According to the investigation, in December 2023, the Department of Education, Youth and Sports of one of the city councils in the Kharkiv region signed two contracts with a limited liability company for the development of project and cost documentation for the construction of protective structures (shelters) in two educational institutions.

Both contracts concerned the same work — the creation of documentation for typical civil protection shelters.

Such projects are reuse projects: when the documentation for one object is almost completely copied for another, preserving the main architectural, planning, and structural solutions. According to current legislation, in such cases, the cost of design work should be a maximum of 50% of the full price of a new project (and if the above-ground part is not changed at all — up to 15-25%).

The construction and technical expertise confirmed: the documentation for the second shelter was essentially copied from the first, preserving the main solutions. Therefore, the cost of the work should have been significantly lower.

Despite this, the official of the Department signed the acts of completed work without proper verification, and the contractor was transferred the full amount from the budget.

A forensic economic examination established an overpayment of budget funds amounting to nearly 770,000 hryvnias.

The official has been notified of suspicion of official negligence (part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police in the Kharkiv region under the procedural guidance of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

For reference: the director of the limited liability company has previously been notified of suspicion of misappropriating someone else's property by abusing official position, committed in particularly large amounts under martial law (part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. The procedural guidance is carried out by the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.