The mayor of Desna in the Chernihiv region accrued additional payments to himself that were canceled by the session

Despite the court order, the chairman of the Desnyansky Society did not return the money to the budget

For years, the chairman of the Desnyansky village council, Yuri Ostashevsky, received 150% of the bonus. Despite the fact that local deputies at the 2021 session recognized his work as unsatisfactory and canceled his additional payments. So, we are talking about the seizure of budget funds in the amount of about 900,000 hryvnia through abuse of official position by the chairman of the company.

This was reported by representatives of the NGO “Stop Corruption” in Desna, Chernihiv region.

In the fall of 2020, after local elections, the first constituent session of the Desna village council in the Chernihiv region took place. At it, the long-term chairman of the territorial society, Yuri Ostashevsky, without forming deputy commissions, contrary to the Law “On Local Government Bodies”, and taking advantage of the fact that the deputy corps was renewed by 85% and had not yet become familiar with the current legislation, decided to set himself bonuses in the amount 150%.

For a whole year, the head of the community received a salary + bonus exceeding the salary, that is, 2.5 salaries.

In the fall of 2021, at the XV session, deputies, assessing the work of the chairman of the village council for the year as unsatisfactory, proposed to cancel the bonuses to Yuri Ostashevsky. The draft of such a decision was approved by a majority vote of deputies. However, after the session Ostashevsky VETOed the council’s decision.

Under current law, if the chairman vetoes a council decision, he must convene a session within two weeks and state on what basis he vetoed the council decision. But Ostashevsky did not do this.

Acting within the legal framework, the deputies convened an extraordinary XVI session to override the veto. Yuri Ostashevsky did not show up for the session. The deputies overcame the veto by a majority vote, and the protocol was sent to the village council for implementation.

But the decision was not published on the official website of the society and was not implemented.

The deputies went to court. Since 2021, they have appealed to the Chernigov District Administrative Court, the 6th Court of Appeal, and the highest court. In the end, the Supreme Court of Cassation satisfied the deputy's claim in full.

Today, the session materials have been partially published on the community website. However, the amount of bonuses accrued during this time to the chairman of the community, which is almost 900,000 UAH, was not returned to the budget.

The public and the deputy corps of the Desnyansky Society in the Chernihiv region hope that the relevant authorities will give a legal assessment of the current situation.

Let us note, as previously reported, in Desna, Chernihiv region, shelters were built using budget funds that did not meet the standards. In the end, the newly built storage facility simply collapsed.