Technical supervision engineer convicted of abuse during repair of orphanage in Odesa region

The Berezivka District Court of Odesa Oblast found a technical supervision engineer who signed certificates of completion for the overhaul of a children's shelter in Berezivka guilty of abuse of office to misappropriate money.

As stated in the court' s verdict, he was sentenced to three years in prison with a one-year disqualification to hold positions related to technical supervision of capital repairs.

In May 2018, the director of the shelter entered into an agreement with Budservis & Co. limited liability company for UAH 1 million 290.6 thousand. Subsequently, the amount of the agreement was increased to UAH 1 million 470.3 thousand.

The defendant signed several acts of completion for which the company was paid, but the work was not performed. In the end, the engineer and his accomplice, who died during the investigation, seized budget funds totaling UAH 162,519.33.

Theengineer did not admit his guilt. He claimed in court that he had not entered into any conspiracy, but admitted that the act of completion for May 2018 indicated that the overlap had been completed, although it had not actually been done. Despite this, the defendant said he had signed the act, which he later regretted. He could not explain to the court why he did not stop the repair work and notify the customer. The defendant said that he had written a construction order, but did not stop the work because the children would have been left in the middle of nowhere for the winter.

However, the judges disagreed with the engineer. In addition to imprisonment, the judges ordered the engineer to pay over UAH 53,000 in damages caused by the criminal offense, as well as UAH 31,000 in procedural costs for expert examinations.

Кирило Бойко