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A few weeks ago, law enforcement officers served a notice of suspicion to another official from the team of Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi. It is Iryna Tykholiz, the head of the Ratusha Service Municipal Company, who, given the specifics of this enterprise, carried out her official activities at the same address as the mayor: 1 Rynok Square. Now she is charged with abuse of office that caused grave consequences (Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), Leopolis.news journalists write.
Damages to the Lviv City Council amounted to almost 565 thousand UAH. UAH
On this criminal case Leopolis.news drew attention to this criminal case in a recent publication based on the analysis of the court register. We are talking about criminal proceedings No. 42023142040000014 of 21.02.2023 under Part 1 of Art. 367, Part 2 of Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which involves officials of the Lviv municipal enterprise Ratusha-Service and Sahara LLC and the pre-trial investigation conducted by investigators of the Lviv District Police Department No. 1 of the Main Department of the National Police in Lviv Oblast.
As reported, this case concerns the organization by officials of Ratusha-Service Municipal Company, in prior conspiracy with officials of Sahara LLC, of an illegal mechanism for misappropriating budget funds allocated for the purchase of microclimate systems in the Lviv City Council and their commissioning. It was also reported that only one person was suspected in this proceeding – the director of Sahara LLC, which, as the investigation established, significantly overestimated the cost of repair and construction works.
At the same time, the ruling of the Halych District Court of 03.03.2025 reveals another criminal proceeding concerning the same misappropriation of budget funds allocated for ensuring the microclimate in the premises of the city council: under № 12024141360002349 of 01.08.2024, part. 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by the Serious Crimes Investigation Department of the Investigation Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Lviv Oblast. As of now, as evidenced by the above-mentioned decision, certain results have already been achieved: there is a suspect in the case, and the court has decided to impose a preventive measure in the form of a personal commitment on him.
The suspect status, as follows from the ruling, is the acting director of the Lviv municipal enterprise Ratusha-Service, who held this position in accordance with the order of the Department of Administrative Services of the Lviv City Council No. 50k of 12.03.2019. Leopolis.news found out that this is an order according to which the acting director of the Ratusha-Service Municipal Enterprise was assigned to Iryna Tikholiz, an economist at the enterprise, starting March 12, 2012.
Now to the main point: the conclusions of the pre-trial investigation
During the investigation, it was established that on February 17, 2020, a contract for the performance of works was concluded between Municipal Company Ratusha-Service, represented by the acting director, and Sahara Limited Liability Company, under which the contractor undertakes to perform the works within the period specified in the contract based on the results of the tender: “Services for the purchase and commissioning of an integrated microclimate system for part of the premises on the 5th floor, Lviv, 1 Rynok Square”. The contract price amounted to UAH 2,471,550.
It was also established that the acting director of Ratusha-Service, abusing her official position to obtain an undue advantage for a legal entity, namely: Sahara LLC, intentionally violated the requirements of regulatory legal acts: did not receive written permission from the central executive body implementing the state policy in the field of cultural heritage protection on the basis of scientific and project documentation agreed with it; did not ensure the development of design and estimate documentation; did not ensure the implementation of author’s and technical supervision throughout the entire period of work on the site.
After that, using her official position contrary to the interests of the service, acting as the acting director of Ratusha-Service and on behalf of the said enterprise, at a time and date not established by the pre-trial investigation, but no later than December 30, 2020, she signed documents containing false information about the volume and cost of construction work actually performed by Sahara LLC (the total cost of the work was overstated by UAH 564,917.39).
On the basis of these documents, namely: Act No. 1 of acceptance of completed construction works for December 2020, sample form No. KB-2v dated 30.12.2020 and certificate of cost of completed construction works and expenses* for the same period dated 15.12.2020, sample form No. KB-3, officials of Ratusha Service transferred funds from the local budget to Sahara LLC in the total amount of UAH 2,471,550, including UAH 564,917.39 for actually overstated volumes and expenses. As a result, property damage (losses) was caused to the Lviv city territorial community in the above amount, represented by the Lviv City Council.
The court ruling also states that the person involved in the pre-trial investigation is suspected of committing a criminal offense under part. 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was notified on February 27, 2025. It is also known that a measure of restraint in the form of a personal obligation was imposed on the suspect, a native of Rozvadiv village, Mykolaiv district, who has no previous convictions, for a period until 25.04.2025.
A few interesting facts about other procurements by Ratusha-Service
According to available information, Ratusha-Service, which is subordinated to the administrative and economic department of Lviv City Council, which acts both as the customer of services and the bidder, was established in 1998. According to its charter, the main activities of the enterprise include, in particular, economic, technical and transport support of the Lviv City Council and its executive bodies; maintenance in proper condition, cleaning of premises and carrying out (organizing) works related to the current repair of buildings of the City Council and its executive bodies; activities on protection and use of historical monuments, buildings and other cultural monuments.
The downside of such “proximity” to the city council and its executive bodies is a series of scandalous procurements organized and conducted by Ratusha-Service with violations and abuses virtually “under the nose” of the Lviv mayor.
It should be noted that a number of publications have appeared in recent years about the “strange” procurement of this municipal enterprise. These include materials about the procurement of medical masks by Ratusha-Service with a significant overpayment, about violations (detected by the Western Office of the State Audit Service) in the procurement of repair services for the Lviv City Council for the arrangement of showers worth more than UAH 750 thousand, about the “cutting” of almost UAH 900 thousand for the transportation of city council employees (in connection with this topic, it is also worth mentioning the criminal proceedings No. 42023142040000082 of 21.06.2023 under Part 1 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which was under investigation by the Investigation Department of the Lviv District Police Department No. 1 and concerned possible offenses by officials of the Municipal Company “Ratusha-Service” in the procurement of transportation services for business trips (taxi services) totaling approximately UAH 5 million, which could have led to the embezzlement of funds from the city budget).
The latter include publications about unjustified overpayment of funds by Ratusha-Service (by more than UAH 1.5 million) when purchasing anti-drone systems from Piranha Tech LLC.
The point is that, as a result of public bidding, Ratusha-Service, which operated under the Program of Measures to Prepare the Lviv City Territorial Community for National Resistance for 2022-2024, and Piranha Tech LLC signed three contracts in 2023 for the supply of electronic warfare systems and electronic protection equipment to support military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (signed by the same Iryna Tykholiz on the buyer’s side). During the martial law, the supply of the systems was supposed to be VAT-free. Nevertheless, when entering into the supply agreements and during their execution, the parties unlawfully agreed on the price of the goods, including the amount of VAT. As a result, the city budget lost over UAH 1.5 million.
In order to recover these funds, the Halych District Prosecutor’s Office of Lviv filed lawsuits with the Economic Court of Lviv Oblast in the interests of the state represented by the Lviv City Council against Piranha Tech LLC. Two of them have now been fully satisfied by the court.
Instead of an epilogue
It is quite noteworthy and obviously not a coincidence that the dubious (scandalous) procurement of Ratusha-Service was carried out during the period when Iryna Tykholiz was the head of this municipal enterprise.
Given, in particular, that Tikholiz was employed by the Lviv City Council (as a human resources inspector) back in March 2006, the same period when Andriy Sadovyi was elected mayor of Lviv. That is, she had been working in Sadovyi’s team, which was familiar with shady schemes, for almost 20 years. As Leopolis.news found out Leopolis.newsshe has held the position of an accountant at Ratusha-Service since 2008 and the position of an economist since 2017.
Later, when Iryna Tykholiz was appointed acting director of the Ratusha-Service, the carve-up of property and funds from the budget of the Lviv territorial community became systemic, so there is no wonder that budget funds were being carved up, including “under Sadovyi’s nose.”
By the way, her husband, Taras Tykholiz, worked together with Iryna Tykholiz at Ratusha Service (according to his declarations for 2018-2024, as the head of the sector of operation and maintenance of premises). However, it is not known whether he has any connection to the above-described “case of the microclimate carve-up” in the Lviv City Council.
The editorial board is waiting for comments on this situation from the heads of the relevant commissions of the Lviv City Council on Legality, Ulyana Pak, and Finance and Budget, Natalia Shelestak.
Viktor KORNIENKO
