«The generator broke down», the director of «Prosecco 8» on why porridge for schoolchildren was cooked outside

The Mykolaiv City Council discussed the scandal with school meals for children. Photo: NikVesti

Irina Stoeva, director of «Prosecco 8», whose company was supposed to provide catering for children in Mykolaiv schools, explained that on the first day, due to problems with a power outage, there was a production failure.

She said this during a joint press conference at the Mykolaiv City Council on Thursday, 11 December, according to NikVesti.

According to Stoieva, the company experienced force majeure. Due to the lack of electricity, the generator failed to work and the equipment was out of order.

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«We were able to send the first dishes and the first car to Korabelnyi district on time. But the power went out and the power dropped. That's why the situation happened,» she said.

She said that sanitary standards were violated by the cook himself, who decided to open the thermobox in the open air and mix the couscous. He has already been punished for this.

«He has been punished. What you saw on the video did not make it to the school. The dishes that were prepared in accordance with the technology went in the first car. We decided not to send the rest,» said Iryna Stoieva.

The porridge for Mykolaiv schoolchildren was cooked outside in the rain. Collage by NikVesti.

She also noted that immediately after the launch of the service, four cooks quit their jobs because they could not handle the workload. The company is now looking for additional staff and is working to improve the organisation of the process.

«We are in touch with Petro Vasheniak (director of the municipal production enterprise for catering in Mykolaiv educational institutions (MPE-C)), and he helps us as much as he can. We are trying to develop this service and make it better,» said the director.

According to her, the delivery time was also delayed, and when the situation was rectified, the students had already left school, so there was no point in delivering even properly prepared meals.

The company prepares its meals at a facility on Sportyvna Street. They rent it from Hanna Remennikova, an entrepreneur and member of the Mykolaiv City Council.

«We have a rented space at the Central Market, but it is still being renovated. For now, we have rented another room on Sportyvna Street,» said Iryna Sto шeva.

Catering for schoolchildren in Mykolaiv

On 9 December, NikVesti showed the process of providing some of the city's schools with food prepared by the private company «Prosecco 8», which received a catering contract from the municipal enterprise. Parents of the children said that they did not receive breakfast on Monday, and the food was delivered only in the afternoon.

The footage showed the company's employees cooking porridge outside under a tent in the rain.

Vitalii Kim, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council and head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, responded to the scandal. After that, the Main Department of the National Police of Mykolaiv Region opened a criminal investigation into violations of the rules for preparing food for city schoolchildren.

Only in the evening did the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, respond to the video. The mayor called the situation unacceptable and initiated an inspection.

In her turn, Tetiana Dombrovska, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council, called the scandal with the new catering for schoolchildren a failure of the authorities. She demanded the dismissal of Vice Mayor Anatolii Petrov and Director of the MPE-C Petro Vasheniak.

The State Audit Service has launched an audit of the procurement of catering services for Mykolaiv's educational institutions due to signs of violations of public procurement laws.

The situation was also discussed at a meeting of the Mykolaiv Regional Council's Standing Committee on Education, Culture and Science. The deputies reviewed the scandalous situation with catering in city schools and expressed serious concern about the quality of children's meals.

It should be noted that the Mykolaiv City Hall decided to engage a private contractor after a public outcry over the quality of school meals. At the end of November, the municipal enterprise MPE-C chose the company «Prosecco 8», which will deliver food to some of the city's schools in December. During the open tender «PROSSECCO 8» became the only participant and winner of the tender for catering services. The price of the services was 14 million 279 thousand 658 hryvnias.

Who is the company that received ₴14 million for school meals associated with?

According to the YouControl system, the company «Prosecco 8», which was selected as a subcontractor, was registered in Mykolaiv in 2023 and has a registered capital of one thousand hryvnias. The company's activities are multifaceted: it provides mobile catering services, rents goods for sports and recreation, operates sports facilities, provides services to hairdressers and beauty salons, and more. The company is owned by Irina Stoieva.

NikVesti found out that Iryna Stoieva is also associated with another organisation — LLC «BBV 2021». The Register of Court Decisions contains a court ruling of 2023 on bringing her to administrative responsibility for violating the statutory procedure for making payments in the field of trade, catering and services. Iryna Stoieva is listed in the document as the manager of LLC «BBV 2021». The case concerned an unaccounted-for excess of alcohol and cigarettes in a cafe in the Zavodskyi district of Mykolaiv.

The YouControl system indicates that the head of this Mykolaiv-based limited liability company «BBV 2021» is Borys Berestnev, who is the son of the head of the «Proposal» faction in the Mykolaiv City Council and the head of the Inhulskyi District Administration, Hanna Remennikova.

It should be noted that Hanna Remennikova's family owns two popular restaurants in Mykolaiv: «Daily» and «Daily Sport». One of them, as the editorial board of NikVesti found out, employs Iryna Stoieva.

The decision to involve a private company in the organisation of meals for children in schools was previously commented on by the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych. In his telegram channel, the mayor said that within a month the city authorities would check the effectiveness of catering.