Sadovyi in the crosshairs of the State Audit Service: a large-scale audit of Lviv City Hall has begun

After a year of persistent appeals from civic activists, the State Audit Service of Ukraine has finally started auditing the financial and economic activities of the Lviv City Council. The audit was initiated by Andriy Petryshyn, head of the People’s Anti-Corruption Bureau and founder of the Lviv Audit project.

Back in October 2023, Petryshyn sent an official appeal to the State Audit Service with a request to conduct a comprehensive audit of the activities of the city council and its executive bodies for the period 2007-2023. The appeal also contained a proposal to include representatives of the public in the audit commission to ensure transparency of the process. Following a lengthy correspondence, the State Audit Service issued an order No. 002000-18/13294-2024 dated 10/23/2024. The Northern Office of the Service is currently auditing the activities of the City Council’s Economic Development Department for the period from early 2021 to mid-2024.

Response of the State Audit Service

However, Andriy Petryshyn is concerned about the limited nature of the inspection: “We insisted on a comprehensive inspection of the entire city council and its departments, especially those with the highest corruption risks – the Department of Housing and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, and Urban Mobility. In addition, it is important to check the activities for the entire period since 2007, including the time of Yanukovych’s rule, when, according to Petryshyn, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi had a special relationship with the then government. The civic activist also disagreed with the State Audit Service’s refusal to allow members of the public to participate in the audit. “Lviv City Council is a public body that manages taxpayers’ money. The public has the right to know how these funds are used,” emphasizes Petryshyn. The People’s Anti-Corruption Bureau promises to keep the situation under control and regularly inform the public about the progress of the audit.

Reference:

Andriy Petryshyn is a well-known Lviv lawyer and human rights activist. Since 2018, the People’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, an NGO he heads, has been protecting the rights of Lviv residents, particularly in the areas of ecology and land use. At the end of 2023, the organization launched the Lviv Audit project aimed at identifying violations in the city council.