The Pechersk Court elected the President of the Ukrainian Football Association Andrey Pavelko a preventive measure in the form of arrest for 2 months with the possibility of making 9 million 880 thousand hryvnia bail. The bail for Pavelko has already been paid.
UAF lawyer Denis Bugay commented:
“Today there was a meeting of the Pechersk Court. Unfortunately, the court did not listen to our arguments and decided to arrest with the possibility of bail. The deposit has already been paid. It is paid by the UAF. The legal procedures to confirm the payment are now being completed. And we hope that Pavelko will soon appear at the UAF office and continue to fulfill his duties.”
It is reported that the term of arrest was 2 months, and the bail was 9 million 880 thousand hryvnia.
The lawyer added that now Pavelko is in the Main Witness Department of the police with the investigator. The UAF expects that “in a few hours” the bail issue will be resolved and Pavelko will be released.
According to Bugai, they “categorically disagree with the court’s decision and with the criminal proceedings in general”:
“The investigation declares that there is a misappropriation of UAF funds. It is not true. The money in question was a payment for the services provided by the famous football referee Pierluigi Collina to the UAF. They had all this evidence, but this evidence was not handed over to the court, but hidden.
This criminal proceeding was investigated by NABU for more than 3 years, and the Office of the Prosecutor General came to the conclusion a year ago that there were no signs of a crime on the part of Pavelko, and transferred this case to the police. And now a year has passed – and for some reason, for no apparent reason, without any additional actions, this suspicion was presented. In addition, there is a complete lack of expertise in the case.”
Bugai also stressed that it is not about state funds, but about the money of the Federation, because “over the past 7 years, the Federation has not received any budget funding.” In addition, according to him, “there is no victim in the case.”
Bugai added that this decision will be appealed.
The lawyer clarified that this was a case of possible corruption by the FFU during the construction of football fields, which was investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2018.
