The construction company received about UAH 7,4 billion in state funds for the construction of a water main, but the attackers misappropriated more than UAH 240 million. About this reported the National Police of Ukraine.
This concerns the construction of a main water pipeline - the Inhulets River-Southern Reservoir. It was supposed to provide water to Kryvyi Rih. Within the framework of a number of signed agreements between the parties to the agreement, the construction company received about UAH 7,4 billion in state funds, the report says.
These funds were allocated in May 2023. Then the government used the state budget reserve fund to eliminate the humanitarian and environmental disaster after the terrorist attack by Russian occupiers on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station for the restoration of critical infrastructure.
"However, instead of performing the work in good faith, the perpetrators implemented a corruption scheme. Currently, the embezzlement of over UAH 240 million has been confirmed, but according to the ongoing investigation, the amount of losses may reach several billion UAH," – the police say.
"As established by operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations together with investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, a group of individuals from among the management of a road construction company organized a scheme to embezzle budget funds. To implement the corruption deal, they involved employees of controlled enterprises, as well as the company's consulting engineer, as accomplices," - the message says.
In July 2024, officials of the relevant service and representatives of one of the largest road construction companies on the Ukrainian market signed agreements for the implementation of this project. Then, the parties concluded two contracts: the main one — for more than UAH 5,3 billion and an additional one — for more than UAH 2 billion.
"The dealers inflated the prices of building materials that they purchased through an affiliated company. A representative of the road construction company was looking for suppliers of materials who provided commercial offers with significantly higher prices for the materials needed for the construction of the water pipeline. The attackers entered unreliable data into official reports and certificates of work performed," – the police report.
For example, a road construction company purchased pipes for laying engineering communications with an overpayment of up to 50% of the market value. The primary cost of materials was formed by the same controlled companies that carried out the supply, so the price tag increased several times even at the stage of forming the estimate. In this way, the organizers of the scheme withdrew the funds received from the budget through the controlled companies, and then converted them into cash.
Based on the evidence collected, the police informed the five suspects of suspicion of committing crimes. The suspects face up to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property.
