At least UAH 153 million embezzled from Kyiv city budget during construction of Podilskyi Bridge – SSU. PHOTO
The Security Service and the BES documented new facts of embezzlement from the Kyiv city budget. According to the case, the offenders embezzled at least UAH 153 million, which were intended for the construction of the Podilskyi Bridge over the Dnipro River.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the SSU press centre.
According to the investigation, the scheme involved both current and former officials of a municipal enterprise operating under the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA).
Case materials indicate that even before the full-scale invasion, they had artificially inflated the cost of construction materials used in the bridge project and distributed the resulting "surplus" among those involved in the scheme.
According to the investigation, between 2018 and 2019, the suspects "overpaid" nearly sixfold for wholesale batches of mesh used to reinforce the supports of the bridge crossing.
To implement the scheme, its organizers signed a contract with an affiliated construction company based in Kyiv. The contractors then purchased 8,800 units of technical mesh from a firm under their control in the Middle East.
For comparison, case materials show that the average market price for a unit of mesh was $110, while the suspects paid $610 per unit.
During investigative actions, law enforcement seized computer equipment, mobile phones, and documents containing evidence of the crime.
Currently, both the former and current heads of the municipal enterprise under the Kyiv City State Administration, along with their accomplice – the former director of the contracting company – have been officially notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 27 and Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (complicity in the embezzlement or misappropriation of property through abuse of office, committed on a particularly large scale by an organized group).
The investigation is ongoing to bring all individuals involved in the embezzlement of KCSA budget funds to justice. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
