Izmail was almost bypassed by scandals regarding inappropriate and corrupt tenders. But not because the city government is "correct" and not involved in corruption scandals. On the contrary, the city authorities are trying to hide the inappropriate use of budget funds under the "defense sauce".
Even before the war, the Department of Housing and Communal Services of the Izmail City Council mastered an almost perfect scheme of writing off budget funds for street repairs. Mandatory procedures for procurement of works through ProZorro were not carried out, as UZHKG referred to the urgency of works in connection with failures on the streets.
Indeed, in Izmail there are occasional breakdowns on the streets. This happens, mainly, as a result of leaking water or sewage pipes.
Or through failures in dungeons
UAH 7,1 million was spent in 2020 on the current repair of streets after failures. In 2021, Izmailsk UZHKG carried out 86 purchases and paid UAH 6,1 million for the same repairs. In December 2021 alone, UZHKG signed 26 contracts to repair streets after failures.
Is the situation in Ishmael so catastrophic that the whole of Ishmael is full of sinkholes and utility workers barely have time to patch up the sinkhole, as it happens elsewhere? Of course not.
In 2021, the need for current repairs after failures was documented only in 3 cases - when, based on the results of extraordinary meetings of the Izmail Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergency Situations and the decision of the executive committee of the Izmail City Council, the urgency of current repairs of the sewer collector was determined: 35 Bolgradskyi Shosse, as well as on St. Nakhimova 300-b and along the street Michurina, 25 (in the last two cases, with the restoration of the road surface after failures).
Here is an example of a procurement negotiation procedure in such a case.
Source https://prozorro.gov.ua/tender/UA-2021-09-01-005733-a
Since the beginning of the war, the costs of repairs after failures have decreased sharply. But, when the simplified procurement procedure was launched, the Izmail UZHKG thought of making millions of purchases even without ProZorro, according to some mysterious decision and contracts that are hidden from the public. However, those who are engaged in such concealment did not take into account that the use of budget funds cannot be hidden from Open Budget, for example, how UZHKG transferred almost UAH 5 million to the contractor LLC "SMU-4" on December 56 for "measures and works on territorial defense", and in particular, the current repair of evacuation routes, internal courtyard passages.
Interestingly, no contract from the ProZorro system was specified when making the payment. Maybe because this contract was not registered in ProZorro, or maybe because ProZorro entered information about 2 contracts between UZHKH and LLC "SMU-56" with a confidential subject of purchase - there are no addresses, no estimate, no contracts. Here are these purchases:
- "Current repair of evacuation routes with arrangement of the parking lot of official vehicles in the city of Izmail, Izmail district, Odesa region" UA-2023-04-27-007523-a in the amount of UAH 4. The amount was reduced in November to UAH 919.
- "On-going repair of evacuation routes and internal yard passages for official transport in the city of Izmail, Izmail district, Odesa region" UA-2023-06-14-011354-a in the amount of UAH 6. The amount was reduced in December to UAH 157.
But if these contracts are really secret, then why are these contracts submitted to the treasury for payment, as well as the acts of completed works? And why then do the payments appear in the public domain?
Probably because there are no secrets here. And there is only the intention of the Izmail authorities, referring to ground defense measures, to hide banal contracts for the ongoing repair of yards with the laying of tiles and asphalt.
By the way, the purchase of a copter and other equipment for the military, which was recently carried out by the Izmail City Executive Committee in the amount of UAH 1,5 million, was revealed to the media not secret at all. As not secret for the mass media the structure of Izmail's budget for 2024 was revealed, where 60 million is laid for the Security and Defense Forces Support Program.
But to promise does not mean that it will happen. What these 60 million will be spent on is another question. After all, the Izmail city council makes changes to the budget quite regularly. And these changes are secret, because they are accepted as decisions with limited access, as here:
That is why the Izmail city council can do as much PR as they want on laying down 60 million for the program of assistance to the defense forces, and then transfer them to another direction and keep the decision secret
When up to 100 million is allocated from the budget for various current repairs of streets, alleys, internal courtyard passages, and up to 1,5 million for the purchase of a copter and other needs of the Armed Forces, it becomes clear why searchlights for Ismail air defense fee is announced donated, and not financed from the budget.
Because even the presence of a billion in the form of revenues in the budget will not force Izmail mayor Andrii Abramchenko to strengthen the armed forces. It is better to lay tiles and repave asphalt through the "right companies" that have repeatedly participated in similar tenders.
Unfortunately, until the law enforcement officers pay attention to all these hidden million-dollar tenders, the Izmail authorities will transfer funds for anything, then throw a million on one copter and think that the Armed Forces of Ukraine helped.
