State enterprise in Khmelnytsky provides documents to journalist after a complaint to the Commissioner

After a complaint to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, the state-owned enterprise "Khmelnytsky Oblast Single Procuring Entity Service" provided ZHAR.INFO with documents on the procurements for reconstructing apartment buildings in the Vysokopillya community (Kherson oblast).

The ZHAR.INFO team reported this to the IMI.

Earlier, the enterprise refused to provide journalists with the information, saying that the access to it was restricted due to a set of requirements.

In November 2023, the journalists pointed out 26 procurement deals related to reconstruction in Kherson oblast, which is being handled by the Khmelnytsky Oblast Military Administration as part of the presidential initiative "Shoulder to shoulder". Information about these deals in the electronic procurement system was shared by the manager, SE "Khmelnytsky Oblast Single Procuring Entity Service", and it was the bare minimum: the standard name and serial number, the name of the contractor and the expected cost. Upon receiving the refusal, the journalists decided to contest it immediately.

After the Commissioner's response, the enterprise said that the journalists could view the requested documents at their office and has already done so on December 26, 2023.

The enterprise reported this in a letter to the office of the VRU Human Rights Commissioner's regional representative in Khmelnytsky.

"In a letter dated 12.26.2023, the company informed the Commissioner's Secretariat that on 12.26.2023 you were granted access to the documents you requested at the company's office by processing them in a place specially designated by the company for requesters to work with documents, as evidenced by your label 'on reading the documents' on a copy of the information request dated 06.12.2023, which was provided by the Enterprise as confirmation. Thus, your right to access the requested information has been restored," says the official response received by the editors, signed by the Commissioner's regional representative in the Khmelnytsky oblast, Oksana Kizayeva.

The editors confirmed that they have viewed the requested documents and are preparing a material on the Khmelnytsky oblast's role in the reconstruction of the Kherson oblast.