Funds vanish into a black hole: a controversial construction project in the Kyiv region has consumed tens of millions, yet no one is held accountable.

While underground schools are being rapidly constructed in the frontline regions of Ukraine amid the ongoing war, the village of Chabany, located in the suburbs of Kyiv, has been unable to establish an educational institution for over two decades. A building that was ready has yet to be completed, despite multiple allocations of funds from various budget levels. Currently, the project is involved in yet another criminal case.

"Telegraph" investigated why this actively growing settlement still lacks its own school.

The school construction was initially marred by scandals

Chabany is nearly on the outskirts of Kyiv, where numerous high-rise residential complexes have emerged in recent years, resulting in an increase in both adult and child populations. However, the village has never had its own school, forcing children to travel to neighboring villages or even the capital for their education. Attempts to build a school have been made since the late 1990s, but they cannot be deemed successful, as the only thing accomplished was the establishment of a foundation.

- Four hectares were allocated for the school construction from the land of the state enterprise "Experimental Farm "Chabany" of the National Agricultural Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, — recalled the background by Nadezhda Bunis, who was previously a deputy of the Chabany village council. — Later, the area was reduced to 3.6 hectares, and subsequently to 3.2 hectares – this happened when Anatoliy Zahorulko was the village head (he held this position from 2010 to 2015). I asked him back then where the remaining part went and where he planned to build the school stadium. Subsequently, a major scandal arose regarding access to the educational institution, which began to be expanded at the expense of private plots. As a result, the road was finally arranged, fencing was installed, security was hired, etc.

The interviewee adds that the project for the facility was revised and supplemented several times. Meanwhile, the "stakes" were constantly increasing.

– It seems that in 2013, the State Financial Service conducted an audit of the expenditure of funds for construction, – Nadezhda continued. – At that time, it was established that plates had been purchased that were already in use, and moreover, the foundation had been standing under the open sky for many years, overgrown with trees. Later, when Alexander Kirizliev became the village head of Chabany (this happened in 2015), he planned to include a swimming pool in the school. The project documentation was revised again, and the costs increased.

According to the Prozzoro procurement website, in 2016, the Chabany village council announced a tender for the construction of a new school for 108.9 million hryvnias. Unexpectedly, during the bidding, the price dropped to 85 million hryvnias, which, according to information from the publication "Our Money", was inflated. At that time, according to calculations from the Ministry of Regional Development, the cost of building a school for 720 students should have been around 50.3 million hryvnias.

However, the authorities signed an agreement with the tender winner – LLC "Construction Country "Vakan" with a charter capital of 1000 hryvnias (over recent years, according to OpenDataBot, it has increased to 300 thousand hryvnias – Ed.), which began work, but it did not last long. This was facilitated by the public organization "Center for Combating Corruption," which appealed the tender, backed by findings from the State Audit Office. The document confirmed that the proposal from "Vakan" did not meet the tender documentation requirements. All the gathered data was presented by activists in a petition to law enforcement, which became the basis for opening a criminal case on February 23, 2017, under part 1 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("abuse of power or office").

While the investigation was still ongoing, the authorities announced… yet another tender. This time for 172.1 million hryvnias . Again, two participants in the tender started with lower prices, and the winner was LLC "Construction Company "Forum," which committed to build the school for 15 million hryvnias less, that is, for 157.1 million hryvnias. Over the following years, the company completed a significant amount of work, and the future school received not only walls but also a roof, windows, and doors were installed, and the facade was painted. "Forum" was to receive 91.5 million hryvnias for its work (at least, this amount is stated in the report on the execution of the procurement contract dated January 13, 2022).

Periodically, the construction of the educational institution was mentioned in the news and used by various officials for publicity. For example, in 2019, a delegation from the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn district state administration and council visited Chabany, who joined the financing, along with the Kyiv Regional State Administration. They "were pleasantly surprised by the volume and quality of work" and expressed hope that the school would welcome students this year.

On October 21, 2020, the Chabany village head presented a touching video about how the long-awaited school construction was completed and that students would soon be invited. In the footage, the educational institution did indeed look ready for commissioning from the outside, but it never opened that year or later.

Contractors changed, but methods did not

For the next year and a half, mentions of the school disappeared from the public space. "Sticking" – and the announcement on February 14, 2022 of a new, already third tender for the construction of the school in Chabany. This time for 155.6 million hryvnias. That is, for almost the same amount as five years ago. The local authorities clearly planned to carry out this new round of construction not with local budget funds, as reported by the press service of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, the project was included in the "Big Construction" program. However, both this and the conduct of the tenders were put on hold due to the full-scale invasion.

Later, specifically in the fall of 2022, the State Audit Office conducted an audit of the procurement of construction services carried out by the Chabany village council from LLC "Forum." The audit covered a total of 2.4 million hryvnias from the special fund of the state budget and 35.3 million hryvnias from the special fund of the local budget. As noted in the determination of the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn court: "As a result of the audit, it was established that, in violation of legislative requirements, the cost and volume of repair and construction work were inflated, which in turn led to losses for the local budget of Chabany village council in the total amount of 12,981,701 hryvnias" . The analysis of the received data indicates that officials of the Chabany village council and officials of LLC "Construction Company "FORUM" violated the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement" and intentionally inflated the cost and volume of the completed repair and construction work for personal enrichment .

At the same time, the Fastiv District Police Department began an investigation in early 2023 into the transactions related to the construction of the school in Chabany. This time under parts 1 and 3 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("embezzlement or misappropriation of another's property entrusted to a person or under their management, committed repeatedly or by prior agreement by a group of persons"). This case was combined with another one, initiated based on the results of the audit. At that time, one of the defendants – village head Aleksandr Kirizliev – was already outside the country, having fled to Moscow at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

In the fall of 2023, residents of Chabany posted a petition on the Chabany village council's website requesting funds for the completion of the school in the next year. In response, officials stated that the school construction project needs adjustments (again?!) and an examination. "After passing these mandatory stages of project implementation, the issue of allocating funds will be considered as a priority, with the involvement of all possible financing options. We emphasize that we understand the concerns of parents of children in the community and strive to provide quality educational services," the message stated.

However, determining whether the planned steps were taken, and the current state of the building, as well as how much money has been spent on it and how much more is needed to put it into operation