NABU and SAPO confirmed the information disseminated yesterday, January 21, about the detention of Vasily Lozinsky, Deputy Minister for the Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.
This is stated in a message published by the press service of NABU.
It is noted that the detainee was a member of an organized criminal group (OCG), engaged in embezzlement of budget funds.
Detectives detained him while receiving 400 thousand dollars. US undue benefit. The Deputy Minister received these funds with assistance in concluding contracts for the purchase of equipment and machinery at inflated prices. Preliminary legal qualification – part 4 of Art. 368, part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, – noted in the department.
According to the investigation, in the summer of 2022, the government allocated UAH 1.68 billion, which, in particular, should have been used to purchase equipment and machinery to provide the population with alternative sources of light, heat and water in the winter. However, a number of officials from central and regional executive authorities decided to embezzle part of these funds.
To do this, they colluded with a group of intermediaries and ensured the conclusion of procurement contracts at an overvalued value of almost UAH 280 million with predetermined business entities. Those, as the investigation found out, were supposed to transfer the above amount to civil servants as a “reward,” the message says.
Currently, urgent investigative actions are being carried out to identify all participants in the organized criminal group and bring them to criminal responsibility.
It is noted that during the operation to expose this organized crime group, in which more than 150 NABU employees took part, there were:
- a number of searches were carried out, during which 920 thousand UAH and 38.7 thousand dollars were found and seized in the businessmen’s office. USA;
- at night, one of the members of the group was detained, who was trying to cross the state border and leave Ukraine.
Source: Racurs
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