Medvedchuk's wife charged with financing overthrow of constitutional order

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk, has been charged with financing the overthrow of the constitutional order.

A notice of suspicion for Marchenko has been published on the website of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, Ukrinform reports.

According to the document, an investigator in particularly important cases at the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Yurii Bobuliak, informed Marchenko that she is suspected of financing actions aimed at the violent change and overthrow of the constitutional order, seizure of state power, change of territorial boundaries and the state border of Ukraine, in violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine, that were committed repeatedly, for selfish reasons, in prior collusion by a group of persons, i.e. committing a criminal offense provided for in Part 3 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The press service of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that the agency had liquidated a large-scale scheme of illegal financing of Russian occupation groups by citizens of Ukraine.

"Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, suspected of high treason, is involved in organizing the scheme," the SBU said.

The special service reported that Marchenko is the ultimate beneficiary of a network of Kyiv companies and an enterprise in Yalta that transferred millions of dollars to the accounts of the Russian Guard and the Russian Interior Ministry in occupied Crimea.

It was established that these companies paid the Russians allegedly for the "protection of Medvedchuk's real estate" on the peninsula.

In addition, Marchenko's business entity regularly replenished the Russian budget in the form of payment of "taxes and fees."

The total amount of payments made in favor of the aggressor country exceeds UAH 50 million.

To implement the scheme, Marchenko registered a company in Yalta with a charter capital of more than 1 billion Russian roubles.

For its creation, she used the assets of three controlled investment companies located in Kyiv.

Then the "Crimean" company signed the respective "security" agreements with the entities of the Russian Guard and the Russian Interior Ministry.

According to the investigation, after the beginning of the Russian invasion, Marchenko's company continued to finance the Russian budget.

During 11 raids of Medvedchuk's wife's real estate, the offices of her Kyiv-based companies and the residences of their top managers, SBU officers found documents, computers, flash drives and mobile phones with evidence of scams, seals and bank cards used by the defendants in their illegal activities.

Based on the evidence collected, SBU investigators charged Marchenko and the head of the affiliated company, Inna Paliy, in Crimea under Part 3 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (financing actions directed at the violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power, change of territory or state border of Ukraine).

The issue of approving suspicion notices for the managers of three Kyiv companies involved in the criminal scheme is being resolved.

The suspects face up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.

In this case, Marchenko was summoned to the SBU office in the Ivano-Frankivsk region on February 14 for investigation.