Head of a village council in Kherson region embezzled 500 thousand from the budget

The former acting head of the village of Bila Krynytsia, Serhiy Siriak, will stand trial in Kherson region on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of almost 533 thousand budget funds.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism with reference to the rulings of the Novovorontsov District Court in this case.

The case concerns the payment in 2019 from the budget of the then village council for the arrangement of sports, gymnastic and children's playgrounds, which were not actually completed.

Charges were also brought against 71-year-old contractor<b> Viktor Bolbas</b>, who, according to the investigation, fled to the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region in 2022 and is doing business there, cooperating with the occupation authorities.

As stated in the court ruling, in December 2019, Siriak entered into an agreement with Velyko Oleksandrivske Specialized Repair and Construction Enterprise LLC and transferred funds in a few days, despite the fact that the work had not actually been completed. Siriak asked the court to close the case under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code and Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code (forgery) due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The court partially granted the motion, closing the forgery proceedings, but continued to consider the embezzlement case.

The next court hearing is scheduled for November 12. Bolbas and Siriak face five to eight years in prison.

Earlier, the head of the education department in Bashtanka district was suspected of embezzling UAH 4.3 million of education subventions .

Under the procedural guidance of the Bashtanka District and Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Offices, the head of the education department of the village council in Bashtanka district was served a notice of suspicion of embezzlement of other people's property by abuse of office under martial law, in a particularly large scale (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Катерина Глушко