After information about a search at the former president of KNUKiM Mykhailo Poplavsky emerged, new details came to light. Law enforcement officers reported the exposure of a scheme to embezzle budget funds on a particularly large scale at the Kyiv University of Culture, UNN writes with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General and the SBU.
According to the investigation, officials of the Kyiv University of Culture, in collusion with officials of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, organized a scheme for the illegal appropriation of budget funds allocated within the framework of the state program for personnel training by higher education institutions.
"As a result of comprehensive measures in Kyiv, officials who embezzled money through manipulations with the staffing table of one of the well-known capital's higher education institutions were exposed," the SBU noted.
According to the prosecutor's office, this refers to funding under the budget program "Training of personnel by higher education institutions and ensuring the activities of their practice bases." During 2022-2023, within the framework of this program, about UAH 760 million was allocated from the state budget to the specified educational institution.
The investigation established that the basis for determining the volume of state funding was data on the number of higher education seekers, scientific seekers, as well as the staffing table of the institution.
"According to law enforcement, unreliable information regarding the contingent of students and scientific and pedagogical staff could have been entered into official documents, which provided grounds for an unjustified increase in funding volumes," the Office of the Prosecutor General reported.
As noted by the SBU, "according to the investigation, the defendants submitted an artificially inflated number of students to the Ministry of Education who were supposed to study at the university during 2022-2024." "At the same time, in total, during these years, the university received more than 760 million hryvnias from the state to ensure the educational process. As the investigation established, the participants in the scheme appropriated part of the received amount," the SBU added.
In addition, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General, "information is being checked about the possible inclusion in the reporting of persons who actually belonged to a private educational institution and did not have the right to participate in the relevant budget program."
"According to preliminary data, as a result of such actions, the state suffered damages on a particularly large scale," the prosecutor's office noted.
Within the framework of the pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings, on March 27, under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, investigators of the Main Directorate of the National Police, with the operational support of the SBU, conducted more than 20 searches at the residences of involved persons, as well as in the premises of the Kyiv University of Culture.
During the investigative actions, as noted by the prosecutor's office, mobile phones, hard drives, and company seals that may contain evidence of illegal activity were seized.
Currently, the pre-trial investigation is ongoing, all circumstances of the alleged crime and the full circle of involved persons are being established.
As noted by the SBU, criminal proceedings were initiated under Part 3 of Article 191 (appropriation, embezzlement of property or seizure of it by abuse of official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The perpetrators face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.