti-Corruption Court has approved a plea bargain in the case of former Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky, ordering him to pay a basic fine of 68,000 UAH (approx. $1,800). Although the ruling constitutes a guilty verdict rather than an acquittal, it carries no actual prison sentence for the high-profile suspect. Instead, the core component of the resolution involves a massive direct transfer of funds to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The lenient fine stems directly from prosecutors downgrading the original charges during the pre-trial phase. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) finalized a plea agreement with the former official, under which Zlochevsky agreed to direct significant financial resources toward Ukraine’s military defense.
Following the court’s decision, authorities announced that over 500 million UAH would go toward the «Army of Drones» project, alongside additional specialized equipment for frontline units.
«While officials report 500 million UAH allocated to the ‘Army of Drones’ alongside hardware donations, these funds must be strictly separated from the $5.95 million seized earlier. That money was transferred to military accounts by NABU and SOF back in 2022 under entirely different procedural grounds.»
Despite official announcements, the legal and financial mechanics of the agreement leave several critical details unresolved. Journalists are now launching an independent investigation to map out every phase of the transfer and verify whether all promised obligations were fulfilled.
The upcoming investigation will focus specifically on:
Legal Justifications: The exact procedural grounds prosecutors used to soften and reclassify the charges.
Payment Routing: The explicit identification of every ultimate legal and financial recipient of the funds.
Paper Trail: Official verification of bank transfers, public procurement records, and hardware transfer certificates.
Investigators will avoid attributing funds to private foundations or taking verbal promises at face value without verifiable paper trails. The reporting will rely exclusively on confirmed banking data and official documentation.
Formal freedom-of-information requests are being submitted to SAPO, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), and relevant state agencies to compel the disclosure of all accessible documents verifying the financial execution of the plea deal.