Contractor avoids punishment for misappropriation of funds in Mykolaiv

The court upheld the punishment of a contractor who misappropriated budget funds while repairing a sidewalk in Mykolaiv. The court took into account that more than five years have passed since the offense and the damage has already been compensated.

This was reported by Anti-Corruption Dimension.

The Zavodskyi District Court of Mykolaiv decided to release Volodymyr Pavlov, who headed Fortuna Investbud LLC from 2019 to 2022, from criminal liability. The former director of the company was accused of misappropriation of budget funds and forgery. The investigation revealed that during the repair of the sidewalk in the city center, he overestimated the scope of work and received more than UAH 146 thousand of extra funds from the city budget.

According to the court ruling, in 2020, the Department of Housing and Communal Services of Mykolaiv City Council and Fortunainvestbud LLC signed an agreement for the overhaul of the sidewalk on Admiral Makarov Street from Dekabristy to Faleevska Street worth more than UAH 1.4 million.

The investigation found that in June 2020, Pavlov entered false information in the acceptance certificates and the certificate of cost, stating that the repairs were completed in full, although some of the work had not been completed.

Based on these documents, the department transferred the entire amount to the company, while the actual cost of the work was almost UAH 147 thousand less, which gave the company excess funds from the budget.

The prosecutor's office accused Pavlov of misappropriation of property through abuse of office and forgery. However, in 2025, the defendant's lawyer filed a motion to release Pavlov from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and the court upheld this position.

More than five years have passed since the offense was committed, so it is impossible to impose punishment. The criminal proceedings were closed and Pavlov was released from liability.

The case was opened in October 2022, and the court has not passed a verdict in three years. Fortunainvestbud LLC also appears in several journalistic investigations into repairs in Mykolaiv. Under the leadership of Maryna Iliytsia, the company regularly received contracts from local authorities, in particular from the Zavodskyi District Administration, concluding agreements worth more than UAH 67 million by 2022.

In addition, the company is involved in criminal proceedings for embezzlement of property during the execution of contracts with the same district administration. The investigation materials also include Dmytro Kalenyk, who worked as the company's chief engineer and was associated with several cases of possible violations during road repairs in the city.

Recently, the director of a private company in Mykolaiv region was suspected of embezzling almost UAH 5 million during the renovation of a hospital facade. He is accused of overstating the scope of work and entering false data in the certificates of completion.

Анна Бальчінос