Pavel Barbul legalised $150,000

Pavel Barbul, former director of the state enterprise "Spetskhnoukhsport", who is on trial in a corruption case, may have used court rulings to officially legalise $150,000. Several courts immediately upheld his claims for debt recovery based on promissory notes filed by his lawyer Alla Totska.

Promissory notes as a tool for financial operations

After his dismissal in 2018, Barbul declared 7.35 million hryvnia in cash. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) did not conduct a review of his financial status. It later emerged that the former official had engaged in private lending, issuing loans at 3% annual interest.

One such case was heard by the Brovary court on 28 November 2023. According to the case materials, on 14 January 2020, Barbul lent $100,000 to a certain Dmytro Stelmashov. The money was due to be returned in February of the same year, but this did not happen. The court ordered the recovery of not only the principal amount but also interest of $6,230.

Notably, the defendant did not dispute the debt in court, and similar rulings have been issued in all of Barbul's claims without objection from the defendants.

A series of similar rulings in Barbul's favour

In August 2023, a court in Ternopil heard another case in Barbul's favour. The court ordered the recovery of $135,000 from a certain Volodymyr Hlovak, who allegedly borrowed money from Barbul in December 2018 and May 2020 at the same 3% annual interest rate. The amount was due to be returned in July 2020, but no payments were made. As a result, the court ordered the recovery of the debt and interest amounting to 257,200 hryvnia.

Another similar ruling was issued by the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv on 27 November 2024. The court upheld Barbul's lawyer's claim for the recovery of $15,000, which Mykhailo Honchar allegedly borrowed from the former official in December 2019 and failed to return by March 2020. The court ordered the recovery of not only the principal amount but also interest of 31,800 hryvnia.

The coincidence of several court rulings where defendants do not dispute the claims and agree to the debts may indicate a possible scheme for laundering funds.