In 2022, diplomats illegally transferred $1 million in “humanitarian aid” to a nonprofit organization
27 July 18:03
During a pre-trial investigation conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), specialists from the State Audit Service of Ukraine uncovered $1 million in losses inflicted on the state budget by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and employees of one of Ukraine’s embassies, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
As investigators and state auditors determined, in 2022—in fact, in the first weeks following the full-scale invasion—the Ukrainian embassy in a foreign country opened an account to receive charitable donations intended for providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
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According to the law, all transactions by government agencies involving charitable contributions must be clearly reflected in financial statements, as these funds are part of the revenue of the general or special funds of the state budget and must be used exclusively for their intended purpose.
At the same time, at the behest of a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and based on the acts of the embassy’s temporary commission, funds from the diplomatic mission’s account were illegally transferred in two tranches of $500,000 each to a civil society organization in Ukraine. At that time, the NGO had no legal right to use these state funds, as it did not have the status of a humanitarian aid recipient.
As a result of the diplomats’ misconduct and the failure to ensure oversight of the funds’ intended use, the state lost financial resources amounting to $1 million (or nearly 30 million hryvnias at the exchange rate at the time).
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