In Lviv region, an indictment has been submitted to court against a councillor of one of the district councils, who is accused of abuse of office during the procurement of equipment funded from the regional budget. This was reported by the Zolochiv District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the investigation, in 2021 the accused, acting as the authorised representative of the Social Services Centre of the settlement of Pidkamin, organised an unlawful scheme during the purchase of a solid fuel boiler for the institution’s needs. During the tender procedure, he ensured the unjustified rejection of a more economically advantageous bid from one of the participants, while the winning bidder was a company whose price was almost twice as high.
A sale and purchase agreement was concluded between the Centre and this company, under which the supplier was to deliver and install the boiler by the end of 2021, and payment was to be made only after the actual receipt of the goods and the signing of an acceptance certificate. However, the Centre’s official, even before the contract was formally concluded, drew up and signed a knowingly false delivery note stating that the boiler had allegedly already been delivered and installed, which became the basis for making the payment.
By the end of 2021, the company had not delivered the boiler, and the parties did not sign an acceptance certificate. As a result, the Pidkamin settlement community suffered losses of almost UAH 380,000. In reality, the solid fuel boiler was only delivered to the Centre in 2023, and it has still not been installed, so it could not be used.
The Centre official is charged with abuse of office and with the drawing up and issuing by an official of a knowingly false official document (Part 2 of Article 364, Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). As for the director of the supplier company, the indictment together with a civil claim for damages was submitted to the court in January this year under Part 2 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by Police Department No. 1 of the Zolochiv District Police Division of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv region.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt has been proven in the manner prescribed by law and established by a guilty verdict of the court.