Court resumes consideration of 2021 case on corruption schemes with garbage collection in Kherson

Odesa resumed consideration of the case of embezzlement of millions of hryvnias from the Kherson budget for garbage collection. The investigation demands to cancel the contracts and return the public funds due to violations of tender procedures.

This is evidenced by the ruling of the Economic Court of Odesa Oblast.

The court resumed proceedings in case No. 916/800/25, which was initiated in 2025 by the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office in the interests of the state. The lawsuit concerns the contract No. 121 of June 30, 2021 for waste disposal services. The agreement was concluded between the Department of Municipal Economy of the Kherson City Council and the company Blahoustrii Kherson Plus.

Law enforcers demand that the contract be declared invalid and that the company be compensated over UAH 3.8 million. According to the prosecutor's office, the procurement was conducted with violations: the bidding results were allegedly distorted by anticompetitive concerted actions, which is contrary to the interests of the state and society.

The case was temporarily suspended in April 2025 pending the outcome of a similar appeal case by the Supreme Court, which issued its decision in December 2025. The Odesa court then resumed the proceedings and scheduled a preparatory hearing for January 22, 2026.

The parties to the case are invited to provide explanations in light of the Supreme Court's ruling within 10 days. The meeting will be held in the courtroom of the Commercial Court of Odesa Region, but if necessary, participants can participate remotely via video conference.

According to the YouControl monitoring system, the company was registered in 2020 with a registered capital of one thousand hryvnias. The founder is Ruslan Butkevych, and the head is Lesia Strilkova. The main KVED of the company is comprehensive facility maintenance. Until the spring of 2021, it was called Budindustriya Plus LLC.

The company participated in public tenders in 2021. In 4 tenders, it earned almost UAH 8 million, and the only customer was the Department of Municipal Economy of the Kherson City Council. The procurement concerned waste disposal services, landscaping, and street cleaning.

The company was mentioned in journalistic investigations, which stated that in 2021, the Department of Municipal Economy of the Kherson City Council held six tenders for a total of over UAH 14 million. The bidders included, among others, AllianceBud Group and Blahoustrii Kherson Plus.

The Southern Department of the Antimonopoly Committee found out that these companies had agreed on concerted actions before the auctions to deprive other participants of competition. Such actions were recognized as a violation of the legislation on protection of economic competition. Both companies were fined a total of UAH 408 thousand.

As reported by the Center for Public Investigations, at the end of April 2021, Lesia Strelkova transferred 100% of the company's authorized capital to buyer Anzhei Radomskyi. The value of the share was only 1 thousand hryvnias. Immediately afterwards, Radomski changed the company's name to Blahoustrii Kherson Plus LLC, leaving Strelkova as director.

In addition, he expanded the company's activities by adding 8 new KVEDs, including waste management, crop production, and landscape services. Interestingly, Radomskyi made the decision to make the changes on April 21, 2021, and the very next day, April 22, the Kherson Municipal Economy Department announced the first tender for waste management and garbage collection services. This suggests that the changes to the company's charter could have been a preparation for participation in the tender.

Анна Бальчінос