The head of the transport department of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, Hihlyuk, embezzled 600 thousand hryvnias

The head of the transport department of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, Hihlyuk, embezzled 600 thousand hryvnias

Law enforcement officers have filed a suspicion against Andriy Hihlyuk, the head of the Department of Transport and Communications of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council. The official faces up to 8 years in prison for embezzling 600,000 UAH during the arrangement of bus stops.

As reported by the police of the Ivano-Frankivsk region on February 15, the head of the department, abusing his official position, committed corruption offenses over the year, involving two accomplices. Although the law enforcement did not disclose the name of the 38-year-old official, according to sources from "Galka", it concerns the head of the Department of Transport and Communications of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, Andriy Hihlyuk.

Without appropriate calculations and disregarding the pricing system, he arbitrarily drafted and submitted a request to the city council’s financial department for an additional allocation of almost 1.5 million UAH for the arrangement of public transport stops. To embezzle part of the funds, the official involved a local married couple.

A 30-year-old woman from Ivano-Frankivsk, with no construction experience, registered as a private entrepreneur under the appropriate activity code and signed a contract with the Department of Transport of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council for the arrangement of stops. The stops were manually arranged by the 40-year-old husband of the businesswoman, using cheap paints, pipes, glass, and gravel. The materials were listed at inflated prices in the job completion reports.

"The city council official did not conduct a proper verification of the cost of used materials and signed the job completion reports. Thus, abusing his official position, the official and his accomplices embezzled budget funds amounting to nearly 600,000 UAH. During searches, police found documentation, mobile phones, and other evidence from the suspects," stated the police.

The Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office added that the official and the private entrepreneur were charged with misappropriation of another’s property through abuse of official position, committed by a group of persons and on a large scale, as well as the legalization of property obtained by criminal means, and official forgery. The participants in the scheme face up to 8 years in prison for their actions.

Let us add that Andriy Hihlyuk headed the Department of Economy of Tysmenytsia District State Administration from 2014-2016, and later moved to the position of deputy head of the Department of Transport and Communications of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council. Andriy Hihlyuk has headed this department since 2019. In 2023, he earned 406,000 UAH in this position.