The investigation into the corruption scheme involving the procurement of official housing for rescuers in the Chernivtsi region is ongoing.

On February 6, key executors of the scheme—a couple of developers—were informed of suspicion. They are accused of embezzling budget funds in particularly large amounts, committed in collusion and under martial law (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to the investigation, the developers acted in collusion with the former deputy head of the Main Department of the State Emergency Service in the Chernivtsi region. In 2023, he headed the tender committee responsible for the procurement of official housing.

After the announcement of the tender for the purchase of apartments on the secondary market, the official ensured the participation of companies linked to him in the bidding. These firms belonged to the couple of developers.

To guarantee winning the tenders, they took turns participating and involved fictitious participants to create the appearance of competition. As a result, the first tender was won by the husband’s company—4 apartments were sold to the state for nearly 9.9 million UAH.

In 2024, the scheme was repeated: the winner of the next tender was his wife’s company, which sold another 3 apartments for over 9.9 million UAH.

At the same time, the housing did not meet construction and sanitary standards. Despite this, the head of the tender committee accepted the apartments based on the acceptance-transfer acts.

In this way, the developers, together with the former official of the State Emergency Service, who was informed of suspicion on January 22, illegally embezzled nearly 20 million UAH of budget funds.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigations in the city of Khmelnytskyi, with operational support from the Security Service of Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region.

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.