Million-dollar corruption scheme organized at Mykolaiv power grid repair

Prosecutors in Mykolaiv region have sent to court an indictment against three directors of private companies. They are accused of aiding and abetting corruption schemes, abuse of office and money laundering.

This was reported by the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The deal was organized by the former director of the Self-Supporting Construction Mechanization Section. He involved three heads of private companies in the case. Together, they artificially inflated the expected cost of materials, and through manipulations on the Prozorro platform, only the "right" suppliers won the tenders. The resulting price difference was deposited on the accounts of private enterprises in the form of kickbacks.

As a result of the criminal actions, the community of Mykolaiv suffered losses of 7.3 million. However, in the course of the pre-trial investigation conducted by investigators of the Mykolaiv Oblast Police, the defendants fully compensated for the damage.

Despite the return of funds, the defendants will have to face the law. They are charged with abuse of office, money laundering and aiding and abetting corruption. The materials on the organizer of the scheme are separated into a separate proceeding.

Earlier it was reported that the prosecutor's office had brought to court a case of alleged embezzlement of budget funds during the repair of the hospital. A local businessman, who is also a member of the Pervomaisk City Council, was put on trial.

According to the investigation, the case concerns the ongoing repair of the roof of one of the buildings of the Central City Multidisciplinary Hospital in Pervomaisk. The suspect performed the work under a contract, but when reporting, he submitted acceptance certificates with overstated volumes of work and the cost of materials used. In fact, according to law enforcement, some of the work or materials existed only on paper.

As a result of such actions, the contractor was illegally paid over UAH 200 thousand from the city budget. It is for this amount that the prosecutor's office filed a civil lawsuit to have the money returned to the community.

Катерина Глушко