Mykolaiv CHPP declassifies salaries of management and supervisory board at the request of NikVesti and the court

At the request of the court and online media NikVesti, Mykolaiv CHPP disclosed the amount of salaries and bonuses paid to the company's management and supervisory board members in 2023.

The relevant information is contained in the response to the information request provided by the company almost a year and a half after the request of journalists and the court.

As you know, more than a year ago, on 24 January 2024, a journalist of the publication sent an information request to the company, asking for information on salaries and bonuses received by the management of Mykolaiv CHP in 2023. A separate item of the request was information on the amounts of remuneration, reimbursement of expenses and additional benefits provided to members of the Supervisory Board of the Private Joint Stock Company «Mykolaiv Combined Heat and Power Plant». In May 2024, the publication filed a lawsuit to oblige the CHP to publish salary data. On 17 February, the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court fully upheld the lawsuit filed by the editor-in-chief of NikVesti Kateryna Sereda against the Mykolaiv CHP plant.

In its appeal, Mykolaiv CHP referred to the court's incorrect application of substantive law and the inconsistency of the court's conclusions with the circumstances of the case and asked to overturn the decision of the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court and adopt a new one, dismissing the claims. Mykolaiv CHP argued that despite the fact that 100% of the company's shares are owned by the state, the company is a private law entity.

However, the Court of Appeal disagreed with the arguments of Mykolaiv CHP. In addition, the panel of judges examined the company's orders submitted to the court, which approved a list of information classified as confidential and constituting a trade secret. According to these orders of Mykolaiv CHP, the commercial secret includes, among other things, information on the salaries of employees, the terms of the contract with the chairman and members of the supervisory board, grades and salary schemes for determining the amount of remuneration of the company's employees. However, the court found that the CHP's reference to the requested information being a trade secret or confidential information was contrary to the requirements of the Law of Ukraine «On Access to Public Information» and the Law «On Information». As a result, the court upheld the decision of the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court and ordered Mykolaiv CHP to provide all requested information on salaries and remuneration of the company's management and supervisory board. The court ruling came into force on 14 April.

In May, NikVesti appealed to the State Enforcement Service to have Mykolaiv CHP recognise the court ruling. As a result, on 22 May, the company provided information on the income of its management and supervisory board in accordance with the writ of execution issued by the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court. The company also noted that no bonuses, compensation or other additional payments were provided.

How much do the managers and supervisory board of «Mykolaiv CHP» earn?

According to the document, the total income for 2023 for the seven key executives of the company is 6.5 million hryvnias. In particular, Dmytro Myroshnychenko, the Chairman of the Board, received 2,102,007 hryvnias in total income for the period from 1 January 2023 to 1 January 2024, of which deductions amounted to 611,557 hryvnias. That is, he received 1,490,450 hryvnias in «hands».

Viktoriia Pereverzieva, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council who works as the company's director of administrative and economic activities, earned 692,285 hryvnias in 2023, of which she received almost 549,000 hryvnias.

Vira Zverzhynska, Chief Financial Officer, declared 872,453 hryvnias in total income, of which she received 178,827 hryvnias. She was paid 693,625 hryvnias.

Chief Engineer Serhii Rykov, who has been with the company since 1999, received slightly higher payments. He earned 885,315.80 hryvnias in income over the year, of which he was paid 697,893 hryvnias.

Oleksandr Naumenko, the company's Commercial Director, earned 947,805 hryvnias in the year, of which he received 760,711 hryvnias in payments, and Anton Pavlov, Director of Procurement, Transport and Logistics, earned 799,229 hryvnias, of which he was paid 637,684 hryvnias.

Mykhailo Talpa had the lowest income, with just 192,535 hryvnias. The head of the Strategic Development and Information Technology Department received these funds for 5 months of work in 2023.

In addition, the company provided information on the salaries of the Supervisory Board, which consists of 9 people (some of them did not work for the whole year). During the relevant period, its total income was over 3.7 million hryvnias. On average, members of the Supervisory Board of Mykolaiv CHP receive about 50 thousand hryvnias in remuneration per month.

As you know, the director of the Mykolaiv Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP), Dmytro Myroshnychenko, in his property and income declaration for 2024, indicated that last year he earned 2.3 million hryvnias in his position. On average, this is 193,000 hryvnias per month, which is 18,000 hryvniasmore than the previous year.