Mykolaiv Electrotrans May Be Required to Return Nearly 200 Million to the City

The State Audit Service is seeking a court order to recover 196.8 million hryvnias for the Mykolaiv budget—funds that, according to the auditors’ findings, the municipal enterprise “Mykolaivelektrotrans” received without proper justification between 2022 and 2025.

Nikcenter reports this; the first hearing is scheduled for August 3.

The court order itself does not contain any details of the claims—it merely states the requirement to recover 196.8 million hryvnias.

The publication obtained the full text of the audit report, which the State Audit Service conducted in March 2026. The bulk ofMykolaivelektrotrans’s revenue comes from the city budget under a transportation services contract signed with the city council’s executive committee back in 2020.

According to the auditors’ findings, payments under this contract were made in violation of the law, based on unfounded figures for services rendered.

Each year, the executive committee publishes a contract for passenger transportation by electric transit on Prozorro. In 2025, it was worth 440 million hryvnias, and 443 million has been allocated for the first ten months of this year.

A standard contract approved by the Cabinet of Ministers stipulates that the budget compensates only for the difference between transportation costs and revenue from ticket sales and fines.

Instead, the Mykolaiv City Executive Committee paid the full cost of the service, and the revenue from tickets remained with the company as additional income—beyond the established compensation.

Another violation: the amount of budget funding did not decrease even when passenger numbers fell due to limited trolleybus and tram service—for example, during power outages.

In total, over four years, auditors calculated that the company received 196.8 million hryvnias without sufficient justification.

Previously, the Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Mykolaiv Oblast had already launched a pre-trial investigation into allegations of official negligence by public officials that resulted in serious consequences, under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code.

The report states that the lack of oversight by city authorities over the municipal enterprise’s financial plans allowed it to spend excess budget funds on purposes unrelated to passenger transportation.

In particular, the enterprise purchased passenger cars, including electric vehicles, and specialized equipment—excavators—for a total of 15.7 million hryvnias. This equipment was later transferred free of charge to the city council’s executive committee and the municipal enterprise “Mykolaiv Parks.”

Auditors view this as evidence that there was no real need for such purchases for the transit depot.

The management of “Mykolaivelektrotrans” failed to file the necessary paperwork in time to claim compensation for property damaged by shelling, amounting to 50.2 million hryvnias. As a result, the company risks losing its right to reimbursement.

In addition, the auditors identified approximately 6 million hryvnias in unproductive expenses resulting from the purchase of electricity from a “last-resort” supplier at inflated rates.

Inadequate oversight of contracts financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development led to additional losses due to exchange rate fluctuations.

They also identified the excessive write-off of 1,500 metric tons of crushed stone, valued at 1.3 million hryvnias, during track repairs on Kropyvnytskyi Street (formerly Potemkinska Street).

According to the auditors’ findings, the work—valued at 99.2 million hryvnias—was classified as routine maintenance rather than major repairs; this allowed the project to bypass state expert review and write off materials under a simplified procedure.

Ірина Глухова