Sheptytska City Council Official Suspected of Official Negligence
Under the procedural guidance of the Sheptytska District Prosecutor’s Office, the head of one of the departments of the Sheptytska City Council has been notified of suspicion regarding official negligence (part 2 of article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Investigation Details
According to the investigation, from October to December 2022, a company was carrying out reconstruction work on the reception department of the local hospital on behalf of a department of the Sheptytska City Council. The contract also required the contractor to supply medical and other equipment.
Moreover, under current legislation, part of the aforementioned equipment, necessary for implementing measures to prevent and counteract the emergence and spread of outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics of the coronavirus disease, is exempt from value-added tax when supplied.
Despite this, based on the provided services, the official approved the acceptance certificates of construction works, as well as the cost certificates for the equipment supplied by the contractor, unjustifiably including value-added tax in them.
Thus, by improperly fulfilling his official duties, the suspect did not verify that the price of the equipment was unlawfully inclusive of value-added tax, resulting in the unwarranted transfer of nearly 700,000 UAH of budgetary funds to the business entity.
Investigative actions are ongoing.
The pre-trial investigation is conducted by the investigation department of the Sheptytsky District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Lviv region with the operational support of the Strategic Investigations Department in the Lviv region of the National Police of Ukraine.
Note: According to article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven legally and established by a guilty verdict of the court.