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Former Deputy Mayor of Lviv for Financial and Economic Affairs Hennadiy Vaskiv, who worked in Andriy Sadovyi’s team from 2017 to 2021, is suspected of embezzling 411 thousand euros from the Estonian charity foundation Slava Ukraini. According to the investigation, he left the territory of Ukraine in March 2024 and is hiding from law enforcement agencies.
According to the Estonian prosecutor‘s office, the embezzlement scheme was operated through IC Construction, the beneficial owner of which was Vaskiv. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the company received €1.55 million from the Estonian fund. The funds were withdrawn through the provision of overpriced services, ranging from vehicle repairs to tailoring for the military.
On November 29, 2024, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv granted permission to detain Vaskiv. The former official is accused of using charitable donations to make a profit on a particularly large scale during martial law.
The scandal came to light in May 2023, when the head of the Estonian foundation, MP Johanna-Maria Lehtme, was suspended from the board on suspicion of embezzling 1.5 million euros. This fall, the fund announced its closure.
The investigation into the case was also launched by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies last year. According to their data, over seven months (from September 2022 to March 2023), the Estonian fund transferred more than UAH 59 million to Aisy Construction LLC. Investigators believe that Hennadii Vaskiv could have misappropriated more than UAH 18 million of this amount. Although the company is officially owned by Marta Liuta (wife of Vaskiv’s brother), law enforcement officials claim that it was the former Lviv City Hall official who was the actual owner of Ice Construction.
For four years, Hennadiy Vaskiv was Andriy Sadovyi’s deputy for financial and economic issues
According to the investigation, the company provided real services, such as repairing equipment, dealing with logistics, and ordering military clothing. However, the cost of these services was significantly overstated. The profits were withdrawn legally as funds of the LLC. It is through this mechanism that the wording “illegally used in his favor” is used in the case file.
Vaskiv resigned as deputy mayor of Lviv in February 2021 at his own request, before Sadovyi’s new team was approved. Since March 2024, he has not been seen in Ukraine, and his social media has not been updated.
