Odesa utilities are under investigation for reservation scheme

Officials of one of the municipal enterprises employed dozens of people only "on paper" - about 90 people in total - and embezzled their salaries. At the same time, they set up an illegal scheme for booking people liable for military service, which resulted in the embezzlement of almost UAH 15 million from the city budget.

This was reported by the press service of the National Police in Odesa region.

Internal security operatives of the National Police, together with investigators from Odesa region and with the participation of regional authorities, exposed a fraud organized by the management of one of Odesa's housing and communal services. Among those involved are the acting director, his deputies, the head of the HR department and the chief engineer.

According to the investigation, the group members used their official powers to embezzle funds: they hired people for positions of workers who did not actually work. They were paid salaries, which were then transferred to the organizers of the scheme. The money was distributed among themselves.

The scheme operated for over a year, from February 2024 to July 2025. During this time, about 90 fictitious employees appeared on the company's payroll.

In addition, the criminals organized the illegal reservation of persons liable for military service: through formal employment at a critical infrastructure facility, they were granted a deferral from mobilization. At least 13 such cases have been documented.

In order not to arouse suspicion, during inspections, "dead souls" were brought to the facilities, dressed in uniforms and given the illusion of working. Meanwhile, real workers were forced to perform double the amount of tasks.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers conducted more than 60 searches and seized evidence of illegal activities.

Five of the suspects have already been notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code, including obstruction of the Armed Forces, abuse of power and forgery. The maximum penalty is up to eight years in prison.

All the suspects have been taken into custody, and two of them have not been granted bail.

Also at the end of March, the Center for Public Investigations wrote about the Odesa-based Specialized Utility Company, which was involved in a similar scheme. After that, such "employees" quietly went abroad and did not return to Ukraine.

Last year, Intent conducted an investigation into the scandal of fictitious booking of employees of public utilities. Despite the criminal proceedings, the criticality status was restored even to those housing and communal services whose managers are under investigation.

Анна Бальчінос