The State Audit Service has started an investigation into the transfer of Odesa Waterworks to the private company Infox. Not only the fact of the transfer itself, but also the terms of this agreement, which seem extremely unfavorable for the city, were called into question.
"The Odesa City Council leased the entire property complex of the Odesvodokanal utility company for 49 years for practically nothing."
It includes real estate, engineering networks and communications of water supply and drainage, as well as a long-term client base, current assets, etc.
The lease agreement was signed by the former mayor and the general director of the commercial structure - Infox LLC. As a result of the adoption of such an ambiguous and contradictory management decision, the Odesa City Council actually leased not only a ready-made "business" to a private company, but also a strategically important sector of the city's livelihood," the State Audit Service said in a statement.
To clarify, the transfer of the water channel to "Infoks" took place during the reign of Ruslan Bodelan. Then Eduard Hurwitz came to power, who also did not deprive Infox - during his time, the city hall decided to carry out a major repair of the water supply network, which, according to the logic of things, should have been done by the Infox company.
The State Audit Service writes that in 2007-2009, the utility company "Odesa Development Programs Agency" received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development under state guarantees in the amount of more than 45 million US dollars to finance the works. 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 managed by Oleksiy Kostusev, and were completed under Trukhanov in October 2015. At the same time, "Infox" LLC continued to receive income from the operation of the waterworks.
"That is, the Odesa City Council paid off the loan at the expense of budget funds, and the repaired property is actually being used by a private company free of charge," the auditors state.
Only during the period covered by the audit, the city unjustifiably spent more than UAH 370 million to repay the loan and suffered losses in the form of under-received revenues of almost UAH 338 million. Obviously, we are talking about the reconstruction project of the "Southern Sewerage Basin", which included the construction of a deep-lying collector, a pressure pipeline, and two sewage pumping stations serving the territory from Arcadia to Chornomorka.
It is noteworthy that the contractor of these works was the company "Rostdorstroy", which is associated with the current mayor of the city, Gennady Trukhanov.
The State Audit Service did not specify what it will do with this knowledge and where it will turn. It remains only to assume. It is noteworthy that the city council steps 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 hryvnias to lay a main water pipeline from Bagrytskyi Street (the area of the Second Christian Cemetery) to French Boulevard, through Fontanska Road and Akademichna.
That is, the repair of the water supply at the expense of loans was illegal, and the financing of the laying of a new water supply 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, while Infox gets the profit? And even in wartime, when every penny counts.
