Officials in Volyn Have Been Charged with Embezzlement in Connection with the Closure of a Mine

Law enforcement officials in the Volyn region have uncovered a corruption scheme and announced that they have charged three individuals involved in an illegal transaction that caused the state losses totaling more than 2.7 million hryvnias. 

The former director and chief engineer of the “Western Mine Closure Directorate,” a separate division of the state-owned enterprise “OK ‘Ukrvuglerestrukturyzatsiya,’” as well as the head of a private contracting firm, are suspected of committing the crime. This was reported by the Volodymyr District Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the investigation, the officials entered into a criminal conspiracy during the implementation of the project to decommission State Enterprise “Mine No. 1 ‘Novovolynska.’” The management of the state-owned unit signed acceptance certificates for the completed construction work, into which the contractor had previously inserted knowingly false information. Based on these fictitious documents, the state-owned enterprise unjustifiably transferred over 2.7 million hryvnias to the private firm for the transportation and hauling of soil, even though in reality this work was never performed.

The actions of the three suspects have been classified under Part 5 of Article 191 (misappropriation, embezzlement, or acquisition of property through abuse of official position on an especially large scale) and Part 2 of Article 366 (official forgery resulting in serious consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The issue of imposing preventive measures on the suspects is currently being decided. The pretrial investigation is being conducted by police investigators with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine and the Department of Strategic Investigations. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, individuals are presumed innocent until their guilt is officially proven in court.