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DEOn 19 November, the National Police, together with representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine, conducted searches in the premises of the National Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes – the Revolution of Dignity Museum, the general contractor for the Memorial’s construction LLC Special Scientific Restoration Design and Construction Workshop “Ukraine-Restoration” and at the home of the museum’s director-general Ihor Poshyvailo.
As a result of the searches, the tender and design and estimate documentation related to the construction of the Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and a hard disk belonging to the museum’s director-general was seized.
“Searches conducted in the Revolution of Dignity Museum will be used by anti-Ukrainian forces to discredit the Revolution of Dignity, and such actions are perceived as a political put-up job,” reads the statement by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Revolution of Dignity Museum released on UINP’s website.
“The Museum and the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance create no obstacles to investigative actions. However, we were surprised by their manner, as some of the seized documents were freely available, and the Museum was ready to provide them upon a mere request. It is also confusing that investigators chose this particular moment to conduct searches as they took place just before the Day of Dignity and Freedom and the anniversary of the Euromaidan events. This will definitely be used by anti-Ukrainian forces that are trying to discredit the Revolution of Dignity,” said Anton Drobovych, head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
As noted, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Revolution of Dignity Museum hope for an impartial investigation, the results of which will put an end to speculations and political intrigue around the erection of the Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, and construction will finally start.
According to the Revolution of Dignity Museum’s lawyer Dmytro Tsvitnenko, the ruling of the Holosiivskyi District Court in Kyiv, which became the basis for searches, is not subject to appeal.
In turn, the Security Service of Ukraine stated that investigators suspected the Memorial Complex officials of embezzling funds allocated for the facility reconstruction. The pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is currently underway.
It is documented that the Museum’s management signed contracts for the reconstruction and improvement of the Memorial Complex to the tune of almost UAH 150 million. The contractors received an advance payment of 80% of the contract amount, totaling UAH 111 million.
However, law enforcement officers found out that the works had not been carried out within the terms set by the contracts. Instead, most of the budget funds received by the contractor were not spent for the purposes specified in the relevant contracts.
Natalia Tolub
