Officials of the city of Hnivan, Vinnytsia region, are suspected of embezzling budget funds allocated for the needs of educational institutions. Currently, law enforcement officers are examining the seized material evidence. Details of the case were reported by the local edition "20 Minutes", UNN writes.
The main person involved in the case, which has been going on since last year, is Deputy Mayor Viktor Havryshko, who was allegedly at the head of the embezzlement scheme.
According to the newspaper, the pre-trial investigation established that during 2022-2023, officials of the municipal institution "Hnivanskyi Center for the Service of Educational Institutions", in collusion with business entities, embezzled budget funds allocated from the local budget for the needs of educational institutions. To this end, the Municipal Institution entered into a number of contracts for the purchase of works and goods with private entrepreneurs totaling more than UAH 5 million.
The embezzlement was carried out by artificially inflating the prices of construction materials used during construction and installation works, as well as supplying goods at prices that do not correspond to market prices.
Law enforcement officers are also investigating an episode of embezzlement on the supply of goods worth almost nine million hryvnias, in which Havryshko is also involved. "Acting as an organizer, he manages illegal activities aimed at misappropriating budget funds, ensuring the conclusion of relevant agreements with fictitious individual entrepreneurs, in some cases signing agreements instead, withdrawing budget funds in cash from bank accounts, distributing funds among the defendants in the criminal proceedings," 20 Minutes quoted the pre-trial investigation materials.
The newspaper also writes that law enforcement officers searched the house of the mayor, Volodymyr Kuleshov. He has been the permanent mayor of Hnivan since 2010, and was last elected to this position from Groysman's Ukrainian Strategy.
In addition, the party of the former Prime Minister of Ukraine has a powerful faction in the Hnivan City Council.
20 Minutes also reports that searches were conducted at the homes of people from Kuleshov's inner circle: City Council Secretary Andriy Vysidalko, Head of the Executive Committee Oksana Poshtar, and Chief Accountant of the City Council Olena Berezhanska.
The journalists of the publication contacted the spokeswoman for the Vinnytsia regional police, Zarina Mayevska. She said that a number of examinations of the seized material evidence are currently underway. Based on their results, a decision on the future of this case will be made.
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Recently, a court imposed a pre-trial restraint on Valeriy Vesnianyi, mayor of Tulchyn, Vinnytsia Oblast, from Groysman's Ukrainian Strategy, and sent him to 54 days in custody with the possibility of posting 800,000 UAH bail.
According to law enforcement officers, in the fall of 2021, Vesnianyi, without an auction or approval from the executive committee and the land commission of the city council, virtually single-handedly granted 68 hectares of land for use to a local sugar factory.
According to regulatory calculations, Tulchyn's budget lost almost three million hryvnias due to non-payment of land use rent.