Former head of the Chornomorsk port administration sued for his position and one and a half million

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv has reinstated Maksym Shyrokov, who was dismissed from his position in July 2023 for negligence, as the head of the Chornomorsk Seaport Authority.

The court ruled that the order of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine to dismiss the official was illegal.

The court also ordered to recover from the State Enterprise "Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority" in favor of Maksym Shyrokov the average salary for the period of forced absenteeism in the amount of UAH 1 million 512.6 thousand.

This is not the first time Maksym Shyrokov has returned to his position. In November 2020, the Sea Ports Authority appointed new heads of the Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk ports, Oleksandr Basyuk and Maksym Shyrokov.

Maksym Shyrokov has been working in the port industry since 2007: he started at the Kherson Commercial Sea Port, and since 2008 he has held various positions at the Pivdennyi Sea Port, and from 2013 to early 2019 he headed the port administration. Since February 2019, he has been working as the CEO of the Risoil S. A.

During his presidency, in 2016 , detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine searched the office of Pivdennyi Port as part of an investigation into a tender for dredging at the port. In 2015, the Pivdennyi Port Authority signed a UAH 537 million contract for dredging with China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd. The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine took an interest in the value of the contract, and an expert examination showed that the price was overstated by UAH 67 million.

According to the Dumskaya newspaper, Maksym Shyrokov was the deputy director of the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the Kyiv City State Administration who was detained by detectives of the State Bureau of Investigation in June 2024 while receiving a bribe of 280,000 hryvnias.

He allegedly extorted money from companies involved in the transportation of passengers in Kyiv minibuses. The official was charged with grand bribery, but was not sent to a pre-trial detention center. First, he was placed under round-the-clock house arrest, and then allowed to walk free on bail of 3 million hryvnias.

Кирило Бойко