Vasyl Lishchuk, head of the capital construction department at Lutsk City Council, has been charged with embezzling over 2.3 million hryvnias of public funds during the modernisation of the former ‘Batkivshchyna’ cinema. This has been reported by law enforcement agencies. The official is suspected of colluding with a contractor and artificially inflating the cost of equipment for the refurbished business premises.
According to the investigation, during the implementation of the project to renovate municipal property, the official signed a contract containing a supplementary agreement. This document unjustifiably increased the costs of building materials and equipment.
A forensic examination confirmed that the department head’s actions caused losses to the city budget amounting to over 2.3 million hryvnias. At present, law enforcement agencies have not officially named the suspect; however, according to the court order, the individual in question is Vasyl Lishchuk, who has headed the relevant department since August 2024.
Law enforcement agencies have already launched a pre-trial investigation under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or acquisition of property through abuse of official position on an especially large scale).
Note: The penalty under this article provides for imprisonment for a term of between 7 and 12 years, accompanied by disqualification from holding certain posts or engaging in certain activities for a period of up to three years, and the confiscation of property.
In addition, on 12 June, the Lutsk City and District Court had already found Vasyl Lishchuk guilty of breaching procurement legislation (Part 3 of Article 164-14 of the Code of Administrative Offences) and imposed a fine of 25,500 hryvnias on him.
A large-scale refurbishment of the former ‘Batkivshchyna’ cinema began in the summer of 2024. The aim of the major refurbishment was to transform the derelict building into a modern business space to support local and relocated entrepreneurs.
The total budget for this large-scale infrastructure project amounted to 42 million hryvnias. Funding came from two sources:
34 million hryvnias — grant funding from international partners;
8 million hryvnias — allocated directly from the Lutsk community budget.
Following the completion of construction work, the premises were opened to the public, featuring a multi-purpose hall with 300 seats, several conference rooms, a modern co-working space, as well as ready-to-use workspaces for start-ups and budding entrepreneurs. The space is designed to host business training sessions, meetings and large-scale business events.
Law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate all the circumstances of the offence and are determining the extent of liability of other individuals involved in signing the loss-making supplementary agreements.