Managers of Lviv plant of prosthetic appliances walk away with Hr 20 million in a typical embezzlement scheme, head of audit department charges

March31200819:29

“Hr 43 million was allocated for the state-run Lviv plant of prosthetic appliances in 2007. All this funding was transferred to the Lidia-Torh Ltd. as an advance payment. When auditors checked the company, they found only Hr 23 million worth of goods supplied under the contract. Asked where the goods worth Hr 23 million were, the company’s managers said Lidia-Torh was merely an intermediary that had purchased goods. The 20-million worth of goods are currently in storage in Germany, they said,” head of Ukraine’s Main Auditing Department Mykola Syvulsky revealed, speaking in the Savik Shuster Svoboda talk show on March 28.

“I find the situation has worsened since my first spell in the government in 2005. The financial discipline has reached abominably low level. Out of 100 companies checked by the audit department, 95 show violations of the law. It boils down to a 95% crime rate! In all, about Hr 2.2 billion in budget moneys have been squandered. I can give you the names of delinquent companies and businessmen,” Syvulsky continued, citing the example of the Lviv plant of prosthetic appliances.

MAD chief’s criticism was countered by the former labor and Social policy minister, Mykhailo Papiev. He claimed that the goods mentioned by Syvulsky have already crossed the Ukrainian border and are in transit in Ukraine. Papiev stressed that the Lviv plant’s manager should be invited to the talk show to explain. Then Mykola Syvulsky will have to apologize to him,” Papiev noted.

Plant officials refused to comment on Syvulsky accusations regarding the money squandering charges, saying the plant manager is currently on leave for medical reasons.