The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has completed a routine inspection of the organization of work on preventing and detecting corruption in the activities of Poltava City Council. Significant shortcomings were found in the activities of both the city council and its executive body in organizing the relevant work.
In accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine On Prevention of Corruption, Poltava City Council established a sector for prevention and detection of corruption of the executive committee of Poltava City Council. The unit has not worked a single day since its establishment, and its functions have been assigned to one of the deputy mayors. As a result, the absence of this authorized unit in the city council has led to the neglect of a significant number of measures aimed at preventing and detecting corruption, including corruption risk management, analysis of counterparties, creation of channels for reporting corruption and corruption-related offenses, and introduction of mechanisms for accepting and reviewing such reports.
The National Agency has identified a number of corruption risks in public procurement in Poltava City Council's activities related to the possibility of obtaining undue advantage by officials of the procurement customer or other persons through:
- Procurement of goods, works or services in the absence of a justified need.
Poltava City Council, on the initiative of members of the executive committee, financed media coverage of information on the activities of educational institutions of Poltava City Council. The educational institutions that later became managers of the respective budget funds did not report such a need.
The procurement of goods, works and services for which there is no objective need creates corruption risks such as obtaining undue advantage through misappropriation, embezzlement or misappropriation of budget funds by prior conspiracy by officials of the customer and supplier and satisfaction of other private interests of officials of Poltava City Council or other persons.
Having received funding, educational institutions were forced to enter into contracts for the production and broadcasting of video materials on television. In total, they signed 35 contracts, all with the IRT-Poltava TV channel.
The way these contracts were implemented raises doubts about their educational value and indicates that they satisfy the interests of the city council leadership.
For example, six videos commissioned by schools feature the acting mayor as a speaker. Another seven stories featured the unveiling of memorial plaques to fallen defenders who had studied in Poltava's educational institutions. The TV channel estimated the production and placement of these materials at UAH 7-14 thousand per video, while “Suspilne. Poltava” published similar materials for free.
- Determination of an unreasonably high price for the procurement item.
In particular, it is a case of obtaining an unlawful benefit by artificially inflating the expected cost of procurement and selecting a predetermined supplier by prior agreement between its representatives and the customer's officials.
At the end of 2022, officials of a healthcare facility in Poltava purchased medical equipment at a price significantly higher than the market price. The sellers were two individual entrepreneurs who had registered shortly before the contract was concluded. Since they had no experience in supplying medical equipment, they acted as intermediaries between the hospital and the manufacturer's official dealer. Previously, the hospital had purchased the equipment directly.
The procurement was financed by the Healthcare Department of the Executive Committee of the Poltava City Council.
Based on these facts, NACP made a reasonable conclusion about the commission of a corruption offense under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - “Misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of another's property through abuse of office”.
Signs of similar risks were also identified in the activities of the Department of Civil Protection and Defense, as well as the departments of housing and communal services and capital construction of the executive committee of the Poltava City Council.
- Entering false information in the acts of work performed or services rendered.
The probability of risk realization remains high in the activities of the Housing and Communal Services Department and the Capital Construction Department of the Executive Committee of Poltava City Council. Illegal actions of officials of these departments are being considered within the framework of criminal proceedings.
According to the pre-trial investigation, officials of one of the departments, in collusion with contractors, entered false information into the acts of completion for the construction of a multifunctional sports and playground near Poltava Secondary School No. 37. As a result, the customer paid for works that were not actually performed, which caused significant losses to the local community.
In addition to these corruption risks, NACP inspection also revealed the systematic provision of financial support to charitable organizations and foundations at the expense of the budget of the Poltava city territorial community in 2021-2024. This contradicts the requirements of budget legislation and creates corruption risks related to satisfying the interests of third parties.
In addition, one of the deputy mayors of Poltava received a negative opinion from the NACP following a special inspection, but the city council did not take the measures required by law. In particular, it ignored the requirement to provide explanations for possible false information in the official's declaration worth more than UAH 400 thousand. NACP conclusion was not included by the responsible person of the city council in the certificate on the results of the special inspection. Instead, the body accepted the official's oral explanations without documentary evidence, recognized the special inspection as successful, and did not decide to terminate the official's powers.
Following NACP inspection, the Main Directorate of the National Police in Poltava Oblast launched two pre-trial investigations into corruption offenses committed by officials of the executive committee of the city council and subordinate enterprises under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property by abuse of office”.
In addition, two orders were issued to the acting mayor with the following requirements
- to conduct an internal investigation against the head of the Education Department of the executive committee, who violated the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” regarding the settlement of a conflict of interest of a subordinate head of an educational institution
- to take measures to eliminate the identified violations of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” in terms of preventing and detecting corruption in the city council.
For reference.
The Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption ” provides for the functioning of certain anti-corruption institutions, mechanisms and tools in public organizations designed to prevent corruption. These include, first and foremost, the activities of the authorized unit for the prevention and detection of corruption, the existence of an effective anti-corruption program, a corruption risk management system and a whistleblowing institution, etc.
The proper functioning of these components of the anti-corruption system and ensuring their maximum efficiency is subject to scheduled and unscheduled inspections of the organization of work on preventing and detecting corruption, conducted by the NACP on the basis of clause 52, part 1, article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” and the procedure approved by the NACP.
