Officers of the State Bureau of Investigation have completed a pre-trial investigation into an entrepreneur who embezzled UAH 3 million from a project to modernize greenhouses at the Uzhhorod Forestry Enterprise.
The indictment was submitted to court, the SBI press service reports.
It is noted that in 2022, the forestry received funds for forest restoration, namely for the construction of nurseries of valuable tree species. As you know, these were EU grants.
The press service said that the winner of the tender was a local company. However, the owner of the company purchased the film greenhouse at an inflated price. Thus, its market value reached 2.2 million hryvnias, while the documents indicated a price of 5.2 million hryvnias.
"The accused, together with an accomplice, transferred the stolen money to their own accounts through front companies," the report says.
It is noted, that the entrepreneur is accused of appropriating someone else's property in particularly large amounts, legalizing funds obtained through criminal means and forging official documents (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 2 of Article 209, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He faces up to 12 years in prison and confiscation of property.
The report added that the employees of the State Forestry Bureau also sent an indictment to the court against the head of the forest farm. He is accused of official negligence, because he did not properly check the purchased equipment and signed the documents on the recalculation of inflated amounts to the entrepreneur.
The press service said that the materials against the businessman's accomplice, who was notified of suspicion of misappropriation of property, money laundering and forgery of documents, are currently being separated into a separate proceeding. The suspect himself is on the wanted list.
At the request of the State Bureau of Investigation, the court imposed pre-trial restraints on both suspects, namely custody with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 800,000 for the entrepreneur and round-the-clock house arrest for the head of the forestry.
The court also seized the defendants' property, including 2 apartments, 2 cars, 3 land plots, and 3 commercial non-residential premises. A civil lawsuit was also filed with the court to compensate UAH 3 million in damages.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in January, in Zakarpattia, the director of a construction company and his accomplice were served with a notice of suspicion for misappropriating UAH 3 million of EU grant funds for the construction of a greenhouse-nursery. The former head of Uzhhorod Forestry was also notified of suspicion of official negligence, which caused grave consequences.
