Mykolaiv Court Releases Defendants in 26 Tons Corn Theft Case After 5 Years

A court in Mykolaiv has released the participants in an attempted theft of 26 tons of corn. The defendants were released from criminal liability because more than five years had passed since the crime.

The Ingulsky District Court of Mykolaiv has ruled on a case of a large-scale grain theft attempt that took place back in 2019. A group of people, including a railroad station shunting dispatcher, tried to steal more than 26 tons of corn.

According to the case, on December 20, 2019, the dispatcher of the Mykolaiv station ordered the delivery of four railcars filled with corn belonging to Cofco Agri Resources Ukraine to the territory of Valikom.

After that, the other conspirators, having received information about the railcars, prepared the necessary equipment. A group of six people entered the company's premises and began unloading the grain. In total, they planned to steal 26,220 kilograms of corn worth almost UAH 100,000.

However, their actions were noticed in time by military security officers, who detained the thieves before they could take the grain away. During the trial, the defendants' lawyers filed a motion to release them from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

According to the law, the statute of limitations for medium-sized crimes, which this case is, is five years. Since the defendants did not commit new crimes and did not evade the investigation, the court granted the motion.

The prosecutor and the representative of the victim company did not object to the closure of the case, so the court decided to terminate the criminal proceedings and released them from liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Recently, the court ruled that the director of Resurstechnobud, who is suspected of misappropriating more than UAH five million of budget funds, should continue to perform his duties. The case concerns the overhaul of the waterproofing coating of the splash pool of the South Ukrainian NPP, for which more than UAH 17 million was allocated.

In addition, the court extended the term of procedural obligations for the suspected fraudster by more than UAH 1.3 million. The man seized the company's funds, promising to sell agricultural products that he did not have.

Earlier, a Mykolaiv deputy was served a notice of suspicion for organizing a fraudulent scheme to misappropriate grain worth UAH 23 million. After the outbreak of hostilities, the deputy illegally seized the cargo, sold it, and to cover up the crime filed a statement with the police about the alleged destruction of grain due to shelling.

Анна Бальчінос