A court in Odesa region has closed criminal proceedings against four defendants in a case of misappropriation of budget funds allocated as state social assistance to low-income families. The reason for this was the expiration of the statute of limitations for bringing to criminal liability.
This is evidenced by the ruling of the Chornomorsk City Court of Odesa Region.
The defendants' defense lawyers filed a motion for their release from criminal liability on charges of aiding and abetting the misappropriation of property through abuse of office. The defendants agreed to such release on non-exculpatory grounds. The prosecutor supported the motion, noting that there were no legal grounds for refusal.
According to the case, the events took place in 2014-2016. The investigation established that the organizer of the scheme, whose materials were separated into separate proceedings, involved citizens in applying for social assistance for which they had no legal basis. For this purpose, their personal data was used, and social security officials entered false information into electronic databases. The scheme participants transferred part of the illegally obtained funds to the organizer.
The total amount of illegally paid social assistance in some episodes reached over UAH 136 thousand, as well as tens of thousands of hryvnias in other cases. The defendants were charged with aiding and abetting in the misappropriation of budget funds under part five of Article 27 and part two of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The court concluded that more than five years had passed since the commission of the alleged acts, the defendants had not absconded from the court, and the prosecution had not provided evidence of new crimes. The court therefore released all four individuals from criminal liability and closed the criminal proceedings. The court left the civil claims in the case without consideration, and decided to charge the court costs to the state.
Also in Odesa region, the land of a farm manager was seized. The case involves the forgery of documents about the loss of crops in order to receive compensation from the state.
Анна Бальчінос