300 Million UAH Almost Stolen for the Renovation of Luhansk Roads

The cost for renovating Luhansk roads was lowered by 294 million UAH after an appeal was received at the Prosecutor General’s Office from the Anti-Corruption Action Center.

Now, the State Budget will allocate 93 million UAH for the renovation instead of the originally promised 387 million UAH because the majority of the roads which were ostensibly going to be repaired are located in the occupied territories of Luhansk Oblast.

This was discovered by journalists at Nashi Hroshi after an analysis of the tender documentation. So, it turns out that almost 75% of the roads which were going to be repaired with state funds are located in the temporarily occupied territories in Luhansk Oblast.

The Anti-Corruption Action Center sent an appeal regarding the tender to the Prosecutor General’s Office, and as a result, the amount allocated for the road renovation was decreased by 75%.

“It’s an obvious waste of our money,” claims Vitaliy Shabunin, Head of the Board of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. “If journalists had not noticed the problem with the tenders, they would have robbed us of almost 300 million UAH. The price reduction of the agreement by 75% allows us to understand how much they steal from road repairs today. That is why the Head of the Road Service Department of Luhansk Oblast, who signed the documents for the renovation of roads in uncontrolled Ukrainian territory, should sit in jail. If this does not happen, it will be a signal that the prosecutors are being influenced through corruption.

It is important to remember that the Road Service Department in Luhansk Oblast concluded an agreement with Dorbudtekhnolohiya, Ltd. on February 16, 2015 for the maintenance of roads in Luhansk Oblast for a sum of 387.30 million UAH. It is interesting that. in accordance with the agreement, the length of the roads after the occupation increased as well as the financial sum for their maintenance.

The Head of the Road Service Department in Luhansk Oblast is Anatoliy Vladyko, who along with his business partners, Lusine Tsoholakyan and Tihran Kocharyan,  is a co-founder of Dorbudtekhnolohiya, which won the contract in the tender process. Also, he is a director of another company, Dorbudvyrobnytstvo.

Criminal proceedings have been opened under Chapter 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Abuse of Power or Position, Resulting in Serious Consequences).