In Bukovina, law enforcement officers have uncovered a large-scale scheme of embezzlement and legalization of funds in one of the regional gas distribution companies. A former official of JSC "Chernivtsigaz" is accused of laundering over 7 million hryvnias and official fraud with payroll.
This was reported by the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Territorial Department of the Bureau of Economic Security.
According to the investigation, the man held the position of head of the payroll group and had access to accounting programs and the Client-Bank system. Using his official authority, he systematically entered false data into financial and payment documents, artificially inflated the amounts of accruals, and ensured that the company's funds were transferred to his own bank accounts.
In the period from January 2022 to September 2024, he illegally received almost 6 million hryvnias in this way under the guise of wages, bonuses, vacation pay, and sick leave.
However, during further investigation, law enforcement officers established another episode. Using a similar scheme, the official additionally transferred over 1.3 million hryvnias to himself. The total amount of losses exceeded 7 million.
He tried to legalize the funds he received: he withdrew cash, transferred money to casino and bookmaker accounts, and paid for purchases and services for personal needs. Thus, according to the investigation, he "laundered" illegally obtained income.
The BEB specifies that the person involved could have been operating for a long time. In addition to the established episodes for 2022-2024, detectives found out that in 2017-2021 he legalized at least 1.3 million hryvnias obtained through criminal means.
Currently, criminal proceedings on the facts of misappropriation of property, official forgery and legalization of proceeds of crime (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 2 of Article 366, Part 1 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) are already under consideration by the court. The man has also been notified of suspicion in connection with the new episode.
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by detectives of the TU BEB in the Chernivtsi region with operational support from the cyber police and the SBU.
