Law enforcers tell details of serving suspicion notice to Odesa deputy

The Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office has provided details of the suspicion of Iryna Kutsenko, a deputy and member of the Standing Committee on Healthcare of the Odesa City Council, of organizing the misappropriation of budget funds on a large scale.

According to the press service of the prosecutor's office, six other persons involved in the criminal scheme, including officials and entrepreneurs, were also served with suspicion of misappropriation of budget funds.

According to the investigation, the official developed a scheme to misappropriate funds intended for the implementation of the city's drug rehabilitation program. To implement it, she involved the head of a utility company, an employee of the Health Department of the Odesa City Council, the head of a public organization and individual entrepreneurs who were under her control.

The criminal scheme was implemented during the execution of service agreements under the "28 days" program. The agreement was entered into by the municipal non-profit enterprise Center for Mental Health and Addiction Treatment and the individual entrepreneur.

The defendants entered false information into the reporting documentation - they used personal data of persons who did not undergo rehabilitation or underwent it at their own expense, and also indicated services that were not actually provided or were partially provided.

As a result, during 2023-2024, the participants of the criminal scheme seized budget funds worth more than UAH 2 million.

The announcement of the suspicion became known on June 16, but the Bureau of Economic Security did not provide details at the time.

Instead, journalist Iryna Hryb reported that in December 2024, the Center allegedly entered into agreements with a controlled individual entrepreneur to use budget funds. Allegedly for the rehabilitation of drug addicts who did not actually exist in the amount of more than UAH 7 million. And allegedly for this, MPs and officials received kickbacks of 15% from entrepreneurs.

Кирило Бойко