The Security Service of Ukraine exposed a large-scale corruption scheme organized by the leadership of the Sumy Regional Military Administration.
Officials embezzled state funds allocated to the region to restore infrastructure after the invasion.
So far, according to SBU materials, two officials have received reports of suspicion:
- deputy head of Sumy regional military administration;
- head of the Department of Capital Construction of the administration.
Suspicion was announced to them under the following articles:
- Part 5 of Art. 191 (appropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position, committed by a group of persons in a prior conspiracy, in particularly large quantities, in conditions of martial law);
- Part 1 of Art. 366 (official forgery).
According to the investigation, in April 2022, the deputy head of the Sumy regional government together with the head of the capital construction department, whose appointment he lobbied for, organized a scheme to embezzle funds allocated to the Sumy region by the government.
Among the objects that were supposed to be restored and repaired with this money are residential buildings, civil and critical infrastructure objects, bridges and roads that were destroyed by enemy shelling.
For this purpose, the parties entered into contracts for restoration and construction works with five affiliated commercial structures.
It was established that the plots deliberately included prices for building materials in the estimate documentation, which were 2-3 times higher than the market prices.
They were purchased through gasket companies specially created by dealers.
In particular, it is documented that during the repair of only one object, the perpetrators embezzled 1.4 million hryvnias. Examinations are currently ongoing for another 80 such objects.
During searches of the places of work and residence of the accused, law enforcement officers found draft documents, mobile phones and computer equipment with evidence of illegal activities. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.