According to the results of the inspection of the activities of the Chernihiv City Council, the State Audit Service found violations that caused losses to the community in the amount of 2.3 billion hryvnias.
The audit was carried out by specialists of the Northern Office of the State Audit Service in Chernihiv region for 5 months. During the inspection, 19 facts of violation of the requirements of the Criminal Code of Ukraine by officials were established and 14 criminal proceedings were registered.
In particular, a scheme of embezzlement of lands belonging to the Chernihiv city community was discovered, the estimated value of which is about 720.0 million hryvnias. Thus, the Chernihiv City Council transferred 79 plots of communally owned land with a total area of 55.8 hectares to third-party legal entities and individuals for development.
The scheme is simple: the city council allocated land plots for the construction of multi-apartment residential buildings and commercial objects to the subordinate utility company "Chernigivbudinvest" and the Department of Capital Construction, with the subsequent transfer of rights to them for permanent use. In turn, the utility company and the Authority, as construction customers, entered into contracts with other contracting organizations, in which it was assumed that after putting the facility into operation, all rights to them would be acquired by the developer itself, and not by the utility company or the community that actually owned these land
Thus, due to the free transfer of these plots of land to persons related to Oleksandr Lomako and Vladyslav Atroshenko, the city budget of Chernihiv has already lost the opportunity to use them, as well as the opportunity to receive additional income to the budget in the amount of UAH 12.8 million. And developers associated with Atroshenko and Lomako received super profits.
Also, during the inspection by the State Audit Service, manipulations with the territories of the objects of the nature reserve fund were discovered: the hydrological natural monument "Lake Hlushets", the protected tract "Svyate" and the Park-monument of horticultural art "City Garden". There were risks of their illegal alienation and possible loss by the community of land plots of the nature reserve fund for the total amount of 806.6 million hryvnias.
In addition, during the audit, the facts of the conclusion of lease agreements for land plots with proxies of citizens of the Russian Federation on behalf of the Chernihiv City Council were established. At the same time, the contract for one of these plots was concluded six months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine - in September 2022. Materials on this fact have been handed over to the Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
Also, during the audit, 2 facts of violation of legislation by the acting mayor of Chernihiv Oleksandr Lomaka and other officials of the city council were recorded.
In particular, during the audit of the Executive Committee of the Chernihiv City Council, it was established that in June 2022 Oleksandr Lomako was on a foreign business trip for 13 calendar days. He was reimbursed for his business trip in the amount of UAH 55.2 thousand. But no information was received on requests to provide primary documents. On this fact, criminal proceedings have been opened under Part 1 of Article 351-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
During the audit, another fact of abuse of official position by officials of the Chernihiv City Council was established, regarding the budget of the Chernihiv City Territorial Community for 2023. It was established that it was signed by the secretary of the city council Lomaka O.A. based on the voting results of the deputies of the Chernihiv City Council. The amount of expenses, in accordance with the specified decision of the city council, amounts to 42,455.61 thousand hryvnias.
The decision was made without approval by the military administration, so the actions of officials of the Chernihiv City Council contain signs of crimes provided for in Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Abuse of official position" and other articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. According to information from our sources in the SBI, a decision is made to open criminal proceedings on this fact.
The next step should be for deputies to listen to the Report of the State Audit Service and explanations from corrupt officials Oleksandr Lomako and directors of the CP regarding the embezzlement of 2.3 billion hryvnias. We are sure that Oleksandr Lomako will be removed from the duties of the acting head of state. mayor of Chernigov, if not by the deputy corps, then by law enforcement agencies.
Detailed analysis of financial activities and facts of embezzlement of budget funds by the directors of Chernihiv KP in our next journalistic investigation.
