Mykolaiv entrepreneur placed under house arrest for embezzlement of budget funds

An entrepreneur from Mykolaiv who has ties to local authorities was placed under house arrest. He is suspected of misappropriating budget funds.

This was reported by Nikcenter.

Petro Pestov, director of the Voznesensk company Hospodar-2, who has ties to the deputy of the regional council and head of the Voznesensk District State Administration Oleksandr Kukuruza, was placed under nightly house arrest. He is suspected of embezzling budget funds allocated to repair the roof of a school in Voznesensk, and the court also imposed a temporary seizure of a share of his apartment.

According to the investigation, in 2021-2023, Pestov deliberately entered deliberately false data into the acts of work performed, overstating the volume and cost of repairing the A1 building of Voznesensk School No. 5 by UAH 3.9 million. The police found that some of the documents on the materials used were forged, and the amount of resources actually used in the reports did not correspond to the amount indicated. The false information was included in three acts in December 2022.

Investigators opened criminal proceedings under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code, which provides for imprisonment for 5 to 8 years. On October 17, 2025, Pestov was notified of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 191 and Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code - embezzlement of property on a large scale and forgery. According to the prosecutor's office, the entrepreneur misappropriated UAH 195 thousand while fulfilling a contract.

The prosecutor asked the court to impose house arrest on the suspect from 20:00 to 06:00 due to the risk of influencing witnesses and the possibility of absconding. The court partially granted the request and imposed nightly house arrest from 22:00 to 06:00, prohibited him from communicating with witnesses and traveling outside the region without the investigator's permission, and ordered him to appear at the call of law enforcement officers.

In addition, the court seized Pestov's share of the apartment to prevent his alienation and to guarantee the possibility of compensation for damages.

In October, the Antimonopoly Committee fined Hospodar-2 LLC and VBK Alpha LLC for collusion in tenders in 2023-2024, and they face a ban on participation in public procurement for up to three years.

Earlier, the company was the subject of an intentional journalistic investigation regarding the overhaul of the Stepkivska school shelter. The repair of the school's shelter was planned back in 2019 and was accompanied by constant disruptions.

The Center for Public Investigations also wrote about this company. In April, Hospodar-2 LLC received 14 million to restore the water supply system in the village of Sofiyivka, Pervomaisk district. The project is funded by the European Investment Bank under the Emergency Credit Program for the Recovery of Ukraine.

Анна Бальчінос