Deputy head of Khmelnytskyi RMA exposed for receiving "kickbacks" for signing road repair contracts. PHOTOS
The SSU’s Main Internal Security Directorate and the Office of the Prosecutor General have dismantled a large-scale scheme involving the embezzlement of budget funds allocated for road reconstruction. The comprehensive operation exposed a deputy head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration who received bribes in exchange for awarding contracts to repair interregional highways.
Investigators established that the official received a "kickback" amounting to 5% of the total contract value, Censor.NET reports.
Details
In exchange for this payment, the suspect guaranteed that a contract would be signed with a road construction company and that budget funds would be allocated for the work.
He involved the head of the relevant state institution in the illegal activity.
SSU officers documented the official arranging a UAH 1.1 million bribe with a contractor and the payment of part of that sum in several instalments throughout June this year.
The participants in the "scheme" have been notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, depending on the offences committed:
- acceptance of an undue benefit by an official holding a position of responsibility;
- offering, promising or providing an undue benefit to an official holding a position of responsibility.
The authorities are considering preventive measures for the suspects. They face up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The investigation is ongoing to establish whether a senior official at a regional law enforcement agency and other representatives of local government bodies may have been involved in the crime, and to bring all those responsible to justice.
