Myhiyivska Community Awards ₴14M Water Supply Contract to Firm with Criminal Record

In the Myhiyivska community, the contract to restore the water supply system for UAH 14 million will be awarded to the only tenderer, a company with a criminal record. The company has already been involved in cases of embezzlement of budget funds, but continues to win millions of dollars in orders without competition.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the Prozorro procurement system.

At the end of March, Myhiyivka village council announced a tender for the restoration of the water supply system. The works are to be carried out in the village of Sofiyivka for almost UAH 14 million. According to the terms of the tender, the project is being implemented with funding from the European Investment Bank. All work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.

The auction was supposed to take place on April 21, but only one company, Gospodar-2, submitted its offer, which was 881 thousand UAH lower than the expected purchase amount.

Screenshot: Prozorro

This is not the first attempt to hold the tender. There was a first attempt in February, but the tender was canceled. In particular, the requirements of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine were not met. The tender documentation still contained items that needed to be removed, including certificates of previous contracts with the client.

In March 2023, the firm Gospodar-2 was involved in a criminal case of embezzlement and misappropriation of budget funds. The relevant information is contained in the decision of the Podil District Court of Kyiv of March 13, 2023.

The investigation materials refer to the company's alleged involvement in the embezzlement of funds received through public procurement in 2021-2022.

According to the YouControl analytical system, Gospodar-2 LLC was registered on November 11, 2012, and its beneficiary is Petro Yevhenovych Pestov.

Since 2016, the company has won government contracts worth more than UAH 234 million. Most often, its customers were institutions from Pervomaisk, Yuzhnoukrainsk and Voznesensk.

Screenshot: YouControl

In May last year, the construction of a radiation shelter for the Taborivska school was awarded to Hospodar-2 LLC without competition. A similar situation occurred in June, when the Bohdanivka Lyceum announced a tender for almost 50 million - the only participating company with a bid of 46.4 million was again the same company.

In December, the Antimonopoly Committee began considering a case of possible violation of the law by Hospodar-2 and VBK Alfa. The investigation concerned tenders announced in 2023-2024 by the Syniukhino-Brid village council and Mykolaiv district heating company, during which concerted actions between the participants could have taken place.

This is not the only case when multimillion-dollar contracts are awarded to companies that have already come to the attention of law enforcement. For example, a newly created company was recently awarded a contract for street repairs in Mykolaiv without competition. Despite its recent emergence, the company has already won contracts worth 60 million hryvnias and is associated with participants in criminal proceedings.

Анна Бальчінос