Director of a company arrested in Mykolaiv for embezzlement of city budget

A large-scale scheme to embezzle the city budget during the purchase of lighting equipment was exposed in Mykolaiv. The court took into custody the company's director, who is suspected of embezzling over UAH 6 million in collusion with officials and businessmen.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Vitovsky District Court of Mykolaiv Region.

The court considered the investigators' motion to impose a preventive measure on the director of Promenergosnab. According to the investigation, the company's director, together with officials of the self-supporting construction mechanization unit (SSCMU) and representatives of a number of private companies, organized a large-scale scheme to embezzle budget funds when purchasing lighting equipment for the city.

The pre-trial investigation established that during 2023, a group of people seized funds from the local budget of Mykolaiv worth more than UAH 6.2 million. According to investigators, the scheme was organized by an entrepreneur who developed a mechanism for overstating the cost of goods through intermediary structures.

For this purpose, the affiliated companies Promenergosnab, Elektrokomplekt, Tornado-A and Basisbudresurs, as well as officials from the State Enterprise "GDMB" were used. It was through fictitious financial and economic transactions that these companies raised the price of LED lamps supplied to the city, which allowed them to withdraw significant amounts from the budget.

The investigation believes that all the participants were aware of each other's roles, acted with a single purpose and shared the illegally obtained funds. In August 2025, the director of Promenergosnab LLC was notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - misappropriation of property under martial law in a particularly large scale. The court ruled to take the suspect into custody until October 19, 2025, with the right to be released on bail in the amount of almost half a million hryvnias.

In June, the court took into custody the director of another company, the Eastern European Energy Union. He is suspected of misappropriating budget funds under a contract concluded with GDMB in October 2024. According to the investigation, immediately after signing the contract, he handed over a bribe of UAH 595,000 to the company's officials.

Анна Бальчінос