An official from the State Employment Center of Ukraine (SEC) has been formally served with a notice of suspicion regarding professional negligence that resulted in an overpayment of more than 16.5 million UAH during a server equipment procurement. Under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, investigators established that the estimated cost of goods was significantly inflated during a public tender in 2023.
According to law enforcement, the State Employment Center initiated a procurement process in 2023 to acquire server equipment for its IT infrastructure. During the preparation of the tender documentation, responsible personnel failed to conduct an objective market price analysis. Instead of analyzing price lists directly from official manufacturers or their authorized dealers, the estimated budget was based on commercial offers provided by intermediary intermediary companies.
As a result of this inflated starting price, state funds suffered large-scale damage, with the overpayment exceeding 16.5 million UAH. The official suspicion was delivered to Oleh Denysenko, Head of the Information Security Sector within the SEC’s Information Technology Department. Measures are currently underway to determine the appropriate preventive restriction for the suspect.
Following the issuance of the suspicion, internal organizational tensions within the State Employment Center have escalated. According to insider sources among the agency’s staff, there are ongoing attempts within the institution to shift full accountability for the loss-making procurement exclusively onto mid-level officials.
Sources link these actions to efforts by top management—specifically SEC Director Yulia Zhovtyak—to distance themselves from the investigation and mitigate potential legal claims from law enforcement agencies. Staff dissatisfaction is rising over the potential scapegoating of a single employee, given that the review, sign-off, and approval of state procurements typically involve a multi-stage control hierarchy.
The key priority for investigative bodies at this stage is to identify the complete chain of officials involved in preparing, endorsing, and supervising the procurement documentation. The investigation aims to determine whether the suspect acted independently or if the transaction resulted from systemic actions by a broader group of civil servants.
Law enforcement continues to conduct investigative activities and forensic examinations to hold all individuals accountable whose actions or inaction led to the misappropriation of state funds.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven through legal procedure and established by a court’s verdict of guilty.