In the Cherkasy region, law enforcement agencies have uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme involving the theft of state grants. At the center of the investigation is a former Minister of Environmental Protection, who held office in the first government of Nikolai Azarov during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych.
The Suspect and His Business
Although the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has not officially named the suspect, sources in law enforcement agencies interviewed by RBC-Ukraine point to Viktor Alekseevich Boyko. Before his appointment to the ministerial post in March 2010, he headed the State Reserve Committee, leaving the post in December of the same year. Today, the former official is involved in agribusiness.
The investigation revealed that the agricultural company, one of the owners of which is Boyko, received 5.6 million hryvnias from the state budget. The allocation of funds was justified by the need to modernize production: the money was intended for creating new feed production lines, purchasing technological equipment, and creating new jobs.
How Budget Money Was Stolen
In reality, the declared goals were not achieved. Instead of modernizing the enterprise, the company owners simply divided the allocated funds among themselves. To conceal the theft, fake reports were submitted to state authorities, claiming that the equipment had already been purchased and the staff expanded.
Law enforcement officers conducted a forensic economic examination, which finally confirmed the fact of illegal activity. During searches at the places of work and residence of the suspects, computer equipment and draft documentation were seized, serving as material evidence of guilt.
Threat of Punishment
The organizers of the theft face serious criminal punishment. According to current legislation, the perpetrators face up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Context of the Fight Against Corruption
This investigation fits into a series of exposures of corruption schemes in Ukraine. Recently, in the Poltava region, the NABU and the Office of the Prosecutor General uncovered fraud during the repair of local roads: deputies and officials of the city council demanded kickbacks from contractors amounting to 10% of the contract sum, illegally appropriating more than 7.7 million hryvnias.
Previously, the SBU also exposed a scheme to appropriate real estate worth 300 million hryvnias involving former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Volodymyr Syvokh. The former official, using artificially created debts, took possession of an unfinished hospital and more than 21 hectares of land in Kyiv.