The case of ex-commander who paid his subordinates for the construction of a house was sent to court

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, have completed a pre-trial investigation against the former commander of the regional department of the territorial defense forces "South", who forced his subordinates to build him a private house.

According to the SBI, the indictment has been sent to court.

In 2023, the official involved three servicemen in the construction of his estate. They spent more than a year building the house while receiving additional payments for allegedly performing combat missions on the front line.

The official has now been dismissed from the Armed Forces and is accused of abuse of office under Article 364 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The sanction of the article provides for a sentence of imprisonment for up to 6 years.

Last year in June, the Kyiv District Court of Odesa imposed a pre-trial restraint on the commander of the territorial defense force "South" in the form of UAH 2 million bail. On June 3, 2024, SBI officers, in cooperation with the SBU, served a notice of suspicion to the commander of the South Regional Directorate of the Territorial Defense Forces, who forced his subordinates to build him a private house.

Interestingly, he was then charged under Part 5 of Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power that caused significant damage under martial law), which provides for imprisonment for up to 12 years.

In 2024, SBI officers also completed an investigation and sent an indictment to court against another commander who, in August 2022, ordered soldiers to build a mansion for him near Odesa instead of fulfilling their duties to defend and protect Ukraine.

While the soldiers were working as construction workers, they were paid as military personnel. This caused the state to suffer losses of over UAH 2 million.

Кирило Бойко