Kherson to try 62-year-old principal for school corruption

In Kherson, a former school director faces 12 years in prison for embezzlement of budget funds. During the occupation, she distributed bonuses worth almost 2.5 million hryvnias.

This was reported by the press service of the National Police in Kherson region.

According to the investigation, in the summer of 2022, the director, abusing her position, issued an order to award bonuses to 44 employees in July and 12 in August. The total amount of illegal payments amounted to UAH 2.44 million, which was confirmed by a forensic economic examination.

Investigators found that the former executive was aware of the illegality of her actions, but still made the decision to pay bonuses. She became a defendant in a criminal case on embezzlement of property on a large scale under martial law (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). She faces up to 12 years in prison, as well as confiscation of property and a ban on holding managerial positions.

It is worth noting that the woman has already had problems with the law - in 2019, she was tried for bribery.
Although law enforcement officers did not provide the name of the accused, journalists found that it was Svitlana Dudchenko. She was fired from her position as director in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the Kherson police exposed the head of an Odesa construction company who overestimated the cost of overhauling residential buildings in Blahodatne that had been damaged by Russian shelling.

Recently, the State Bureau of Investigation completed an investigation into the former director of the Department for Civil Protection and Defense of the Kherson Regional State Administration. The official is accused of purchasing low-quality clothing for military personnel, which caused the state losses of more than UAH 21 million.

The court also imposed a pre-trial restraint on two officials suspected of extortion. One of them is the deputy head of the Kherson regional municipal emergency service. They demanded 10% of the contract amount, which amounted to UAH 199 thousand. The officials threatened the businessman that if he refused, he would not be able to continue his activities in Kherson and the region.

Андрій Колісніченко