7 years in prison: Dnipro Regional State Administration official sentenced for causing 1.8 million in damages
17 April 14:17
The Dnipro District Court of Kyiv has handed down a verdict against the former head of the Education Department of the Dnipro District State Administration. In 2023, she was responsible for purchasing vegetable cutters and chairs for school shelters in the district—and overpaid more than 1.8 million hryvnias in budget funds for the equipment. This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
For the two instances of embezzlement combined, the woman was sentenced to 7 years in prison with confiscation of property.
How much budget money went toward chairs and vegetable cutters
The charges were supported by prosecutors from the Kyiv City and Dnipro District Prosecutor’s Offices. In court, they proved that the former official organized purchases for school shelters in 2023—and in both cases, the prices were significantly inflated.
The first incident involved vegetable cutters for school cafeterias in the shelters. The overpayment for this equipment amounted to over 460,000 hryvnias. The defendant’s actions were classified under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code—misappropriation or embezzlement of property on an especially large scale. For this episode, the Dnipro District Court sentenced her to 5 years in prison.
The second case involved a larger amount of damages. This involved the purchase of chairs for equipping school shelters in the Dnipro district. The Department of Education overpaid nearly 1.35 million hryvnias for them. This episode was classified under Part 5 of the same Article 191—misappropriation committed under martial law. For this, the official was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
How the court determined the final sentence
In its verdict, the court applied Article 70 of the Criminal Code—the rule on sentencing for multiple offenses. Under this provision, when a person is found guilty of several crimes, the final sentence is determined by absorbing the less severe offense into the more severe one or by partial or full aggregation.
In this case, the court chose the more severe of the two—7 years of imprisonment. Two additional sanctions were added to the main sentence. The first is a 3-year ban on holding positions involving organizational, managerial, administrative, or economic functions. The second is the confiscation of property. Separately, the court granted the civil claims filed by prosecutors on behalf of the state: the defendant must reimburse the full amount of damages caused to the budget.
