Engineer of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum received suspicion due to overpayment of more than half a million hryvnias

Law enforcement officers reported suspicion of abuse of office to the engineer of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. According to the investigation, the museum overpaid more than half a million hryvnias for design and estimate documentation. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Prosecutors of the Pechersk District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv reported suspicion to the engineer of the National Historical and Architectural Museum "Kyiv Fortress" for abuse of office, which caused grave consequences to state interests protected by law (Part 2, Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)

As reported, in 2023, the museum and one of the research and design institutes concluded an agreement for the production of scientific and design documentation for cultural heritage sites that were to be restored. During the development of the design and estimate documentation, the contractor failed to perform a number of works stipulated by the agreement, and also inflated the cost of some of them.

At the same time, the chief engineer was supposed to control the quality of the contractor's work, but did not do so, acting in the interests of the institution that performed the order. Thus, the contractor was paid more than 500 thousand hryvnias for unperformed work, as a result of which the territorial community of Kyiv suffered losses for the specified amount.

Prosecutors prepared a petition for the suspect's pre-trial detention in the form of detention with an alternative bail in the amount of the damage caused. The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by investigators of the Pechersk Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv.

Recall

In 2021, the Kyiv authorities announced a large-scale restoration of the National Historical and Architectural Museum "Kyiv Fortress". It was planned, in particular, to equip an ATO museum on the fortress territory. Before that, mainly emergency works were carried out on the complex's territory, some of which concerned the "Navodnytska Tower" (tower No. 4) 

Already in April 2024, law enforcement officers exposed a scheme of embezzlement of funds for the restoration of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. As part of the criminal proceedings, the then director of the museum was detained. According to the investigation, the museum director concluded an agreement with the contractor for restoration work on one of the fortress towers with inflated prices for building materials. The losses amounted to 868 thousand hryvnias.

Also in May 2024, Kyiv prosecutors already served a notice of suspicion to the director of a private company on suspicion of misappropriation of budget funds on a particularly large scale – речь идет о 900 thousand UAH, which disappeared during the reconstruction of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. This refers to events of 2020-2021. At that time, the management of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum concluded an agreement with the director of a private company for emergency work on tower No. 4 of the museum, which is a monument of urban planning and architecture of national importance.

Among other things, the contractor was supposed to replace the tower's roof. The total cost of the roofing sheets was estimated at UAH 1.4 million. However, the expert examination showed that the price was significantly inflated.