The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has placed the former president of the Ukrainian Football Federation (UAF) on the wanted list. Andrei Pavelko. This comes from Ukrainian data Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to the database, Pavelko is accused of two criminal articles: embezzlement, misappropriation of property or misappropriation of property through abuse of office, committed on a large scale or by an organized group, as well as official forgery.
On October 9, it became known that the former UAF president had been indicted on new charges. As clarified by the Strana publication, the investigation believes that Pavelko and a group of other Ukrainian football officials took possession of 9.32 million euros, which UAF received from the Union of European Football Associations (of UEFA) in 2015-2016.
Pavelko had previously been accused of carrying out bribery schemes during the construction of a plant to produce artificial turf for football pitches. In this case, the president of the association was arrested in November 2022, but managed to get bail. In June 2023 he was arrested again; only in February 2024 did he win the appeal and was released. In the same year, according to Ukrainian AveragePavelko traveled abroad, submitting a certificate of disability. Then “Strana” associated the persecution of Pavelko with the fact that Vladimir Zelensky was pressuring him to force him to hand over the position of president of the association to Ukrainian footballer Andrei Shevchenko, who eventually led the UAF in January 2024.
