Contractor's director and technical supervision engineer embezzled 5.5 million in Kherson region

Law enforcement officers exposed a large-scale scheme of embezzlement of budget funds for the construction of protective structures in Kherson region.

This was reported by the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The director of the contracting company was suspected of embezzlement and forgery, and the technical supervision engineer was charged with negligence. Joint actions of the Regional and Oleshky Prosecutor's Offices revealed that the criminals had been profiting from civil defense facilities during 2023-2024.

The first episode concerns the overhaul of a shelter in the hub lyceum of one of the village councils. The director of the company deliberately overstated the cost of materials and the scope of work in the reporting, which resulted in the community budget losing almost half a million hryvnias for no reason. The technical supervision engineer, who had the necessary experience, signed the certificates without actually inspecting the facility, effectively legalizing the fraud.

The contractor used a similar scheme during the reconstruction of a protective structure for a medical facility in Kherson. This dual-purpose shelter was to be used both to protect against shelling and to provide medical care. Due to overstatements in the documentation, the offender received more than UAH 5 million from the budget. The total amount of losses in the two proceedings exceeded UAH 5.5 million. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing with the participation of the Police, the SBU and the SFS.

In addition, the SBU in Mykolaiv region is investigating a scheme to misappropriate funds from the state budget reserve fund intended for the protection of critical energy infrastructure. It is a case of embezzlement of UAH 3.2 million.

According to the investigation, the fraud involved Ikad LLC, a company founded just two months before the deal was made. In September 2023, the Infrastructure Department of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration entered into a direct contract with Ikad for physical protection services for energy facilities, which included, among other things, the delivery and filling of sand.

The investigation found that most of the substations had already been equipped by other companies free of charge and did not require additional work. Nevertheless, the organizer of the scheme, wearing the Ikadu seal, entered false information in the acts of work performed.

In November-December 2023, fictitious acts were signed on the alleged supply of sand and work in the amount of UAH 3.2 million, which were then transferred to the accounts of accomplices.

Катерина Глушко