In Odesa, an engineer is released from punishment for fictitious restoration of the city center

A technical supervision engineer in Odesa was released from criminal liability. He was involved in a case of fictitious emergency repairs on historic buildings in the city center.

This was reported by Anti-Corruption Dimension.

The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa has closed the criminal case against technical supervision engineer Oleksandr Voronin, who was previously accused of forgery, negligence and abuse of office during emergency repairs at Bernstein's apartment buildings (24 Velyka Arnautska Street) and Vassal's (38 Marazliivska Street). The reason for the closure was the expiration of the statute of limitations, as the alleged offenses were committed in 2020.

According to the court ruling, the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the City Council entered into two contracts with Re-Life LLC for emergency repairs, each worth about UAH 196 thousand. Voronin, as a certified technical supervision engineer, was responsible for monitoring the performance of the work and compliance with the estimate.

The investigation established that no actual work was carried out at the facilities, but Voronin signed the acts of completion confirming their completion, and on the basis of these documents, the management transferred UAH 196 thousand to the contractor for each facility.

The engineer's actions were classified as abuse of office by prior conspiracy, forgery and negligence, contributing to the company's unjustified receipt of budget funds, and the damage to the city budget was estimated at over UAH 390 thousand.

During the trial, Voronin filed a motion to be released from liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, the prosecutor's office did not object, and the court agreed. As a result, the proceedings were closed and the preventive measure was canceled.

At the end of October, a contractor in Odesa was suspected of misappropriating budget funds during the renovation of a maternity hospital. Law enforcement officers found overstatements in the scope and cost of work in the repair certificates, and the investigation found that the company's director had abused her position.

Анна Бальчінос