In Odesa region, contractor avoids punishment for misappropriation of funds for landscaping

In Odesa region, a contractor escaped punishment for misappropriating funds intended for the repair and improvement of a school and a kindergarten. She falsified documents to overstate the cost of the work performed.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Saratsky District Court of Odesa Oblast.

The court closed the case against the former contractor, who was accused of misappropriating part of the budget funds during the improvement of the territory of the Berezynskyi educational complex. According to the investigation, in 2020, the Berezyn Educational Complex entered into a contract with an individual entrepreneur for major repairs and landscaping of the adjacent territory. The contract amounted to UAH 865,919, and funding was provided from the budget of the Tarutino district council.

In May and June 2020, the director of the contractor organization provided the director of the educational institution with signed acceptance certificates and certificates of completion. On their basis, several tranches totaling more than UAH 590 thousand were transferred. Later, it turned out that the actual amount spent was less than indicated in the documents, and part of the money - over UAH 73 thousand - remained with the contractor, which led to budget losses.

In particular, the contractor overestimated the cost of paving slabs per square meter, indicating in the documents a higher price than was actually used in the landscaping.

Not stopping there, the contractor appealed to the Economic Court of Odesa Oblast and succeeded in recovering another UAH 274,604 from the PEC for the acts of work performed, which effectively cemented the misappropriation of budget funds. Only then did the local prosecutor's office open criminal proceedings.

In court, the defendant's defense counsel filed a motion for release from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The judge granted the motion and dismissed the prosecutor's civil suit.

The court also closed the criminal proceedings against four defendants in the case of misappropriation of budget funds allocated as state social assistance to low-income families. The reason for this was the expiration of the statute of limitations for bringing to criminal liability.

Анна Бальчінос