On November 18, 2020, the HACC found Serhii Kuzmenko, the head of the Druzhkivka municipal enterprise Capital Construction Department, guilty of misuse of budget funds. He was fined UAH 5,000

Kuzmenko, acting intentionally, spent more than a million hryvnias of budget funds on items that had not been provided for in the estimate during the repairs of the city hospital.  

In 2018, major repairs were to take place at the Druzhkivka City Clinical Hospital at the expense of the State Regional Development Fund. Accordingly, the repairs were to result in the reduction of electricity consumption in the hospital buildings. 

In order to carry out the repair project, Kuzmenko, as the head of the municipal enterprise of the Druzhkivka City Council, concluded an agreement with the contractor LLC Khozkhimservis. There were budget savings during the construction, and the contractors wanted to use the funds for items that had not been provided for in the plan. 

As a result of adjustments, 15 laptops, 7 TVs, 11 sterilizers, 2 thermostats, 8 computer mice, 15 printers, and 8 refrigerators, etc. were added to the estimate — for a total of more than a million hryvnias. Kuzmenko, in turn, approved these changes. 

The case was qualified under Art. 210, part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Misuse of budget funds, implementation of budget expenditures or provision of loans from the budget without established budget allocations or with their excess). Kuzmenko concluded a plea agreement and was sentenced to a fine of UAH 5,100.