The Mykolaiv Construction Control Department was denied permission to open a corruption investigation

A court in Mykolaiv refused to order the police to open a case based on a complaint filed by the city’s State Architectural and Construction Control Department. Officials saw signs that the facility had been put into operation illegally due to unverified documents.

This was reported by Intent, citing a ruling by the Central District Court of Mykolaiv.

According to the case file, in June, the head of the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department of State Architectural and Construction Control filed a complaint with the police, reporting possible violations during the commissioning of a real estate property.

In her opinion, the developer may have included false information in the declaration of the property’s readiness for operation, and the certified inventory engineer may have confirmed the building’s readiness based on the technical passport, which allegedly provided grounds for state registration of ownership rights to the unfinished property as if it were completed. 

The complaint also referred to possible signs of criminal offenses under the articles on abuse of authority, forgery of documents, and abuse of official position.

However, the police did not enter this information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations. Law enforcement officials concluded that the information provided did not contain sufficient evidence to indicate the presence of signs of a criminal offense. In addition, during the inspection, a search of the property was conducted, after which no grounds were found to initiate a pre-trial investigation.

Disagreeing with this decision, the department head appealed to the court, arguing that, in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code, investigators were required to register criminal proceedings within 24 hours of receiving the complaint.

After reviewing the case materials, the investigating judge noted that the complaint consisted primarily of assumptions and did not contain specific facts or objective evidence that would confirm the occurrence of a crime. The court emphasized that not all complaints from citizens or institutions are subject to entry into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, but only those that contain sufficient information regarding the possible commission of a crime.

In light of this, the court concluded that there were no grounds to compel the police to register a criminal case and dismissed the complaint.

Also in June, an attempt to lease a warehouse without going through the mandatory auction process resulted in a court verdict. In the Mykolaiv region,Igor Dolka, deputy director of the state-owned enterprise “Bread Base No. 76,” was found guilty of extorting money in exchange for influencing management’s decision to lease out premises. 

Анна Бальчінос