Case description
On December 9, 2020, the HACC acquitted Oleh Shchudliuk, the head of the Yavoriv subdivision of the Building Administration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was accused of embezzling more than a million hryvnias in favor of an enterprise that, according to the documents, leased gas boiler rooms.
According to the investigation, Shchudliuk, the head of the Building Administration No.1 of the Yavoriv apartment-operational part of the district (a structural unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Lviv Oblast), unreasonably concluded contracts with a private enterprise in 2014, namely, contracts on the lease of gas boiler rooms (to provide hot water supply for the military) with PE Halpolitrade-Postach based on service acceptance certificates.
The Building Administration is a state institution subordinate to the Yavoriv apartment-operational unit, authorized to manage state property, conduct economic activities, and establish subsidiaries.
As the head of the Building Administration, Shchudliuk had official authority over this property, for example, to sign documents related to utilities, including heating and hot water supply. In accordance with the law, the Building Administration held a tender for the lease of two modular boiler rooms with a total capacity of 5.4 MW for a military unit, with an expected value of up to UAH 28 million. The winner of the tender was Energy Saving Technologies LLC with a bid of UAH 27 million.
A lease agreement for the property was also signed between the Building Administration and Energy Saving Technologies LLC. After the transfer of the boiler rooms, the company reassigned the lease rights to Halpolitrade-Postach PE and concluded an additional agreement to change the lessor.
According to the investigation, Shchudliuk knowingly and with the intent to embezzle budget funds ensured the drafting of deliberately false service acceptance certificates for six boiler rooms that had not yet been put into operation. These certificates were submitted to the chief accountant, who was unaware of the criminal intent, for the preparation of payment orders.
Detectives noted that based on such agreements, the company received UAH 1.18 million from the Building Administration.
Initially, the indictment specified the qualification under the article on abuse of power/office, and Shchudliuk even concluded an agreement with the SAPO prosecutor, but the HACC did not approve it, and the indictment was returned to the prosecutor's office.
The case was finally qualified under Art. 191, part 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HACC did not find elements of the crime in Shchudliuk's actions, and therefore acquitted him.
In court, Shchudliuk explained that the boiler rooms were installed in the military unit back in February 2014 under the preliminary agreement. However, at that time, they were not yet ready for use, so the payment was to be postponed. In April 2014, the boiler rooms were effectively connected to the networks, but the Building Administration had no money to pay for the services. Therefore, the parties concluded an additional agreement, according to which payment was to take place after the rooms were officially put into operation.
In short: the boiler rooms were already working, but the paperwork and payment took place later. According to Shchudliuk, the first task of the Building Administration was to provide hot water to the newly mobilized military.
The prosecutor did not agree with this decision of the HACC, and therefore filed an appeal; it was not satisfied, and the verdict remained in force.
