Company suspected of embezzlement awarded contract for school shelter in Kherson region

A shelter for a school and a kindergarten is being built in Kherson region. The project was launched in 2023, and the contract was won by a company that the NGO suspects of misappropriating budget funds.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the DREAM ecosystem.

In the village of Orlove in Kherson region, it is planned to build a new civil defense facility for students and employees of the local educational complex.

Screenshot: DREAM

The protective structure will be designed for 150 people - students, teachers and technical staff. The project is being implemented as part of the Comprehensive Regional Recovery Program and approved by the Kherson Regional State Administration. The total construction budget is UAH 19.2 million. However, it is noted that currently confirmed funding is only 1.48% of the required amount.

According to the Prozorro procurement system, in December 2023, a contract for the development of project documentation was signed with KB Archspace for UAH 285 thousand, and in November 2024, a contract was signed with B-Standard for technical supervision for UAH 305 thousand. The tenders for these works were held without a competitive procedure.

It turned out that the tender for the construction of the shelter was held in October 2024 with an expected cost of more than UAH 30 million. The auditors decided to check this tender, but the construction contract was awarded to Budkom for UAH 29.2 million, with a deadline of December 25, 2025.

Screenshot: YouControl

Additional agreements were also signed, in particular, to finance the project in the amount of more than UAH 3 million in 2024 and another UAH 26 million in 2025.

Budkom has a history of participating in public tenders. It has received UAH 29.3 million for three procurements, of which UAH 22.2 million was for the construction of a shelter for the Orlivka Educational Complex. The company has been involved in journalistic investigations and several criminal cases.

According to the High Anti-Corruption Court, representatives of the Orlivka Educational Complex, together with Budkom employees, allegedly created a scheme to misappropriate budget funds worth more than 5.3 million by overstating the cost of construction materials. However, the claimed losses were not confirmed by official documents, and the court dismissed the request for investigation.

Also in Mykolaiv region, law enforcement officers are investigating possible corruption during the repair of the roof of Novodessk Lyceum No. 1. The works are worth more than UAH 4 million and may have overstated the volume and cost of materials.

Анна Бальчінос