The Czech prosecutor’s office has charged the founder of the Help Ukraine foundation, Ukrainian Volodymyr Gergel, with fraudulent subsidies to help refugees, the CT24 TV channel has reported, citing a representative of the Prague prosecutor’s office, Ales Cimbala.
According to the Czech prosecutor’s office, the country’s Ministry of Education allocated about 20 million Czech crowns (about 887.7 thousand dollars) to the Help Ukraine foundation in 2023.
“The prosecutor has brought charges <…> for actions that were qualified as subsidy fraud,” Ales Cimbala said.
The planned funds were to be used to help with language learning and other support for refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic. Volodymyr Gergel faces 5 to 10 years in prison for embezzlement, the agency said.
TV channel ST24 noted that the accused bought a flat in Prague, as well as transferred about 2 million crowns (about 88.7 thousand dollars) to the account of his mother after the Foundation received a grant of 15 million crowns (about 665.9 thousand dollars).
We will remind, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Monday, 26 August, reported that during the inspections from March to July 2024, the theft of humanitarian aid for the needs of the AFU in the amount of 4.2 million dollars was revealed.