David Makaryan, the former head of a Central Apparatus department at the State Customs Service of Ukraine, is under suspicion for the embezzlement of budget funds during the modernization of a customs post in the Bukovyna region. According to investigators, the official signed off on construction documents featuring inflated material costs, causing over 3.2 million UAH in damages to the state. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine officially announced the charges.
In 2021, the suspect headed the tender committee responsible for the reconstruction of the «Krasnoilsk» checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Romanian border. The total budget for the large-scale customs infrastructure modernization project was nearly 105 million UAH (approximately $2.6 million USD).
Law enforcement revealed that a Kyiv-based company was selected as the winner of the contract, despite the existence of two lower and more financially viable bids from competing companies.
Following the completion of the construction in 2022, the high-ranking official accepted the facility and signed the completion certificates without properly verifying the contractor’s financial calculations.
«Expert evaluations revealed that the cost of certain building materials in the signed documents was inflated by 3.2 million UAH,» the Office of the Prosecutor General stated.
The former official is currently charged under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Fraud committed on an especially large scale or by an organized group).
The court has already scheduled a preventive measure for the suspect. Makaryan has been granted release on a bail set at over 660,000 UAH. The pre-trial investigation remains ongoing as authorities continue to uncover all circumstances surrounding the fraudulent contracts.