Berdychiv court sentences ex-police officer Penkevych to seven years over fuel voucher bribe

Verdict for former police staff

The Berdychiv court in Zhytomyr region found former police station head Serhiy Penkevych guilty of bribery. He was sentenced to seven years in prison with the confiscation of property, excluding his residence. When determining the punishment, the court took into account that the convicted man has two children.

How the events unfolded

According to the investigation, in 2021, police stopped an agro-firm's tractors while they were moving along a public road. Subsequently, according to the investigation, the officer set a condition for the enterprise representative: for the unimpeded passage of large-sized equipment through the community territory, fuel vouchers had to be handed over monthly. In total, the police officer received vouchers for 700 litres of fuel, after which his activities were exposed.

Defendant's position and court's reaction

During the court hearings, Penkevych did not admit his guilt. He claimed that the agro-firm representative handed over the vouchers as material assistance so that the police could respond to calls in a timely manner. In his words, the only mistake lay in the incorrect formalisation of this "charitable aid".

The court took a critical stance towards this version. The defendant's superior testified in court that no proposals for providing charitable aid from the agro-firm to the police had been received. He noted that he had not given his subordinate instructions to receive such aid and did not even remember any cases where the police had received charitable fuel.

Testimony from enterprise management

The director of the agro-firm stated during the court hearing that he learned about the transfer of vouchers only from the media. He confirmed that the vouchers were purchased with the enterprise's funds, but he had not given instructions to transfer them to the police. The employee who exposed the police officer is a specialist in the internal security service, who deals with internal matters and resolves issues, including within law enforcement agencies. The witness was offered to become a victim, but he refused, considering the amount insignificant and the situation unpleasant. Subsequently, the director sent a letter stating that the fuel had been transferred as charitable aid.

Details of the covert investigation

Meetings and conversations between the parties were recorded within the framework of covert investigative (search) actions. In the conversations, there was no mention of charity at any point. Instead, the need to "help each other" was discussed. The police officer asked not to "set him up" and offered to introduce him to officials of the regional police department, noting that their "services might cost more". He also offered to resolve issues regarding driving under the influence, among other things.

In addition, the defendant proposed transferring vouchers in a 50/50 proportion (diesel and petrol), although the police station did not have any vehicles running on diesel fuel at all. It is also known from the testimony that no prior agreements regarding charitable aid existed.