Kim admits overpricing in the billion hryvnia bidding, thanks "Nashi Hroshi"
The head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration, Vitaliy Kim, thanked "Nashi Hroshi" journalists whose investigation showed that the OMA's purchases for the reconstruction of the Mykolaiv water supply were overpriced.
He said this on October 28 at a briefing in Mykolaiv, the recording of which was released by Mykolaiv OMA.
On October 4, "Nashi Hroshi" published an investigation called "A billion embezzled along Kim's vertical", which refers to the Mykolaiv OMA spending a total of UAH 1.05 billion for the reconstruction of the water pipeline with the construction supplies overprinced by two to three times.
On the same day, in response to the media outlet, Vitaliy Kim posted a video on his Telegram channel, telling the viewers "not to believe the bad news."
"We cannot let anyone steal anything here. We account for every kopiyka. Don't believe the bad news," Vitaliy Kim said on October 4.
This investigation has been discussed by "Ukrainian Pravda" journalists Sevgil Musaieva and Mykhailo Tkach, as well as its author, "Nashi Hroshi" editor Yuriy Nikolov, in the program "UP. Chat" on October 13. Then Yuriy Nikolov said that, according to his calculations, the margin amounts to about "300 billion".
"They're building a water pipe in Mykolaiv for a billion hryvnias. These are Kim's people, this popular politician, doing it. They shoved at least 300 billion of plain margin into the bidding. Just inflated the prices plain and simple..." said Yuriy Nikolov.
Later, the City Planning Department of the Mykolaiv Oblast State Administration commented on this investigation, saying that the prices specified in the tender were completely reasonable, reported "Nikvesti".
However, on October 28, the Mykolayiv OMA invited journalists to a briefing where Vitaliy Kim thanked "Nashi Hroshi" for their analysis of purchases related to the waterworks reconstruction. He stated that he had "figured out the issue" and confirmed that the stated prices had indeed been too high.
"I figured out the issue. We analyzed the market prices. What I want to note: this is a two-year project, there are no advance payments, paying earlier is not an option, only by the papers on the works completed. We compared, say, a pipe with insulation and without... But I sincerely thank the journalists, because we found that the items listed by the contractor were overpriced not only for this year, but also for the next. This is 30% that will not be paid, because the payment and procurement will take place this year. That is, I sincerely thank you, we did identify this issue," said Vitaly Kim.
As of October 30, there are no additional agreements to reduce prices in the relevant purchases listed on "Prozorro".
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