The Ministry of Reconstruction initiates a full audit of all projects using budget funds that were implemented by the liquidated Ministry of Regional Development. Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, Development of Communities and Territories Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote about this on Facebook.
"Today, by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, Vasyl Lozynskyi was dismissed from the post of Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure. I would like to remind you that yesterday the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SACPO) employees exposed and stopped the activities of an organized criminal group for embezzlement of budget funds. The criminal group included the Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine," the minister wrote.
He recalled that Lozynskyi was detained while receiving an illegal benefit in the amount of USD 400,000. "He received these funds for assistance in concluding contracts for the purchase of equipment and machinery. Criminal proceedings were registered in September 2022," the post says.
"In late December, the process of liquidation of the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories and the creation of a new unified Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine on the base of the Ministry of Infrastructure began and is still ongoing. When making personnel decisions in the new ministry, we were guided by the need to preserve institutional memory, but, obviously not like that. I instructed the Ministry's team to start checking all active projects of the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories, including budget funds, funds from international financial institutions, and technical assistance projects. We continue to work," Kubrakov concluded.
Earlier, the editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, citing his sources, wrote that Lozynskyi is a person close to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
"He is a confidant of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. In January 2013, immediately after the appointment of Denys Shmyhal as the director of the economic development department of the Lviv Regional State Administration, it was Shmyhal who appointed Lozynskyi to the position of head of the investment directorate in his department. In February 2020, immediately after the appointment of Denys Shmyhal to the post of Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Community and Territorial Development, Shmyhal appointed Lozynskyi as his first deputy. That is, the close ties between Shmyhal and Lozynskyi is not a version, it is an absolutely obvious fact," he emphasized.
"It is unlikely that Lozynskyi himself would discuss bribes without the knowledge of Shmyhal himself. Because it is the Prime Minister who controls the distribution of funds under this government program and approves expenditures. Let's look at the evidence of the NACB and SACPO in court, but it is obvious that it is the Prime Minister Shmyhal should be responsible for the case," Butusov added.
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