In the Stryi district, the director of a local construction company has been sentenced to 5 years and 3 months’ imprisonment for misappropriating budget funds and official forgery during the renovation of a school-lyceum. This was reported by the Stryi District Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the case file, in 2019 a contract was concluded between a school-lyceum in one of the towns of Stryi district and a construction company for the capital renovation of the educational institution’s premises. The contractor was required, in particular, to carry out insulation of the school’s facade.
After the work was completed, the director of the contracting company entered false information into the work completion certificates and certified them with the company’s stamp. The official documents listed works that had in fact not been carried out, as well as quantities of materials that did not correspond to reality. He submitted these documents containing false information to the client, after which part of the funds was unjustifiably transferred to the contractor’s account.
As a result of these actions, the city budget suffered damage amounting to more than UAH 350,000. The initial expert assessment put the loss at over UAH 535,000, but a subsequent additional expert examination clarified the actual amount, and it was these findings that formed the basis of the prosecution.
Having assessed the evidence, the court found the defendant guilty under both articles with which he was charged – Part 4 of Article 191 and Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the same time, he was exempted from serving the sentence for official forgery due to the expiry of the limitation period. For misappropriation of another’s property by abusing his official position, the court imposed an actual custodial sentence.
In addition to the main term, the director of the construction company has been banned from holding positions involving the performance of organisational, managerial and administrative-economic functions in enterprises, institutions and organisations for a period of 3 years.
As the damage to the city budget has not been compensated, the court is continuing to consider the prosecutor’s civil claim to recover from the contracting company the full amount of the unjustifiably received funds. The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings was conducted by the Stryi District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Region.
The court’s verdict will enter into legal force after the expiry of the time limit for lodging an appeal.