The State Audit Service has launched an investigation into the transfer of the Odessa Water Supply Company to the private company Infox. Not only the fact of the transfer itself was questioned, but also the terms of this agreement, which seem extremely disadvantageous for the city.
“The Odessa City Council leased the entire property complex of the municipal enterprise “Odesvodokanal” for 49 years for practically nothing.
It included real estate, engineering networks and communications for water supply and wastewater disposal, as well as a long-standing client base, current assets, etc.
The lease agreement was signed by the former city mayor and the CEO of the commercial structure, Infox LLC. As a result of adopting such an ambiguous and controversial management decision, the Odesa City Council actually leased to a private company not only a ready-made “business”, but also a strategically important sector of the city’s life support,” the State Audit Service notes.
To understand, the transfer of the water utility to Infox took place during Ruslan Bodelan's time. Then Eduard Hurwitz came to power, who also did not spare Infox - during his time, the city hall decided to carry out a major overhaul of the water supply network, which, logically, Infox should have been involved in.
The State Audit Service writes that to finance the works, the municipal enterprise “Agency for Odessa Development Programs” during 2007-2009 received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development under state guarantees in the amount of over 45 million US dollars. It was at the expense of these funds that the reconstruction of the objects of the integral property complex was carried out. The works were carried out during the periods when the city was already governed by Oleksiy Kostusyev, and were completed under Trukhanov in October 2015. At the same time, Infox LLC continued to receive income from the operation of the water utility.
“That is, the Odesa City Council repaid the loan using budget funds, and the repaired property is actually used free of charge by a private company,” the auditors state.
During the period covered by the audit alone, the city unjustifiably spent over UAH 370 million on loan repayments and suffered losses in the form of underpaid income of almost UAH 338 million. Apparently, this is a project to reconstruct the “Southern Sewerage Basin”, which included the construction of a deep-seated collector, a pressure pipeline, and two sewage pumping stations serving the territory from Arcadia to Chornomorka.
It is noteworthy that the contractor for these works was the company "Rostdorstroy", which is associated with the current mayor, Gennady Trukhanov.
The State Audit Service did not specify what it will do with this knowledge and where it will turn. One can only assume. It is noteworthy that the city council is stepping on the same rake again, and at the request of the Cabinet of Ministers. Last summer, as part of the program to eliminate the consequences of Russian aggression, the government allocated about 340 million UAH to lay a main water supply from Bagrytskoho Street (the Second Christian Cemetery area) to Frantsuzsky Boulevard, through Fontanskaya Road and Akademichna.
That is, the repair of the water supply system at the expense of loans was illegal, and the financing of the laying of a new water supply system does not raise any questions? In general, Infox undertook to develop and modernize the city's water supply networks in every possible way. Why is budget money being spent on this again now, and Infox is making a profit? And even in conditions of war, when every penny counts.
