An apartment was bought for stolen 40 million from construction in Mykolaiv

The Central District Court in Mykolaiv has been sent a case of embezzlement of tens of millions of hryvnias from the budget. The defendants are the director of the private enterprise Mirage Ivan Ivanchenko and engineer Valeriy Korobeynikov, who are accused of misappropriation of funds, forgery and money laundering.

The procurement was announced on November 6, 2023 in the Prozorro system.

The project drew criticism because of the inappropriateness of spending money during the war. The State Audit Service found irregularities in the selection process, as Mirage submitted an outdated certificate of no criminal record for its director. Despite this, the contract with the company was signed on November 28, 2023. Subsequently, it was repeatedly amended, including postponing the completion date.

According to the investigation, the director of Mirage Ltd. Ivan Ivanchenko decided to take possession of budget funds by issuing fictitious documents. He agreed with Valeriy Korobeynikov, a technical supervision engineer at the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration's Capital Construction Department, to sign certificates of completion, although no work was actually done.

Between December 2023 and July 2024, Mirage received over UAH 39 million from the budget for work that did not take place. Ivanchenko tried to legalize these funds by purchasing luxury cars - Audi SQ5 and Tesla Model X - and an apartment in his mother's name.

The indictment against Ivanchenko and Korobeynikov has now been submitted to court. Ivanchenko is charged with misappropriation of property on a particularly large scale, forgery and money laundering, and Korobeynikov is charged with aiding and abetting. Ivanchenko was remanded in custody with the possibility of bail, while Korobeynikov is free under an obligation to appear in court.

The case also involves Oleksandr Nefyodov, a former deputy director of the City Planning Department of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, who signed certificates of completion without checking them. The materials on him have been separated into a separate proceeding. The former official pleaded guilty to official negligence that led to serious consequences. The court sentenced him to 5 years of suspended imprisonment, with a probationary period of 2 years.

In addition, he was banned from holding positions in the construction industry for three years, ordered to pay a fine of UAH 12,750 and reimburse the costs of the examination in the amount of more than UAH 5,000.

Катерина Глушко