NABU, SAPO expose UAH 27 million kindergarten construction fraud scheme

On Nov. 7, 2022, NABU and SAPO notified five persons of suspicion of embezzling over UAH 27.3 million during the construction of a preschool educational institution in the Kyiv region.

The suspects include*:

• the head of a village council in the Kyiv region (the organizer of the corruption scheme);
• chief accountant (member of the tender committee of the village council);
• two directors of an LLC 1;
• the director of an LLC 2 (the organizer of the corruption scheme).

*positions as of crime date

As established, at the end of 2017, the director of the LLC 2 and the head of the village council decided to misappropriate local budget funds. The corruption scheme was implemented under the pretext of building a kindergarten.

In February 2018, the village council announced a tender for the construction of a kindergarten for 280 children, which was won by the predetermined LLC 1. According to the terms of the tender, the company was supposed to build the facility and put it into service by the end of 2018. Instead, the scheme participants misappropriated over UAH 27.3 million during the construction of the kindergarten, which is still unfinished.

The investigation has discovered the forged acts of completed works that evidenced the overestimation of the cost of construction works and materials, as well as paying the LLC 2 for project documentation, which was never provided.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered non-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.