A large-scale corruption scheme to embezzle budget funds, organized at the highest level of the city's leadership, has been exposed in Kyiv. At the center of the scam are tenders for major repairs of medical institutions, which were carried out through controlled companies. The scheme involved the mayor himself, Vitaliy Klitschko, the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Mykola Povoroznyk, and the director of the Department of Health, Valentina Ginzburg.
A key role in the implementation of the scheme is played by the heads of municipal hospitals and shell private companies, which regularly win tenders registered under them. One of the largest beneficiaries is LLC "Absolut-Klimat" (EDRPOU 35837877), which regularly receives contracts for work in medical institutions in the capital.
In particular, this company carried out (or was supposed to carry out) repairs in such institutions as:
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KNP "Kyiv City Clinical Hospital of Emergency Medical Care",
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KNP "Kyiv City Center of Nephrology and Dialysis",
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KNP "Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine of Kyiv",
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KNP "City Center for Reproductive and Perinatal Care".
Price gouging is a key element of the scheme
In the design and estimate documentation, the prices for construction materials are systematically overstated by tens of percent. For example:
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Ceresit CN-178 — listed at 29.40–34.80 UAH/kg, with a market price of 22.80–25.20 UAH;
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Cable VVGngd 3x2.5 mm — 84 UAH/m instead of the real 37.50–44.79 UAH;
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Radiators — 7,925 UAH per piece instead of the market price of 2,900–3,000 UAH.
Tenders “for your own”
The bidding system is set up in such a way that any competition is impossible. The tender documentation stipulates requirements that are suitable only for selected firms:
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up to 15 narrowly specialized specialists at the same time,
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having five ISO certificates at once,
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proven experience in medical institutions of class CC2 or CC3.
This model cuts off any external applicants, except for firms that are approved “from above.”.
All renovation projects are carried out under centralized control — through personally loyal hospital managers. All purchases are made through already familiar contractors. Other companies are rejected — formally, citing “inconsistency of documentation.”.
In fact, we are talking about a systemic model of cutting, which has been operating in the medical sector of the capital for several years.
This scheme is just one of the links in the general mechanism for enriching people close to the Kyiv City State Administration, which operates under the guise of the city's medical needs. The focus is on millions from the budget, sick patients, and the silence of law enforcement officers.
