A relative of the director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services is among those suspected of corruption in Mykolaiv street lighting

One of the suspects of corruption in the procurement of street lighting equipment in Mykolaiv turned out to be a relative of the head of the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Mykolaiv City Council.

Sources in law enforcement agencies told the journalist NikVesti that, following the results of investigative actions and taking into account the materials collected by law enforcement officers, yesterday in Mykolaiv and in a village in Lviv region, the head of the department of the municipal enterprise «Self-supporting Construction Mechanisation Section» (SSCS), Serhii Bezdolnyi, was served with a notice of suspicion.

The second suspect was Vasyl Protsyshyn, director of the «Scientific and Industrial Company Eastern European Energy Union».

On 14 October 2024, this company signed an agreement with Oleksandr Ursolov, director of MP «SSCS», to supply 65 street lighting control cabinets to Mykolaiv for 5 million 395 thousand hryvnias. The press service of Mykolaiv police disclosed that the amount of the so-called «kickback» was 595,000 hryvnias. This is approximately 13%, if you do not take into account the VAT paid on the contract amount.

NikVesti asked the director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services, Dmytro Bezdolnyi, for a comment, where he confirmed that the suspect was indeed his relative.

Director of the Mykolaiv Housing and Communal Services Department Dmytro Bezdolnyi. Photo: NikVesti

«Yes, he is my relative. First of all, suspicion is not a confession (of guilt, — note). In our country, journalists should also take this into account, because very often we like to present it as a fact or something else. We have no direct influence on this utility company. We control it, but we don't manage it directly. We can't say that they are subordinate to us, if that's what you mean,» said Dmytro Bezdolnyi.

We also asked the official how such revelations about law enforcement in the municipal sector would affect international support for Mykolaiv.

«I can't speak for our partners, but in any case, such scandals, as they say, have no good effect, so we need as few of them as possible. Given the position of the city, the direction of the city, I certainly do not see anything good in this,» said Dmytro Bezdolnyi.

He noted that the official of the Mykolaiv municipal enterprise and the director of the company were notified of suspicion of misappropriation of budget funds. According to preliminary estimates, the losses to the local budget amount to about 600,000 hryvnias.

The money was seized by law enforcement. Photo: National Police

The money was seized by law enforcement. Photo: National Police

It is worth recalling that recently, cracks in the granite tiles appeared on Soborna Square in Mykolaiv, which cost the city more than 100 million hryvnias to reconstruct five years ago. The journalists of NikVesti tried to find out whether the defects on the main square of Mykolaiv could be caused by man-made factors, climate or violations of the laying technology. The Department's press service told the reporter that due to the large number of meetings, the management, «unfortunately», could not comment on this issue.