Prosecutors in Zhytomyr Oblast have submitted an indictment to the court against three individuals suspected of embezzling and unlawfully acquiring nearly 2 million UAH of budget funds during the purchase of generators.
Details were reported by the press service of the Zhytomyr Regional Prosecutor's Office.
During the investigation, two instances of inflated generator prices were identified, committed by the acting head of the village council, who has been suspended from office.
In November 2022, he purchased a powerful generator for 1.8 million UAH, which was 500 thousand UAH above its market value. Another incident occurred in December of the same year when 10 generators were purchased at double the price alongside a deputy-director of a private company and a lawyer.
The supplier, with the consent of the acting village head, forged documents for the supply of equipment worth 2.8 million UAH, without having the goods. The materially responsible employee of the village council signed these false documents, despite the absence of generators. As a result, 1.4 million UAH was excessively paid from the budget, which the supplier legalized through a series of financial operations, withdrawing part of it in cash.
The total losses to the community budget from the purchase of 11 generators amounted to about 2 million UAH. The village head and the deputy are accused of unlawfully acquiring budget funds in a particularly large amount by prior conspiracy (part 5 of article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The deputy and the materially responsible employee are charged with forgery of official documents (part 1 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), while the supplier is additionally accused of laundering funds obtained through criminal means (part 1 of article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The property of the accused, including a house, outbuildings, and a car, with a total value of over 4 million UAH, has been seized. The prosecutor, in the interest of the community, has filed a claim for full restitution of the damages incurred.