“Svoboda” of communal millions for Mayor Nadal

“Svoboda” of communal millions for Mayor Nadal

The Maidan made an impression not only on the “regionals.” In the lovely city of Ternopil the usual skimming of 25 millions of hryvnias suddenly “broke down” under Deputy Mayor Serhiy Nadal.

On the days when hundreds of Ternopil residents were on the barricades in Kyiv, the fate of 25 million UAH allocated by the mayor’s office under Serhiy Nadal’s leadership for street cleaning in the regional center this year was being decided in their city.

Whether some impulses reached them from the capital or conscience stirred, but on 18 February this tender was canceled. The housing and utilities department decided that both candidates for the win – TOV “Ternopil Komunal Servis” and the municipal enterprise “Ternopil City Road Maintenance Division” (MShED) – had not submitted all the necessary documents. Consequently the bidding must be held again. Maybe when it is held, it will become clear why this time the scheme didn’t work. And as for the fact that this was a banal skimming scheme, NashI Groshi have no doubts.

Judging by the published protocol, if everything had gone by the usual script, “Ternopil Komunal Servis” would have won, since its offer was the cheapest.

That would have been the firm’s second consecutive victory. In 2013 it received its first contract for Ternopil roads worth 16,00 million UAH. It was such a fast debut that, according to local journalists, the city was cleaned with unregistered cars without license plates.

A convenient competitor for the newcomer was the municipal MShED, headed by regional council deputy from VO Svoboda Andriy Kozak. The municipals lost a year ago and were ready to lose now to the private firm. Especially since part of the work was ultimately carried out by those municipals, whom the tender winner took on as a subcontractor.

Although things are not so rosy there. As the media write, the municipals were owed about a million for work performed and now MShED faces bankruptcy. Workers have already been told that some of them will be left without jobs and were therefore advised to move to the same “Ternopil Komunal Servis.”

At the official level the first to spot the skimming scheme was the Antimonopoly Committee, which recognized that last year’s tender had been staged: certificates about the availability of workers for both enterprises were prepared by the same person, who works at TOV “Ternopil Komunal Servis” and KP “MShED” as an engineer for personnel training and HR recordkeeping. Consequently TOV “Ternopil Komunal Servis” was fined 50 thousand UAH.

But as we can see from the almost completed new skimming attempt, AMCU’s sanctions did not impress the schemers. Because they successfully appealed them in another body: on 5 December 2013 the Lviv Court of Appeal annulled the Antimonopoly Committee’s decision, since it did not see signs of collusion among the participants.

So we will try to draw the attention of completely different bodies to these matters.

The patron of “Ternopil Komunal Servis” is named as Ternopil Deputy Mayor Vladyslav Stemkovskyi. It’s worth noting that the word “Ternopil” in the company’s name and Stemkovskyi’s position only misleads.

Stemkovskyi came to the Ternopil mayor’s office in 2011, bringing with him extensive experience working in the neighboring Volyn region as deputy mayor of Lutsk and head of the city’s housing and utilities department.

The official owner of “Ternopil Komunal Servis” is Iryna Shvets from Lutsk. Until the end of 2012 she was led by Ihor Shvets, who was then replaced by Yuriy Pylypchuk.

In recent years contracts from the Lutsk housing and utilities department, which Stemkovskyi headed, were received by PP “Rufusiv,” registered to Zinaida Shvets.

The director of “Rufusiv” is Ihor Kushnir, who holds a similar position at TOV “Zakhidbud F Plyus Sh,” where the co-owners are the aforementioned Ihor Shvets, German citizen Vollert Ottfried Franz, and Volodymyr Bondar, former head of the Volyn regional state administration (2005-2007), former MP and adviser to President Viktor Yushchenko.

Stemkovskyi in 2010-2011 was the head of the Center for Municipal Reforms “Lutsk-1432,” co-founded by that same Bondar.

Ihor Shvets is also a co-owner of PP “Poseidon Aqua” with Yevheniya Korchuk. In the disclosure protocols of the competitive proposals “Ternopilkomunalservis” it is indicated that the company’s deputy director is Korchuk M.I. The aforementioned Yevheniya Korchuk was at one time registered at the same address as Ivan Korchuk, former head of the housing and utilities department of the Volyn regional state administration, current deputy of Lutsk city council, and director of KP “Lutskvodokanal” since 2007 to the present.

Ivan Korchuk is not unfamiliar to Vladyslav Stemkovskyi, as they served simultaneously as deputy mayors of Lutsk.

So with the arrival of the Lutsk native Stemkovskyi in Ternopil, a firm with a Ternopil name but Lutsk roots settled on the local roads. It’s not surprising that after this unhealthy rumors began to circulate in the “lovely city.” Although they might not have started if Ternopil Mayor Serhiy Nadal of Svoboda had used even a drop of his 16-years’ experience working in tax authorities to prevent such schemes.

Iryna Saliy, NashI Groshi