Border guard caught in scheme to supply bread to Kherson region

The car of a border guard suspected of colluding with suppliers of bread at inflated prices was arrested in Kherson region. He is suspected of abuse of office during the procurement, which resulted in the state losing more than UAH 1 million.

This is stated in the ruling of the Zavodsky District Court of Mykolaiv.

A serviceman of the State Border Guard Service is suspected of fraudulent purchases of bread, which resulted in the state losing more than UAH 1 million. According to the State Bureau of Investigation, the suspect was the head of the food service of one of the border guard detachments in southern Ukraine.

In February 2023, while temporarily deployed in Kherson region, investigators say he deliberately prepared falsified price monitoring to justify the purchase of bread from Rokcha at prices higher than market prices. At the same time, he knew for certain that such a commercial offer was economically unprofitable, but he pushed through the contract anyway.

The agreement between the border guard detachment and Rokcha LLC was signed on February 8, 2023. After that, the serviceman personally accepted the products and signed invoices on the basis of which the company received budget funds.

All this, according to the investigation, was done contrary to the interests of the service, with the aim of providing an unlawful benefit to a third party. As a result, the military unit lost UAH 1 million 61 thousand.

On April 30, 2025, the border guard was officially notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - abuse of office with grave consequences. To prevent the alienation of the property, the SBI filed a motion with the court to seize the car belonging to the suspect. It was a 2004 HONDA ACCORD. The judge agreed with the investigation's arguments, recognizing the risks of destroying or selling the car, and seized it.

At the beginning of the year, a large-scale scheme of embezzlement of budget funds during the purchase of winter uniforms for the military was exposed in Kherson region. Three people are involved in the case: a deputy of the Oleksandriia City Council, a company manager, and an accountant. According to law enforcement, the offenders misappropriated more than UAH 11.8 million and tried to obtain an additional UAH 9.2 million, but the transaction was blocked in time.

Анна Бальчінос