Theformer head of the UAF Ethics and Fair Play Commission, and now the head of the Football Federation of Kiev Igor Kochetov commented on the scandal with the outflow of UAF assets in the amount of more than 1.3 billion hryvnia.
Igor Kochetov- The results of this audit only confirm that at one time the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine objectively opened a case against these around football specialists. I deliberately call them around football, because they have nothing in common with the development of football. That is not without reason Pavelko served eight and a half months in the pre-trial detention centre. But this is only the beginning of his journey through these institutions. I am sure that based on the results of this audit, more than one more criminal case on embezzlement of funds will be announced, and this "figure" will sit down for a long time.
- We are talking about more than 1.3 billion hryvnias. Were you struck by the amount stolen?
- Not me personally, because I am constantly following this case. Even when Pavelko was first suspected of embezzlement of funds due to the construction of a plant for the manufacture of artificial fields, I understood even then that we are talking about hundreds of millions of hryvnias. And then came the withdrawal of funds to offshore, incomprehensible million-dollar purchases of exotic seafood, tea for UAF money and so on. Yes, the amount of stolen funds is huge, if not fantastic. But I assumed that this gop company stole somewhere around that amount. You see, all their activities in the UAF they have devoted exclusively to their own enrichment, not to the development of football. That is banal theft, and I am waiting for a fair trial of Pavelko, Zapisotsky and others who helped them to withdraw funds from the UAF accounts.
- What should the current leadership of the UAF do when the structure has been robbed in such a way?
- I know that Andriy Shevchenko, when he came to the walls of the House of Football, was horrified. There was no money in the account to take the Ukrainian national team to the March play-off matches for Euro-2024. I heard that he borrowed funds for this trip. Then the UAF started to take loans to ensure its activity, the existence of the national teams... I am sure that the current employees of the UAF do everything right and will not allow such a situation again. How to repay the loans? The UAF accounts receive funds from FIFA and UEFA under different programmes. I do not remember the exact amount, but we should receive more than 9 million euros for our national team's appearance at the Euros. Participation in the Euros, and especially victories there, are also valued in millions. Everything will be fine, the main thing now is to punish those who profited from our football.
