UAH 14 million losses to Derzhhidrohrafiia: case sent to court

On Dec. 28, 2022, NABU and SAPO referred the case to court, accusing four persons of causing UAH 13.8 million in damage to Derzhhidrohrafiia (State Hydrography) public enterpise.The suspects are*:

• the director of Derzhhidrohrafiia;
• the deputy director of Derzhhidrohrafiia;
• two directors of two LLCs.

The actions of all persons fall under Part 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As established, in 2018-2019, Derzhhidrohrafiia held a tender for the overhaul of three river vessels. The head of the institution, together with his deputy, secured the victory of a predetermined company, which in fact had neither the material and technical capacity nor personnel to carry out repairs. However, it received contracts for UAH 24.6 million: UAH 15 million for a large ship, and UAH 4 and 4.5 million for two smaller ones.

The smaller vessels were repaired, but the large one was not. Despite this, the company received more than UAH 19 million, of which UAH 13.8 million - actually for nothing. The participants of the scheme cashed the money through a fictitious company and distributed it among themselves.

At the beginning of 2021, the National Police notified the officials of Derzhhidrohrafiia of suspicion of fraud. Since NABU detectives were also investigating the same facts, the case was transferred to the National Bureau. NABU and SAPO collected enough evidence to notify the participants of the scheme of abuse of official positions.

The investigation was completed in January 2022, and the case file was disclosed to the defense for perusal.

In order to receive compensation for the damage, Derzhhidrohrafiia filed a relevant civil lawsuit with the court.

*positions as of the crime date

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.