6 April, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. During joint inspections of several road management organisations in the region with the Department for Combating Economic Crimes (DCEC) of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, the Vitebsk Regional Committee for State Control uncovered instances of embezzlement of property funded by the budget. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Regional Committee for State Control. Specifically, heads of intermediary structures, abusing their official powers and in collusion with officials of road management organisations, used forged documents concerning the movement of material assets, thereby embezzling 156 tonnes of petroleum bitumen worth Br384 million. Their actions caused damage on a large and particularly large scale. Numerous violations of the procedure for оформление primary accounting documents contributed to the embezzlement: waybills for the transportation of asphalt concrete mixtures, and the formal conduct of material inventories. For instance, in one of the organisations, fictitious incoming and outgoing documents on the movement of materials from third-party organisations were drawn up to conceal the facts of bitumen embezzlement. Furthermore, as a result of non-compliance with the approved norms for material consumption in the production of asphalt concrete mixtures, bitumen was unjustifiably written off. Annual material inventories at all inspected enterprises were conducted formally. Inventories carried out during the inspections revealed shortages. The inspections also noted that the accounting system used in the organisations did not provide complete and reliable information on the movement of materials, and did not allow for daily analysis of material write-offs in production. Based on the results of the inspections, the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee has initiated five criminal cases against seven officials. Inspections are ongoing.-0-

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