08.08.2024 Kharkiv Utility scams

Searches at Prof. Hirschman City Hospital #14

Sources say that law enforcement officers are conducting a search of the Hirschman City Hospital #14. Such actions by the city police are very encouraging, as we have been reporting corruption at the hospital, for 2 years in a row, including with the assistance of the head of the hospital, Kovtun, the mayor of Terekhov, his deputy Kuzmin, and his right-hand man Meniv. We held rallies and submitted materials to law enforcement, initiated inspections by the Ministry of Health, but in the end, there are results.

According to the information we received, the searches are being conducted within the framework of the criminal proceedings. The reason for entering the data into the URPTI is a statement by civilian patients that they were charged for lens surgeries, although all the costs of this type of surgery are covered by the state budget.

Thus, a controlled pharmacy registered as a sole proprietorship of V. Trinyak has long been operating on the territory of the Hospital to avoid accounting and tax accounting, disguise the discrepancy between the receipt and expenditure of inventory and tax evasion. It was there that doctors often obliged patients to buy medicines on Kovtun’s instructions.

In addition, the said pharmacy, located on the premises of the Hospital, illegally sold medicines, instruments and equipment provided as humanitarian aid from international partner organizations, as well as medicines provided by the state under the program for free provision of citizens in need.

At the same time, persons applying to the Hospital, were deliberately, for mercenary reasons, not provided with a plan according to which treatment would be carried out and a list of medicines provided by the state and free of charge for patients. This would have hindered the process of purchasing medicines from the right pharmacy.

When we analyzed the ProZorro system at that time, we also found that the healthcare institution had managed to conclude 556 contracts worth a little over UAH 83 million. At the same time, a significant number of agreements had quite controversial figures as counterparties. For example, Alvis-M LLC used shadow schemes to generate an artificial tax credit totaling almost UAH 1.5 million. So did BMU BURSPETSSTROYMONTAZH LLC and ALVIS LLC, which together withheld more than UAH 3 million from the state.

In addition, attention should also be paid to some of the “partners” providing services to the Hirschman City Hospital, who are unexpectedly linked to the director, Kovtun. We are talking about VENTA LTD, FOP MARINA SBOIEVA, and FOP Ihor MUKHOPAD, whose victories in public procurement were obvious because they are directly related to the management of the municipal hospital.

In just one year, budget losses due to these legal entities amounted to UAH 10 million due to the formation of an artificial tax credit in the real sector of the economy.

Who is responsible for such abuses, besides the hospital’s top management? The trustee of the Kharkiv mayor is Oleksiy Meniv. He is responsible for procuring medicines and equipment for healthcare facilities, and therefore is well aware of the affairs of each of them.

At our initiative, the investigating judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv (ruling of 11.04.2023 in case No. 757/12461/23-k) ordered the Main Department of the National Police to launch an investigation.

We drew the attention of not only law enforcement and local controllers, but also the Ministry of Health. We even initiated an inspection, after which Minister Viktor Lyashko said: “It is impossible to use the funds from the medical guarantee program so inefficiently (or rather not at all). With more than 100 million on the accounts (with a monthly payroll of no more than 10 million), patients are being given “prescriptions” on scraps of paper and using gurneys that probably date back to the last century. Next week we will have a serious conversation with the mayor. It should not be like this.”

Whether such a conversation with the mayor took place is a rhetorical question. After all, given today’s search, abuses and internal corruption have continued. Mayor Ihor Terekhov is rather more interested in seizing the hospital premises to turn it into another OnClinic.

Earlier, we personally appealed to the mayor, and he assured us that he would overthrow Kovtun’s bribery empire. But apparently, the two men found common interests, so Terekhov did not fulfill this promise. However, he did realize something else.

Last year, members of the Kharkiv City Council unanimously (with the exception of 3 abstentions) approved a decision to reorganize the Hirschman City Clinical Hospital No. 14 and to merge it with the 17th multidisciplinary hospital. The hospital’s property was distributed “proportionally” – part of it was transferred to Terekhov’s OnClinic chain, while the other was left for bidding (we previously speculated that Kovtun’s Ophthalmika would take its place). Kuzmin is in charge of land issues in Kharkiv, so we are tracking his involvement in the case.

More about the mutual responsibility for the destruction of Hospital No. 14

In fact, the medical institution that has been helping Kharkiv residents treat their eyesight for more than 20 years has become a small department with several wards within another institution. So maybe the Ministry of Health should stop the formalities and take real control and supervision measures?

And again, the story of ineffective law enforcement. Although the Kyiv District Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv registered the information in the URPTI 42024222010000037 under Article 364, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, the initiative ended there.

So where should we expect the next searches, perhaps in the Kharkiv City Council – in the office of Mayor Terekhov and his deputy Kuzmin?

Did you witness a crime?

Let us know about it. We will help protect the violated rights!

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