Former Head of the Housing and Utilities Agency in Odessa Sentenced for "Dead Souls"

A court in Odesa approved a plea agreement with the former head of the production unit at the municipal housing and utilities company “Porto-Frankivskyi,” who had organized a scheme involving fictitious employees. He received a three-year suspended sentence.

This is stated in the verdict of the Primorsky District Court of Odessa.

According to the investigation, from April 2024 to July 2025, while serving as the head of Section No. 2 of the “Porto-Frankivskyi” Housing and Utilities Company, he, in collusion with other company officials, organized the fictitious employment of four individuals.

A plumber, a plasterer, and a general cleaning worker were listed as employees of the section but did not actually perform any work duties.

The defendant entered false data into the timesheets, making it appear as though these employees were working their shifts. The timesheets were forwarded to the company’s accounting department, where salaries were calculated based on them.

According to the court, as a result of this scheme, the municipal enterprise “ZhKS ‘Porto-Frankivskyi’” unjustifiably paid:

• over 408,000 hryvnias in wages;
• nearly 90,000 hryvnias in unified social contributions.

The total amount of losses was 498,038 hryvnias.

During the pretrial investigation, the defendant entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutor. He fully admitted his guilt, agreed to cooperate with the investigation, provided incriminating testimony against other participants in the scheme, partially compensated for the losses incurred, and made a charitable donation to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

As noted in the verdict, the pretrial investigation into other officials of the municipal enterprise “ZhKS ‘Porto-Frankivskyi’,” whom investigators consider accomplices, is ongoing in a separate criminal proceeding.

The court sentenced the former section chief to three years in prison, a two-year ban on holding positions involving organizational, managerial, administrative, or economic functions, and a fine of 17,000 hryvnias.

The court also suspended his sentence, placing him on probation for two years. In addition, the man must pay over 53,400 hryvnias in court costs for expert examinations.

Ірина Глухова