Contractor avoids seizure of property due to corruption in the construction of a bridge in Mykolaiv

The court refused to seize the property of the company's director, who is suspected of embezzling budget funds during the construction of a bridge across the Southern Bug. According to the investigation, the contractor submitted fake certificates, and an engineer of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration facilitated the fraud.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Central Court of Mykolaiv.

The Central District Court of Mykolaiv considered a petition of a police investigator to seize the property of a suspect in criminal proceedings.

According to the investigation, the suspect is the director of Transstroycapital LLC. He is accused of misappropriation of budget funds on a particularly large scale during the construction of a bridge across the Pivdennyi Buh River between the village of Bohdanivka in Domanivskyi and the village of Kostiantynivka in Arbuzynskyi districts of Mykolaiv region. The total cost of the project was over UAH 25 million.

The investigation established that the contractor, acting intentionally and with the aim of illicit enrichment, submitted documents for the work performed that had not actually been carried out. In particular, the number of pontoons and steel half-girders was overstated in the work acceptance certificate and the certificate of work cost, which led to an overestimation of the cost of the work.

According to the investigation, the engineer of the Department of Capital Construction of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration assisted the suspect by signing the documents despite the lack of actual work, thus creating conditions for the illegal receipt of budget funds.

The investigating judge noted that the seizure of the suspect's property is possible to secure a civil claim or recover an unlawful benefit, but at this stage of the pre-trial investigation, a civil claim has not yet been filed. Therefore, the motion for arrest was dismissed.

The suspect is charged with actions under Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The maximum penalty under this article provides for imprisonment for up to 12 years with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years.

In August, Ivan Ivanchenko, director of the private enterprise Mirage, and Valeriy Korobeynikov, a technical supervision engineer, were put in the dock. They are accused of misappropriating funds from the regional budget, forgery and money laundering. According to the investigation, Ivanchenko issued false certificates of completion signed by the engineer. The documents stated false volumes and cost of works worth UAH 39.4 million. Although no work was carried out on the Pivdenobuzkyi Bridge, the company received these funds from the budget.

According to law enforcement, Ivanchenko legalized part of the money through expensive purchases, registering them in his mother's name: an apartment for UAH 1.7 million, as well as an Audi SQ5 and a Tesla Model X worth more than UAH 2.8 million. He was left in custody with a bail of 908 thousand hryvnias.

In May, the court approved a plea agreement between the prosecutor and Oleksandr Nefyodov, former deputy director of the City Planning Department of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration and head of the Capital Construction Department.

The court found Nefyodov guilty of official negligence and sentenced him to 5 years of suspended imprisonment with a two-year probation period.

Анна Бальчінос