The Odessa City Hall Lost a Case Involving One and a Half Million in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has definitively denied the Odessa City Council’s Department of Municipal Services’ request to collect 1.55 million hryvnias from a contractor. It upheld the decisions of the lower courts.

This is stated in the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The dispute arose over construction contracts for the major renovation of residential buildings in Odesa, signed between 2020 and 2021. At that time, the Department of Municipal Services accepted all the projects and paid the contractor in full based on the signed acceptance certificates. The agency had no complaints regarding the quality or scope of the work performed.

However, during a scheduled audit in 2022–2023, the Southern Office of the State Audit Service reported that some of the materials and work for which the budget had paid were missing. Following this, city officials filed a lawsuit demanding the return of the funds.

After reviewing the city council’s appeal, the Supreme Court agreed with the conclusions of the commercial courts that there were no grounds for granting the claim. The court emphasized that the State Audit Service’s audit report does not have prescriptive force and cannot serve as sole evidence of damages incurred if the client confirmed in writing that the work was properly performed and did not provide additional expert opinions or technical documentation.

The ruling of the Commercial Court of Cassation took legal effect upon its adoption, is final, and is not subject to appeal. All court costs associated with the consideration of the cassation appeal were imposed on the Department of Municipal Services of the Odesa City Council.

Юлія Калабайда