Prosecutor explains why law enforcement officers became interested in a tender for waste sorting in Mykolaiv

Head of Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office Ihor Domushchei. Photo: NikVesti

The head of the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, Ihor Domuyev, explained the reasons why law enforcement agencies paid attention to the tender to select a company to build a waste sorting line.

He commented on the situation with the searches during a briefing on 29 August, NikVesti.

According to him, the terms of the tender clearly stated that the participant must own a land plot of at least 2.3 hectares suitable for sorting household waste. However, the company provided documents for a plot of only 2.17 hectares.

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«To this information, I can add something that we have not disclosed. The terms and conditions of the tender for the selection of the waste sorting entity in Mykolaiv, which were approved by the decision of the Mykolaiv City Council, stipulated that the sorting entity must own a land plot suitable for household waste sorting. the area of the plot must be at least 2.3 hectares. The business entity that was admitted to the tender provided documents that it has the use of a plot of 2.17 hectares. This means that the land plot is smaller than the area required by the tender. Given that the company has no employees, no relevant equipment, no work experience, and their documents submitted for the tender do not meet the tender conditions, this company is essentially ineligible for admission to the tender. The criminal investigation is ongoing. We will conduct it as efficiently and objectively as possible,» said Ihor Domushchei.

He added that it is currently difficult to prove the elements of the crime, as the contract with the winner has not been signed and funding has not started.

«It is difficult for us to prove the elements of a criminal offence in this case. Especially since the contract was not signed and the financing did not take place. However, the situation that is developing is that we see a business entity starting the process of conducting this activity for these purposes and for the intended purpose two years in advance. And that there are only two land plots near the landfill that are allocated by the business entity. This is the direct company LLC «Waste To Energy Niko» and another company that have the same owner, the same ultimate beneficiary. We have a lot of questions that we will deal with in the course of the investigation,» said Ihor Domushchei.

It is currently known that no one has been served with a notice of suspicion in this case. The head of the prosecutor's office also commented on the amount of 1.25 billion hryvnias mentioned in the media, which is an estimated budget.

«We are still looking into the amount of money that was supposed to be used to finance this contract and the ways of financing it. We will figure it out as part of the criminal investigation,» he added.

Also during the briefing, Ihor Domuyev asked the city council members to refrain from giving public advice to law enforcement officers in the case of the investment tender for the construction of a waste sorting line.

As you know, on 21 August, the building of Mykolaiv City Council was searched. The next day, the head of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Vitalii Kim stated that the tender to determine the company that would build the sorting line in Mykolaiv was conducted improperly and its terms were unfavourable for the community. He also added that Mykolaiv needs to build a modern sorting line, but not on the terms that are currently being proposed for approval by the city council.

Speaking to journalists, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych called the searches of the city council far-fetched and not constituting a crime. The departmentinterpreted the mayor's statementas an attempt to divert attention from real violations and to question the legality of the investigative actions.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko also reacted to this statement. He called these statements attempts by the managers to justify themselves.

Landfill near Mykolaiv

Back in 2020, in a commentary to NikVesti, the mayor of Mykolaiv said that the city's existing landfill would last for another 10 years, i.e. until 2030.

It is located on the territory of Vesnianske village council in Mykolaiv district. The landfill was put into operation in 1972 with a 50-year lifespan, i.e. until 2022. It is designed to dispose of 50 million cubic metres of waste.

The report on the strategic environmental assessment of the draft master plan for Mykolaiv, published in 2018, stated that the city's landfill capacity was 98% exhausted. Therefore, they added, it is imperative to build new modern waste sorting and recycling facilities, introduce separate waste collection, and increase the use of recycled materials.

On 20 May 2024, Mykolaiv selected a company to build a sorting line for solid waste processing. The winner of the tender was «Waste To Energy Niko».

In September 2024, the procedure for the operation of the household waste sorting line and the terms of the tender were agreed upon. It was reported that the sorting line will be able to process up to 70% of waste, and the remaining 30% will be buried. The project stipulates that the company that wins the tender will transfer at least 10% of its profits to the maintenance of the landfill.

The terms of the agreement include a 25-year period of cooperation. There were warnings in the city council that this was too long and could limit the community's flexibility. At the initiative of the chairman of the planning and budgetary commission of the city council, Fedir Panchenko, an alternative draft decision has already been developed — to refuse the agreement with «Waste To Energy Niko» for waste sorting. Earlier, in a commentary to NikVesti,  «Waste To Energy Niko», which won the investment competition held by the city council, assured that such a system would not only reduce the load on the city's landfill, but would also allow the city to save money, create new jobs and gain access to international «green» financing.