The mayor of Vyshhorod, Oleksiy Momot, and the director of a contracting company have been charged with embezzling over 6.6 million UAH. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, which stated that the suspicion relates to the misappropriation of budget funds through abuse of office (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the prosecutor's office, during the early months of the full-scale invasion by Russian troops, city council officials organized the purchase of two backhoe loaders worth 7.8 million UAH under the pretext of supporting a volunteer formation.
The investigation found that the equipment was purchased through a company that had neither the resources nor the financial capability to fulfill the contract. The purchase price was inflated by approximately 800,000 UAH per unit.
“Despite this, acceptance certificates were signed, and funds were transferred from the local budget. The equipment was only delivered after several months and was then accounted for by municipal enterprises. As a result of these actions, the community budget suffered losses of over 1.6 million UAH,” the prosecutor's office emphasized.
Another episode concerns dredging work for a stormwater retention basin in Vyshhorod.
“According to the investigation, the mayor, fully aware of the contract's non-fulfillment, signed acceptance certificates and initiated payment to the contractor. Consequently, over 5 million UAH was illegally withdrawn from the local budget,” the prosecutor's office noted.
As reported by Ukrinform, on July 29, the mayor of Vyshhorod was charged with embezzling over 736,000 UAH during the purchase of equipment for the water utility. On July 30, a motion was filed in court to suspend the suspect from office, but on August 4, the court returned the motion to the prosecutor on formal grounds.