The Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office responded to statements by the head of the Kherson OVA, Oleksandr Prokudin, voiced in an interview with MOST, regarding pressure on community leaders.
The material was published on the prosecutor’s office website.
“In connection with the spread in the media of theses of certain officials, as well as the statement of the Board of the Association of Ukrainian Cities about alleged pressure by prosecutor’s bodies on employees of military administrations, we consider it necessary to provide clarification. The prosecutor’s offices of Kherson region act exclusively within the framework of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine. The registration of criminal proceedings, notification of suspicion, and forwarding of indictments to court are carried out only in the presence of legal grounds and in compliance with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine,” – they said there.
The prosecutor’s office claims that since 2023 indictments have been sent to court against 26 individuals for crimes in the budget sphere, with losses amounting to nearly UAH 63.3 million. To date, 8 guilty verdicts have been handed down.
Their main achievement is cited as preventing losses totaling more than UAH 2.5 billion. In particular, after the agency’s intervention the cost of one of the road maintenance contracts was reduced from UAH 2 billion to UAH 34.7 million.
Recall, Oleksandr Prokudin, speaking with a MOST journalist, said that the leaders of all 17 communities of de-occupied Kherson region submitted letters of resignation due to systematic pressure from the prosecutor’s office.
According to the head of the OVA, law enforcement opens criminal proceedings over every purchase on Prozorro, often even before the signing of acts or the transfer of funds. Prokudin emphasized that such a situation paralyzes the functioning of communities.
As an example he cited the head of the Daryivska community, Anatoliy Didur, who for years had to prove his innocence in court, which undermined the health of employees and resulted in millions in losses for the state without any accountability for the prosecutors. He also mentioned pressure on the head of the Chornobaiv community, Viktoriya Kornienko, despite her active work with donors. Prokudin said he has already addressed the new Prosecutor General with letters regarding this issue.
We note that during the two years of work of the former head of the Kherson MVA, Roman Mrochka, in Kherson, despite numerous investigations into his abuses, the prosecutor’s office did not bring any criminal charges against him.