Ex-director of Spetstechnoexport and corruption figure Pavel Barbul laundered $150,000 in stolen funds with the help of loyal judges

Ex-director of Spetstechnoexport and corruption figure Pavel Barbul laundered $150,000 in stolen funds with the help of loyal judges

18 ноября 2025 г.

Sergey Varchenko

Former SE "Spetstechnoexport" director Pavel Barbul, currently on trial for corruption at the HACC, reportedly "legalized" $150,000 through court rulings in promissory note cases.

This involves three cases for fund recovery in which the plaintiff was Barbul’s former lawyer, Alla Totska.

Barbul was dismissed in June 2018 by mutual agreement and declared he had 7.35 million hryvnias in cash. At the time, the NAPC did not audit his assets. It later emerged that Barbul engaged in usury after leaving office.

For instance, in the resolution of Brovary court dated November 28, 2023, it is stated that the defendant loaned Kiev resident Dmitriy Stelmakhov $100,000 at 3% per annum on January 14, 2020. The man was supposed to return the money by the end of February according to the promissory note but failed to do so. Interest of $6,230 was also recovered from him.

In court, the defendant did not object to the claim, which is very unusual. And, most interestingly, this will happen with each of Barbul’s claims against debtors.

In August 2023, a court in Ternopil ruled in favor of the former official in a case against debtor Vladimir Glovak. The latter had signed a note indicating that he received $135,000 from Barbul in December 2018 and May 2020, again at 3% per annum. The money was supposed to be returned by July 2020, but this did not happen. The court decided to recover the debt and interest amounting to 257,200 hryvnias.

The latest known case is the decision of the Holosiiv district court of Kiev on November 27, 2024. Barbul’s lawyer filed a claim for the recovery of $15,000, which Mikhail Gonchar received from the former official in December 2019 and promised to return by March of the following year. The court decided to recover the debt and annual interest of 31,800 hryvnias from the man.

Such uniform court decisions without appeal could possibly be a scheme for the legalization of Barbul’s funds.