Former Deputy Minister of Social Policy is suspected of unjustified procurement worth 24 million UAH.

The Security Service of Ukraine has announced charges against a former deputy minister of social policy regarding damages to the state budget exceeding 24 million UAH.

This was reported by the SBU press service.

According to sources from LB.ua, the individual in question is Boris Lebedtsov, who served as deputy minister from March 2020 to June 2022.

Law enforcement officials state that during the period from February to May 2022, while implementing the project "Modernization of the Social Support System for the Population of Ukraine," the suspect committed negligence in office.

He signed an additional agreement to the main contract, unjustifiably expanding the number of contract objects and increasing the procurement of computer equipment that is not being utilized by the ministry's employees, as noted in the announcement.

This was executed without conducting a technical and economic justification for equipping the amalgamated territorial communities with computer equipment and without coordination with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the SBU reports.

As a result, the ministry incurred damages totaling 24 million UAH, prosecutors indicate.

The conclusions of the forensic economic examination conducted during the investigation confirmed the damages to the state budget of Ukraine, the special service adds.

Based on the collected evidence, SBU investigators have charged the former deputy minister under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for "Negligence in Office."

Currently, the issue of selecting a preventive measure for the suspect is being resolved.