During the full-scale war in the Mykolaiv region, a group of contractors was formed who received state contracts worth over 600 million hryvnias. Their common feature is their connections with the deputy of the regional council and head of the Voznesensk district administration, Oleksandr Kukuruza. It is the companies from his entourage that win tenders for the construction of shelters and the repair of social facilities, often without any competition.
A journalistic investigation showed that LLC "Persha Ukrainska Budyivna", owned by a relative of Kukuruza, received contracts worth 230 million hryvnias. At the same time, the prices for materials — in particular, reinforcement and concrete — were inflated several times, which led to overpayments of more than 15 million hryvnias.
Another associate of the official, MP and party member Volodymyr Podolyan, created several companies at once that received state contracts worth over 124 million hryvnias. And the company "Hospoda-2" and other enterprises connected to Kukuruza's business environment "mastered" hundreds of millions, building shelters and renovating hospitals.
The Antimonopoly Committee has already recorded collusion between these structures, imposing fines for anti-competitive actions. But despite this, companies continue to win tenders - thanks to formal certificates of "work experience" and lightning-fast participation in procedures where there is no actual competition.
The journalists also found out that some of the equipment used by the contractors is rented from companies in which Kukuruza himself owns a controlling stake. In addition, among the partners of these companies is a businessman with a Russian passport.
In a media comment, Oleksandr Kukuruza admitted that the owners of the companies are his relatives and friends, but he does not see a conflict of interest in this. According to him, he only “gave advice” to businessmen and has no formal relationship with the management of any of the companies.
Thus, the “recovery” of the Mykolaiv region with the participation of companies close to Kukuruza is turning into a scheme for the systematic appropriation of budget funds - through inflated estimates, collusion in tenders, and imitation of competition.
