Heads of two communities in Odesa region are served suspicion notices under four articles

Two heads of communities in Odesa and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts of Odesa region have been served with notices of suspicion under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

This was reported by the press service of the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa Oblast.

In particular, the heads of the communities are suspected of: misappropriation of budget funds in particularly large amounts, legalization of proceedings of crime, forgery, and negligence.

Along with them, a 57-year-old resident of Kyiv region was served a notice of suspicion, whom investigators believe to be the organizer of the fraud that resulted in the state losing UAH 2.6 million.

Cleaning ponds that never happened

Investigators of the Regional Police Investigation Department found that a 57-year-old resident of Kyiv region and another person, whose case is being investigated separately, organized a criminal scheme to illegally seize funds from local communities. The offenders acted under the guise of a state-owned enterprise, posing as experts in the field of ecology and water resources.

They convinced the leadership of communities in different regions of Ukraine of the need to finance survey and research and development work to assess and clean up inland water bodies. To implement the fraud, the offenders entered into contracts outside the open electronic public procurement platform and entered false information in the reporting documentation. Formally, the contracts were executed by entrepreneurs controlled by the organizers, who did not actually perform any work, but only provided a cover for financial transactions. Budgetary funds were transferred to the accounts of these individuals, cashed and distributed among the group members.

Between February and December 2023, the criminals seized budget funds totaling more than UAH 2.6 million from three village and settlement communities in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.

The fraud also succeeded because, according to law enforcement, the heads of the communities committed official negligence by failing to organize proper control over the procurement of services, checking the completeness and quality of work performed under the contracts, and signed acceptance certificates for work that did not actually exist.

According to the sanctions, the maximum penalty for these crimes is twelve years in prison with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years and confiscation of property.

The indictment was sent to court. The materials on the illegal actions of the head of the community from Mykolaiv region were handed over to Odesa police colleagues.

Кирило Бойко