At the end of March, Slava Ukraini filed a civil lawsuit in Ukraine to recover the allegedly misappropriated donations. In Estonia, charges have been brought against one of Slava Ukraini’s founders and former leader Lehtme; in Ukraine, against her partner Vaskiv and the company IC Construction.
Not all suspicions were proven
In earlier explanations, Estonian and Ukrainian law enforcement authorities confirmed that the investigation concerns the use of donations and possible misuse. In Ukraine, the criminal case is being heard by the Frankivsk District Court in Lviv.
On March 30, Slava Ukraini filed a civil claim seeking compensation for material damages amounting to 18,007,500 Ukrainian hryvnias (approximately €356,548). In addition, compensation of 20,000,000 hryvnias is sought for reputational damage. If the court satisfies the claim, the funds will be directed to a donation account for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Raag said in early April that the indictment includes several episodes, but mainly repeats a pattern where funds donated by Estonian donors were used for projects in Ukraine, during which not all the money was spent on project implementation, and a large portion was recorded as profit for the company IC Construction.
«Technically, the profit arose from the fact that goods or services purchased from Ukrainian subcontractors were significantly cheaper than the amounts charged to Estonians. At the same time, there were no agreements that the company’s profit would be used in line with the original purpose of the donations,» Raag said.
