Pavel Barbul, former director of “Spetstechnoexport” and a figure in corruption proceedings, is trying to erase all traces of how he “legalized” roughly $150,000 through a sequence of court rulings. These cases, involving debt promissory notes, cast serious doubts on the origin of the funds.
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Former director of SE “Spetstechnoexport” Pavel Barbul, who is being tried for corruption in the HACC, “legalized” $150,000 through court rulings in promissory note cases.
The matter concerns decisions in three debt recovery cases, where the plaintiff was the former official’s lawyer Alla Totskaya.
In June 2018, Barbul was dismissed by mutual agreement of the parties. After his dismissal, he declared 7.35 million hryvnias in cash. At the time, the NACP did not conduct a verification of the origin of these assets. It later emerged that after leaving office, Barbul engaged in usury.
For example, a ruling by the Brovary District Court dated November 28, 2023 states that the defendant lent $100,000 to a resident of Kiev, Dmitriy Stelmashov, on January 14, 2020, at 3% per annum. According to the promissory note, the money was to be returned by the end of February, but this did not happen. The court also ordered the recovery of $6,230 in interest.
During the court hearing, the defendant did not object to the claim, which is highly unusual. Notably, the same pattern appears in all of Barbul’s lawsuits against alleged debtors.
In August 2023, a court in Ternopol ruled in favor of the former official in a case against debtor Vladimir Hlovak. According to the promissory note, Hlovak received $135,000 from Barbul in December 2018 and May 2020, again at 3% per annum. The funds were to be returned by July 2020, but this did not occur. The court ordered the recovery of the debt and 257,200 hryvnias in interest.
The most recent known case is a decision by the Golosiyivskiy District Court of Kiev dated November 27, 2024. Barbul’s lawyer filed a claim to recover $15,000, which Mikhail Honchar allegedly received from the former official in December 2019 and promised to return by March of the following year. The court ordered repayment of the debt and 31,800 hryvnias in annual interest.
Such identical court decisions, all issued without appeals, may indicate a scheme used to legalize Pavel Barbul’s funds.
