A detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine exposed officials of one state enterprise in the Sumy region in the embezzlement of state budget funds during the performance of works on the repair of local highways. The estimated amount of damage to the budget is more than UAH 25 million.

The criminal scheme consisted of the following. The state-owned enterprise concluded several contracts with one of the enterprises for the repair of highways. At the same time, even at the stage of preparation of tender procedures, the expected cost of purchasing goods and services was artificially inflated. In addition, the company created conditions of artificial competition during procurement. The specified LLC purchased construction materials (sand, crushed stone, asphalt concrete mixture, road bitumen, bitumen emulsion, etc.) through a number of related commercial enterprises.  The detectives of the ESBU established that these enterprises have signs of fictitiousness, and the chain of origin of the specified construction materials casts doubt on their quality.

In addition, in order to artificially increase the costs of transporting the asphalt mixture, the perpetrators formalized their purchase through related intermediary structures, without taking into account the actual distance to the location of the asphalt plant. The intermediary scheme made it possible to document the purchase at inflated prices not only of construction materials, but also to inflate logistics costs. At the same time, actual settlements with real suppliers were made in cash.

Also, the investigation established the existence of a corruption scheme, organized with the participation of officials of the state enterprise and representatives of commercial subcontractors, during the performance of works on the repair and maintenance of local highways and conducting tender procedures without taking into account the principles of economic efficiency and transparency.

Thus, in the actions of officials of the State Enterprise and the aforementioned commercial enterprises, signs of a crime can be seen - appropriation, waste of property or possession of it by abuse of official position.

A detectives of the ESBU conducted 12 searches in the Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy regions, as a result of which they seized primary documentation of the Subject of economic activity, statutory documents, contracts for work, primary accounting and design and estimate documentation, certificates on the cost of completed construction works, draft records, etc.

Currently, the full range of persons and organizations involved in the scheme is being established.

Pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings on the grounds of a criminal offense provided for in Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, carried out by the detectives of the main unit of detectives of the ESBU in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine and under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office. Note: in accordance with Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until his guilt is proven in a legal manner and established by a court verdict.