The director of a medical facility in Mykolaiv Oblast signed off on certificates for work that never took place

In the Mykolaiv region, an indictment has been sent to court regarding the 51-year-old director of a municipal medical facility in Bereznehuvate. According to the police, the official ensured the unlawful transfer to the contractor of more than UAH 4.6 million for work not performed and materials not delivered during the reconstruction of the polyclinic. The investigation identified this amount as losses to the state budget.

The local polyclinic and the contractor concluded the reconstruction contract in 2019. The contractor received an advance for construction work and the purchase of materials, but did not deliver the necessary materials and did not perform the works stipulated by the contract.

Investigators established that the head of the institution was aware of this, but signed and approved the acceptance certificates of completed construction works and the statements of their cost. According to the investigation materials, she understood that the documents contained false information. These documents formed the basis for the unjustified transfer of more than UAH 4.6 million to the contractor’s account.

The official’s activities were exposed this summer. The exposure and procedural support involved:

• investigators of Police Unit No. 1 of the Bashtanka District Police Department
• officers of the Bashtanka District Department of the Security Service of Ukraine
• prosecutors of the regional prosecutor’s office and of the divisions of the Bashtanka District Prosecutor’s Office, who exercised procedural leadership

In June, investigators conducted sanctioned searches at the head’s place of residence. During them they seized:

• electronic equipment and bank cards
• notebooks with draft notes
• receipts and administrative documentation
• cash in the national currency — more than UAH 185,000

At that time the official was informed of suspicion under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 5 of Article 191 — embezzlement of another’s property through abuse of official position, committed in particularly large amounts
• Part 1 of Article 366 — official forgery, namely the issuance by an official of knowingly false official documents

The pre-trial investigation is now complete. Investigators sent the indictment to the prosecutor’s office, and the prosecutor’s office forwarded it to the court for substantive review. The court will decide on the charges.

The official faces up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.

A separate criminal proceeding against the contractor is already under consideration in court. He was notified of suspicion last year. As law enforcement established, the director of the construction limited liability company concluded a contract with the medical institution for construction works, and during their execution entered false information into the certificates of completed works. According to the police, in this way he unlawfully appropriated budget funds.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.

Source: Mykolaiv Region Police.

Earlier we wrote:

• A deputy-entrepreneur who appropriated UAH 200,000 of budget funds in the Mykolaiv region to be tried
• Clinic without trust: director suspected of stealing patients’ and community funds
• An official in the Mykolaiv region appropriated payments for a villager’s deceased son and bought himself a car
• In the Mykolaiv region, the chief accountant of a city council department embezzled nearly UAH 8 million of budget funds
• In the Mykolaiv region, an official stole money intended for a school’s repairs