20.11.2023, Kiev.
The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine announced the opening of a criminal case against the former head of the State Special Communications Service of Ukraine and his deputy on charges of embezzlement of budget funds worth more than $1.7 million, the press service of the agency said on November 20.
The defendants’ names in the case are not disclosed, but they are likely Yuriy Shchigol and Viktor Zhora, who were recently dismissed by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers. The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has already appointed interim heads.
According to the information, the actions of the six suspects are qualified as a crime under the criminal article “misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of office.”
The investigation revealed that from 2020 to 2022, the owner of the group of companies and the management of the Special Communications Service created a scheme to seize state funds allocated for the purchase of equipment and software. A state enterprise subordinate to the special communication service signed contracts with these companies, overpaying more than $7.9 million for software over two years.
The excess funds were withdrawn to accounts abroad for further distribution among the participants of the scheme. The issue of selecting preventive measures for the suspects is currently being decided.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
