Ukrainian court allows in absentia investigation of embezzlement by Kherson former director of Teplogazmerezha

Mykolaiv District Court allowed to investigate the case of the former director-collaborator. The official was the head of Teplogazmerezhi LLC. He is suspected of large-scale embezzlement of budget funds during construction.

This became known from the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

Ihor Lukianov is charged with misappropriation of budget funds on a large scale and forgery.

The investigation found that the executive seized budget funds intended for the construction of social infrastructure facilities in Kherson region, including an outpatient clinic in Chongar.

It is a government order worth more than UAH 5.3 million.

The suspect, according to law enforcement, entered false information in the acts of construction work performed, which allowed him to illegally receive money from the budget.

A number of examinations were conducted to confirm the losses. During the investigation, the experts also analyzed the certificates of completion for the period 2019-2020 and bank documents. Moreover, some of the work was either not performed or significantly overestimated in terms of volume and cost, which led to millions of dollars in losses for the budget.

The man was put on the wanted list because he failed to appear after being notified of the suspicion. It is known that the former official went abroad. He was also put on the international wanted list for evading the investigation. Therefore, the judge concluded that there were legal grounds for conducting the investigation in absentia.

The former head of a Kherson utility company is also suspected of embezzlement during the occupation of the city. The court took him into custody in absentia without the right to bail.

Олександра Горст