Natalia Krupytsia Suspended Amid Corruption Allegations

Natalia Krupytsia, head of the Fontansky village council, has been temporarily removed from office. This decision was made by the Kyiv District Court of Odesa on February 11.

This was reported by public activist Serhiy Kolodyazhny.

According to him, the judge ruled to suspend the official for two months, after which the term may be extended by a new court decision.

According to the public figure, Krupytsia was brought to the hearing under escort from the pre-trial detention center. In the courtroom, she was kept in a special cage for defendants.

Last week, Natalia Krupytsia, the head of the Fontanska community, was detained in Odesa region.

On February 3, she was re-suspected in a case related to the coastal fortification in the village of Kryzhanivka. The investigation began in 2013, when she was the head of the Kryzhanivka village council.

Then, after the construction of a protective buna under her leadership, sea currents changed, and massive amounts of algae began to accumulate on the beaches of Kryzhanivka and the northern part of Odesa. This led to suspicions of misappropriation of more than UAH 2.7 million, which Krupytsia and the head of the contractor organization were accused of. However, in October 2023, the Prymorskyi Court of Odesa declared the evidence invalid and the defendants innocent.

According to law enforcement officers, Krupytsia was notified of being suspected of two articles: misappropriation of property by abuse of office (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code) and forgery (Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code). She faces up to 12 years in prison with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years and confiscation of property.

As explained by the police, Krupytsia, having entered into a contract with a construction firm for the reconstruction of the embankment along the Black Sea coast, deliberately gave the contractor the opportunity to misappropriate budget funds. After receiving documents on the supply and arrangement of sand and pebble mixture, paving slabs and other construction materials totaling UAH 3,000,000, acceptance certificates for the completed construction work and a certificate of their cost, the head of the village council confirmed that there was no financial debt and that the contractor had fully fulfilled its obligations. In fact, she knew that the work under the contract had not been completed and the construction materials had not been delivered.

This became the basis for transferring budget funds to the contractor's bank account and resulted in losses to the local budget in the amount of UAH 3,000,000.

Ірина Глухова