Millions in "bonuses" at the expense of the state budget

 Nearly UAH 13 million in illegal accruals and over UAH 3 million in misappropriated budget funds – ESBU detectives have uncovered a scheme organized by officials of a city polyclinic in Poltava. The former chief accountant and her deputy have been notified of suspicion.

Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Poltava region established that for over two consecutive years, the suspects systematically entered false information into payroll and bonus calculation documents.

According to the investigation, the number of facility employees was artificially inflated in the payroll lists and financial payment documents. Specifically, the lists included individuals who had already resigned. This allowed the suspects to create inflated funding requirements for the payroll fund.

The surplus funds obtained through this method were used for the groundless calculation of bonuses and additional payments to themselves and other employees of the institution.

The total amount of illegal accruals reached nearly UAH 13 million.

During the financial investigation, detectives analyzed over 20,000 bank transactions and traced the movement of funds. As it turned out, the scheme involved a so-called "kickback" system for the illegally received payments: some employees handed the received funds back to the official – either in cash or via bank transfers to her personal card.

In this manner, the former chief accountant misappropriated over UAH 3 million in budget funds.

Both suspects have been notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (embezzlement and misappropriation of another's property through abuse of office by an official, committed under martial law, on an especially large scale) and under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (forgery of official documents by an official, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, and issuance of knowingly false official documents by an official).

The sanction of Article 191, Part 5, provides for imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years with confiscation of property.

The pretrial investigation is ongoing.

As a reminder, ESBU detectives had previously uncovered the fact of groundless calculation of bonuses and additional payments to these officials.

Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court's verdict of conviction.