Police announce charges in UAH 70 mln Kharkiv infrastructure embezzlement case
The National Police of Ukraine has announced suspicions against the director of a utility company and the supplier's officials of embezzling almost UAH 70 million for the purchase of equipment to restore critical infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv.
"According to the terms of the contract, the company was to supply specialized equipment to replace and repair critical infrastructure facilities damaged by shelling for more than UAH 150 million. However, as the investigation found out, its cost was overstated by the company by more than twice the manufacturer's cost. Therefore, the amount of overpayment, and therefore the damages caused, amounted to almost UAH 70 million," the report on the department's website said on Wednesday.
The National Police notes that the general director of a specialized utility company, being obliged and able to control the procurement procedure, paid for the supplied special equipment without appropriate verification.
Based on the evidence collected, police investigators announced suspicions against a group of persons: the head of the utility company under Part 2 of Article 367 (official negligence); to the director of the supplier and his beneficial owner under Part 5 of Article 191 (embezzlement, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The suspects were served with a petition for the appointment of preventive measures and a petition for removal from the position of head of the utility company. The maximum penalty under the incriminated articles is up to 12 years of imprisonment.