Director of Kherson municipal service left under investigation for embezzlement in Mykolaiv

The director of a utility company in Kherson is suspected of organizing a scheme to embezzle budget funds. The court in Mykolaiv imposed a preventive measure on him and extended his duties for the period of pre-trial investigation.

This is stated in the decision of the Zavodskyi District Court of Mykolaiv.

According to the investigation, the official systematically entered false information into official documents, which resulted in one of the employees receiving fake salaries for a year.

The investigation established that in the period from April 2023 to March 2024, the director of the company, acting with direct intent, knowingly entered false information that the deputy director for organizational and legal support allegedly worked 8 hours a day. In fact, this person was actually absent from the workplace and did not fulfill her official duties.

The manager passed false information to a subordinate employee to fill out time sheets. After that, he personally signed these documents, creating grounds for illegal salary accrual. Such actions were repeated every month for a year.

As a result, the fictitious employee was actually paid UAH 213 thousand. The losses for the utility company were estimated at over UAH 264 thousand.

During the interrogation, the woman claimed that she worked remotely, but could not explain what she was doing. Employees of the company told investigators that they had never heard of such an employee before, and one of the witnesses recalled that when he asked for legal assistance, the director replied that there was no lawyer at the company.

On June 30, 2025, the official was notified of suspicion of committing two criminal offenses:

• under Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - forgery in office;
• under Part 4 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - embezzlement of other people's property through abuse of office committed under martial law.

The judge imposed a bail of UAH 60,560 on the suspect. Given the gravity of the alleged crimes, the court extended the suspect's bail until August 30, 2025, when the pre-trial investigation will be completed. If the official's guilt is proven in court, he faces up to 8 years in prison with the possibility of being banned from holding leadership positions for up to three years.

The court in Mykolaiv also authorized a special pre-trial investigation into the former director of the Kherson-based company Teplogazmerezha. He is suspected of misappropriating budget funds that were supposed to be used to build medical facilities. After that, the man left for Switzerland and is now on the international wanted list.

Анна Бальчінос