Prosecutors of the Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor's Office, following the results of pre-trial investigations in a number of criminal proceedings, notified 22 officials of local self-government bodies, heads of communal and state institutions, of suspicion related to the embezzlement of budget funds, abuse of official position, and illegal mining.

The head of the Svitlovodsk City Council, his deputy, a technical supervision inspector, and 3 officials of the contracting organization, acting as part of an organized criminal group, misappropriated budget funds during the repair of the road surface. Losses amount to almost UAH 1.2 million.

The director of the enterprise – a deputy of the Kirovohrad Regional Council (Opposition Platform – For Life), created an organized group, involving the director and chief engineer of the company he founded to carry out illegal sand mining from the water area of the Dnipro River. Losses – UAH 23 million.

The head of the transport department of the Kropyvnytskyi City Council and the director of the municipal company procured buses at inflated prices. The amount of losses is more than UAH 12 million.

The director of the enterprise of the Pervozvanivska Village Council organized the illegal extraction of sand from the local deposit. Damages were estimated at almost UAH 30 million.

The former head of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in the Kirovohrad region issued an illegal order to transfer 233 hectares of agricultural land to communal ownership. UAH 7 million of losses were caused.

The deputy head of the Regional Military Administration Department, abusing his official position, caused UAH 425,000 in damages.

The deputy mayor of Novoukrainsky and the head of the city council department were exposed for abuse of official position during the procurement of power sources. The amount of damages is almost UAH 800,000.

The former acting director of a state-owned enterprise sold wheat grain at an undervalued rate. Losses – over UAH 7.6 million.

The head of one of the municipal enterprises and a deputy of the Dolyna City Council unjustifiably accrued bonus payments for himself in the amount of more than UAH 300 thousand.

The state registrar of the Center for the Providing of Administrative Services of the Onufriiv settlement council carried out illegal re-registration of 225 hectares of state-owned land. The amount of damage caused is UAH 18.7 million.

The former head of KNP «Regional Psychiatric Hospital», abusing his official position, caused UAH 150,000 in damages to the state during repair works.

The former registrar of one of the departments of the State Geocadastre in the region and the head of the department of the Center for the Providing of Administrative Services fraudulently acquired a 7-hectare plot of land. Almost UAH 1.5 million of damage was caused to the state.

The actions of the suspects are qualified under part 4, 5 of Art. 191, part 3 of Art. 28, part 1 of Art. 366, part 3, part 4 of Art. 240, part 2 of Art. 28, part 2 of Art. 364, part 2 of Art. 365-2, part 3 of Art. 362, part 1, 2 of Art. 364, part 5 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The total amount of established damages in these criminal proceedings is more than UAH 100 million.

In 3 criminal proceedings, the head of the Regional Prosecutor's Office is the senior of the group of prosecutors.

Prosecutors are currently preparing motions to take precautionary measures and suspend suspects from their positions.

The pre-trial investigation is carried out under the procedural supervision of the prosecutors of the Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office in cooperation with the Main Department of the National Police, the Security Service of Ukraine Department, and the Strategic Investigations Department in the Kirovohrad Region.

Note: pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution, a person shall be presumed innocent of a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until proven guilty in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict.