"They "laundered" UAH 10 million, now they complain that they have no money to pay for electricity: why Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal's debts are growing

Against the backdrop of the criminal proceedings on "laundering" of UAH 10 million, the Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal utility company, headed by the son of an ally of former Prime Minister Groysman, complains that it lacks funds to pay for electricity, UNN reports.

The debts of Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal for electricity exceeded UAH 21 million. The utility company was forced to admit this. The official report of the utility says that as of January 2023, the debt for electricity amounted to UAH 17 million 431 thousand. And in December last year, this amount was already UAH 21 million 314 thousand.

This means that over the year, the debt for electricity increased by more than four million hryvnias.  

On its Facebook page, Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal also complains that the daily cost of electricity and water treatment chemicals is about 1.2 million hryvnias, and a meter of polyethylene water pipe costs 45,000 hryvnias.

Also, judging by the messages on the same page, emergency water leaks in Vinnytsia occur quite regularly. So, some residents of Vinnytsia are forced to stay without water almost every day.

All this raises the question of the professional qualities of the management of the utility company, which is only able to complain, not make efforts to remedy the situation.

Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal has been headed by Dmytro Kistion, son of the first deputy chairman of the Vinnytsia Regional Council, since 2022 .

By the way, Kistion Sr. used to run this utility company himself, and his son has been working there since 2013.

The complaints of Dmytro Kistion and his subordinates that they do not have enough money to cover the most necessary expenses look especially cynical against the background of the multimillion-dollar embezzlement of Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal.

In December last year, law enforcement completed an investigation into the former head of Vinnytsiaoblvvodokanal for embezzling 10 million budget funds for sewerage repairs.

The essence of the case is that in 2018, the utility company purchased equipment from a shell company to perform the relevant work at inflated prices.

Then these 10 million were laundered and ended up in the pockets of all those involved in the fraud.

Law enforcement officials, of course, did not disclose the name of the key person involved in the case, but at the time, the Vinnytsia Regional Water Utility was headed by Oleksandr Chernyatynskyi.

Chernyatynsky and the head of the capital construction department of the Vinnytsia regional water utility, Serhiy Hryhoruk, who is also involved in the case, are suspected of embezzlement of other people's property on a particularly large scale, by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, through abuse of office. 

At the time, Dmytro Kistion was Cherniatynsky's deputy.

Another episode concerns the fact that in August 2018, the Investigation Department of the Main Department of the National Police of Ukraine in Vinnytsia Oblast initiated criminal proceedings . The defendants in the case were officials of Mix Light and Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal.

According to the court ruling, the two companies entered into a contract for the reconstruction of a section of the pressure sewer collector worth more than UAH 1.3 million. However, according to the forged documents, the work was not performed and the funds were misappropriated.

One of the founders of Mix Light was Dmytro Kistion. However, during the investigation it became known that he had withdrawn from the company's founders two months before the criminal proceedings were launched.

Against this background, it is not surprising why Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal's debts are growing.

READ ALSO: Old scheme under a new sign: how firms involved in criminal cases in Vinnytsia region continue to use budget funds