Prosecutors of the Lubny District Prosecutor's Office have sent indictments to the court against two former directors of the communal enterprise of the Novoorzhytska territorial community for the illegal extraction of groundwater and violations of established rules for the use of subsoil, which caused the state over 450 million UAH in damages.

According to the investigation, the accused, leading the enterprise at different times, extracted groundwater from artesian wells located in the community without the necessary special permits for subsoil use and water use. The total volume of illegally extracted water amounts to over 300 thousand cubic meters.

Such actions, committed during the period from August 2021 to June 2024, led to millions in damages to the state, as confirmed by the conclusion of a comprehensive judicial engineering, ecological, and economic expertise.

In order to recover the damages caused to the state, prosecutors have filed claims against the accused. One claim is for over 60 million UAH, and the other is for more than 390 million UAH.

The actions of the former officials have been qualified under Part 4 of Article 240 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal extraction of minerals of state significance, as well as violations of established rules for the use of subsoil, committed by an official using their official position, which caused severe consequences).

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Lubny District Police Department, under the procedural guidance of the Lubny District Prosecutor's Office and operational support from the special police sector of the criminal police department of the Poltava District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Poltava region.