Head of project institute suspected of embezzling a quarter million for "Kyiv Fortress"

Prosecutors of the Pechersk District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv have notified the acting director of the Ukrainian State Research and Design Institute "UkrNDIproektrestavratsiya" of suspicion. He is suspected of embezzling money allocated for the development of a project for anti-emergency works for the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, writes UNN.

Details

At the request of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum, the design institute was supposed to produce scientific and design documentation for conducting anti-emergency works on Tower No. 4 of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. A number of works stipulated by the contract were not performed.

At the same time, the head of the institution that was supposed to perform the work did not take measures to finalize the project documentation and bring it into compliance with current legislation. It was established that works worth almost 260 thousand hryvnias were not performed, which caused damage to the museum, which ordered and paid for these works.

The actions of the acting director of the Ukrainian State Research and Design Institute "UkrNDIproektrestavratsiya" are qualified under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - embezzlement of another's property by an official abusing their official position, committed on a large scale.

The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years.

Additionally

The engineer of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum was notified of suspicion of abuse of office. The museum overpaid more than 500 thousand hryvnias for design and estimate documentation in 2023.

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 territory of the fortress. Prior to this, mainly anti-emergency works were carried out on the territory of the complex, some of which concerned the "Navodnytska Tower" (tower No. 4).

Already in April 2024, law enforcement officers exposed a scheme for embezzling funds during 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 a contractor for restoration work on one of the fortress towers with inflated prices for building materials. The damages 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 embezzling budget funds on a particularly large scale – речь идет о 900 thousand UAH that disappeared during the reconstruction of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum. This refers to events in 2020-2021. At that time, the management of the "Kyiv Fortress" museum concluded an agreement with the director of a private company for anti-emergency works on Tower No. 4 of the museum, which is a monument of urban planning and architecture of national significance.

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