Corruption has always been a topic of discussion and protest in Ukraine, but when it comes to charity, public anger reaches its peak. Especially when it comes to children’s health. The restoration of “Okhmatdyt”, one of the most important children’s hospitals, became a high-profile example of how even the most noble initiatives can be discredited by corruption schemes. Who is to blame for the fact that millions of hryvnias collected from caring Ukrainians are at risk due to abuse and fraud?
Oleksiy Holobutsky, deputy director of the Situation Modeling Agency, who since 2003 has been engaged in research into the domestic political situation in the country and the state of the economic sector, asks why the Ministry of Health and Ukrainian society, having the same documents of the winner of the tender for the restoration of “Okhmatdyt”, reached different conclusions?
“The destroyed “Okhmatdit”, for the restoration of which hundreds of millions of donations were collected, became the center of an incredible scandal – even on this project they tried to steal money. The tender was won by the company “BUD-TECHNOLOGY” LLC, with a charter capital of UAH 5,000 and without its own vehicles and property. Founder and the owner, Vasyl Kobyz, left Ukraine immediately after winning the tender.Mark Marchenko, whose previous companies have already appeared in corruption scandals, is also involved in the company.
The offer of “BUD-TECHNOLOGY” LLC was the third most expensive among 14 participants in the competition, but significantly higher than a dozen others who offered to perform the work cheaper. The Ministry of Health chose an expensive unknown company, ignoring the obvious problems with its financial and professional capacity.
Minister Lyashko wrote publicly that they “recommended to choose the winner” of the expensive nickname. Allegedly “on the basis of data from open sources and an analysis of the documents provided” – the same data and documents where a bunch of Ukrainians determined the lack of authorized capital, and the lack of experience, and the lack of equipment, and the application for renting equipment, which is missing above the 2nd floor, and the absence of relevant areas of activity in the registered Charter… The Ministry and society somehow read the same numbers and data in completely different ways.
And no one even scratched the surface of the consequences of such an audacious discrediting of (another) human charity. And regarding the reaction of everyone who directly or through their employer (and there are hundreds of such large companies and, accordingly, tens and hundreds of thousands of employees) invested their own money in the restoration of the children’s hospital. And then public figures have only to convince the audience that Lynch trials are not an option…
I think it’s time to introduce an officially unambiguous instruction: external control (I would like to add “with the right to shoot freely”, but this is already a fantasy) by representatives of the allies at least similar tenders for human money. Unfortunately, Ukrainians themselves are incapable of not stealing even in such sensitive areas.”, – believes Golobutskyi.
The restoration of “Okhmatdyt” can become an example of how Ukrainians can achieve justice and transparency against the background of scandals and corruption. However, for this, it is necessary to join forces, actively involve the public in monitoring the expenditure of funds and demand a report from the authorities. Only in this way will it be possible to restore trust in charity projects and ensure a future for those who need it.
