Under the procedural supervision of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General, the director of the municipal enterprise for the protection, maintenance and exploitation of the lands of the water fund of the city of Kyiv «Pleso» of Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) was notified of suspicion. He is charged with embezzlement of budget funds in particularly large amounts and official forgery committed by a group of persons based on a prior conspiracy (part 5 of Art 191, part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The investigation established that in 2021, by the decision of the Kyiv City Council, a list of environmental protection measures financed from the city's environmental protection fund was approved. «Pleso» ME received funds for the creation of water protection zones designed to prevent pollution, clogging and depletion of the capital's water resources.

Realizing that the allocated funds should be used by the end of the year, the head of the municipal enterprise entered into a conspiracy with the director of a private enterprise that had close ties with KCSA officials. They developed a scheme for the illegal withdrawal of budget funds.

Officials of «Pleso» ME announced a repeated tender for the development of land management projects to establish the boundaries of water protection zones and coastal protection strips. This was done contrary to the Law of Ukraine «On Public Procurement», because the previous similar procurement has not yet been completed. The pre-selected company was determined as the winner of the tender. On December 17, 2021, a contract was concluded with him for the performance of works on five beaches, in particular on the Trukhaniv and Venetsiansky islands.

Within a few days, the parties signed additional agreements in violation of the terms of the contract. On December 23, the act of completed works was signed, and on December 30, 2021, funds were transferred to the contractor. In fact, at the time the acts were signed, the work was not actually carried out.

Moreover, according to the Water Code of Ukraine, carrying out such works was not necessary at all at the two sites – Trukhaniv and Venetsiansky Islands, for which UAH 1.7 million were unjustifiably paid from the budget.

At the same time, the prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General Office managed to cancel illegally established water protection zones and one hundred-meter coastal protection strips on these islands in court. This will make their development and other illegal use impossible. The relevant records have already been removed from the State Land Cadastre.

Currently, the issue of choosing a preventive measure for the suspect in the form of detention, as well as reporting the suspicion to the contractor, is being determined.

The pre-trial investigation is carried out by the Main Department of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the The Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Support of Critical Infrastructure Facilities and Countering Terrorism Financing of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood of the Security Service of Ukraine.