Mykolaiv court releases director of construction company from criminal liability

During the renovation of a bank branch in Mykolaiv, a contractor could have been unjustly paid hundreds of thousands of hryvnias for work not performed. The court concluded that the company's director had committed official negligence.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

In Mykolaiv, the court considered a criminal case regarding possible abuses during the renovation of the Oschadbank branch on Kosmonavtiv Street. The case involved the former head of the bank's specialized department and the director of the contractor Albion LLC.

According to the prosecution, in 2016-2017, Oschadbank entered into contracts with Albion LLC for construction and additional works worth more than one million three hundred thousand hryvnias. The investigation found that the contractor did not actually perform some of the work, but the financial documents indicated overstated volumes and costs. It was over UAH 248 thousand.

According to the prosecution, the company's director improperly fulfilled her official duties: she transferred the company's statutory documents to a third party to participate in the tender, did not control the progress of the repair work, and allowed the company's seal and signature to be used on documents with false information. These documents were submitted to the bank for payment.

At the same time, the Oshchadbank official responsible for inspecting the work performed signed the acts and certificates, despite the fact that the work was not completed in full. Based on these documents, the bank transferred funds to the contractor's account.

The construction and technical expertise confirmed the discrepancies between the actual work performed and the work specified in the certificates. The total amount of overstatements, according to the experts, amounted to almost UAH 280 thousand.

During the trial, the director of Albion LLC filed a motion to be released from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. The prosecutor did not object, noting that the time limit for prosecution had indeed expired.

The court agreed with this position and released the company's director from criminal liability for negligence, and closed the proceedings against her. The court assigned the costs of expert examinations in this part to the state. Oschadbank's civil lawsuit for damages regarding the claims against the company's director was left without consideration.

In Mykolaiv, law enforcement officers are also investigating possible overpricing of construction materials during the construction of radiation shelters. According to the investigation, the procurement could have been made at inflated rates, which led to an unjustified overpayment from the local budget and created a risk of a lack of funding for other critical infrastructure facilities.

Анна Літман