A district court in Boryspil has found the AeroSvit airline company’s former general director Yurii Yemelianov guilty of non-payment of salaries totaling UAH 54.7 million to employees of the company in December 2012 and January 2013, the LB.ua publication reports.

Article 175 of the Penal Code, under which the former director of the airline company was charged, provides for the maximum penalty of up to two years imprisonment. However, according to the press service of the Kiev Regional Prosecutor’s Office, he was fined UAH 10,000 and banned from holding positions involving management of financial flows for one year.

The court imposed such a lenient sentence because the former AeroSvit director admitted his guilt, repented, partially paid UAH 9.36 million as part of the debt. In addition, the court took into account the positive character of the accused and the fact that he has a young daughter.

As reported, Yemelianov was the general director of AeroSvit from November 2012 to January 2013.

AeroSvit filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of 2012. It was reported that the airline company owed UAH 4.27 billion to creditors. Earlier this year, the company began mass cancelation of flights and essentially stopped flying. A court later canceled the decision to initiate the bankruptcy proceedings, but the company did not resume operations.

Until then, AeroSvit was the largest airline company in Ukraine. Currently, it does not operate flights. Ukraine International Airlines is now the largest airline company in Ukraine. Ihor Kolomoiskyi controls AeroSvit.