The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has sent to the court a case on a senior coach of Ukraine's track and field team, who misappropriated UAH 1 million allocated for the participation of Ukrainian sportsmen in international competitions, including the 35th Olympic Games in London.
As the SBU press center reported on Tuesday, the SBU’s main investigation department finished pre-trial investigations, suspecting that a senior coach of the Ukrainian track and field team was involved in the misappropriation of funds, embezzlement, abuse of power and official forgery.
“During the pre-trials it was registered that from February 2011 up to July 2012 the senior coach, abusing office, seized over UAH 1 million of state funds. This money was allocated by the State Service of Youth and Sports of Ukraine to organize the training of sportsmen of the national athletics team for international competitions, including the 35th Olympic Games in London,” reads the report.
In May 2013 the case, with an indictment approved by the PGO, was sent to court.
As reported, the investigatory commission was formed on September 3 to investigate alleged cases of violations reported by Ukrainian athletes to the State Service of Youth and Sports in August 2012, which discovered discrepancies in official documents that were submitted by the management of the national team.
In particular, the documents stipulated that the team gathered for training at the center for training of army sportsmen of the Russian Defense Ministry in Kislovodsk. However, the Russian side confirmed that the training center was had been disbanded as of the date stipulated in the documents.
“The cost of this training in Kislovodsk was estimated at $21,000 but it were not confirmed officially. While, according to the documents, they held ten such false training sessions from April 2011 until July 2012,” the state service said.
The State Service of Youth and Sports of Ukraine has sent to SBU materials collected by a commission that investigated reports of abuses committed by officials of the Ukrainian track and field team during preparations of the national team for competitions.
On October 10, 2013 State Service of Youth and Sports of Ukraine under its orders dismissed head of the national track and field team Ruslan Russ and senior coach Kostiantyn Stepantsov for involvement in financial abuses while training sportsmen for the competitions.
In November 2013, the SBU arrested Stepantsov on suspicion of the embezzlement of state funds allocated for the training of the Ukrainian track and field team.
