In Zakarpattia, the director of a construction company and his assistant have been notified of suspicion of embezzling UAH 3 million in EU grant funds for the construction of a greenhouse nursery.
The former head of the Uzhhorod Forestry Enterprise was also notified of suspicion of official negligence, which caused grave consequences, the Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor's Office reports on Facebook.
It is noted that the scheme was implemented in 2021-2022, during the implementation of one of the activities of a cross-border project in the forestry sector. Thus, the Uzhhorod forestry announced a tender for the construction of a modern forest nursery with an innovative greenhouse.
"The director of the construction company – the winner of the tender – together with an accomplice, involved a number of fictitious enterprises in the scheme and purchased the structure for the installation of a film greenhouse at inflated prices," the report says.
The prosecutor's office explained that the perpetrators forged official documents, which indicated that the cost of the equipment was UAH 5.2 million. At the same time, the market price for the necessary equipment was almost UAH 2.2 million. The embezzled money was later legalized and withdrawn from bank accounts.
"Due to official negligence, the head of the forest farm at the time did not properly check the purchased equipment and sign the necessary documentation for payment of funds to the entrepreneur for significantly inflated invoices," the report says.
Currently, the law enforcement officers have appealed to the court with requests to choose precautionary measures for the suspect.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in Zakarpattia region, the director of one of the forest farms was informed of suspicion for organizing the extraction of sand-gravel mixture from the Teresva River using his official position.
Previously, EcoPolitics prepared TOP-5 corruption scandals of 2023.
