The former head of the election commission in Rozdilna was found guilty but not punished

The Rozdilnyanskyi District Court of Odesa Oblast found the former head of the district election commission guilty of official negligence and sentenced her to five years in prison, with a three-year ban on holding leadership positions.

However, as reported by the publication “Anticorruption Dimension,” the woman will avoid prison because more than five years have passed since the events in 2019, and the statute of limitations for this crime has expired. 

At the same time, the court fully upheld the civil claim filed by the Central Election Commission. The former head of the District Election Commission must now pay the state the full amount of damages, 794,000 hryvnias. To ensure this payment, the court placed half of the convicted woman’s share of her apartment under seizure.

Initially, prosecutors charged the woman under a severe provision regarding embezzlement of property on an especially large scale through abuse of official position. This provision carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. However, the judge concluded that the prosecution had not provided evidence of her personal intent or desire for personal gain. She did not vote in favor of the bonuses at the meeting and even tried to convince her colleagues to return the money after the audit.

In court, the defendant did not admit guilt regarding the charges of embezzlement or misappropriation of property. She explained that she had held the position for only a week and knew virtually no one on the commission. According to her, the members of the DEC were a close-knit group and issued her an ultimatum: if she did not add the issue of bonuses to the agenda, they would refuse to sign the revised voting protocol for the Central Election Commission.

In addition, the former chair claimed that she fully trusted the professionalism of the chief accountant, who had 25 years of experience and assured her that all payments were lawful and within the budget. The chief accountant herself was granted only witness status in the criminal proceedings, despite having awarded herself a 70,000 hryvnia bonus and still holding the funds in her bank account.

The court also took into account that the defendant had previously been implicated in another court case. Specifically, in October 2019, the Lyubashivsky District Court of Odesa Oblast held her administratively liable for violating the rules governing the procurement of fuel for the election commission.

Кирило Бойко