More than UAH 1.67 million in losses: auditors uncovered violations at "Mykolaivpastrans"

Specialists of the Southern Office Department of the State Audit Service in Mykolaiv Oblast conducted an audit of the municipal enterprise of the Mykolaiv City Council “Mykolaivpastrans” for the period 2022–2025. The inspection found violations that led to losses of financial and material resources totaling more than 1.67 million hryvnias.

On the results of the audit on August 5, 2026 reported the regional office of the State Audit Service.

One of the largest violations concerned compensations for transporting concessionary passengers. Auditors found that the enterprise included in the current year’s reports expenses for December 2022 and December 2024.

At the same time, the signed contracts provided for reimbursement of expenses only within the respective budget periods. As a result of including last year’s expenses in the new reports, the enterprise received more than 541 thousand hryvnias in excess. In effect, the city budget paid for services that were outside the scope of current contractual obligations.

Auditors found an even larger overpayment when checking compensations for transporting schoolchildren in 2022. “Mykolaivpastrans” claimed more than 1.29 million hryvnias for reimbursement, calculating that amount based on the full fare.

However, during that period free travel for schoolchildren had not yet been introduced, and different fares applied to them. Due to the incorrect calculation, the enterprise received over 1 million hryvnias in excess compensation.

A separate set of violations concerned the calculation of salaries for the enterprise’s management. While temporarily performing the duties of the director, some employees were paid the director’s full salary.

According to the auditors, in such a situation employees should have received not the director’s full salary, but only the difference between their own salary and the director’s pay. The exact amount of excess payments for this episode was not specified in the State Audit Service’s statement.

Overall, the violations found during the audit resulted in resource losses totaling more than 1.67 million hryvnias. Auditors forwarded the inspection materials to the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office for further consideration and legal assessment.

The statement does not name the officials who made the relevant decisions during 2022–2025. It also does not report that anyone has been charged or that a criminal case has been opened specifically as a result of this audit.

It is worth noting that in April 2026 the new director of the enterprise reported a lack of proper accounting for fuel, passenger flow and concessionary transport. At that time it also became known that “Mykolaivpastrans” ended 2025 with losses, and only half of the company’s buses were operating on routes each day.

Previously we wrote:

• Alerts stopped gas stations in Mykolaiv: city buses fell behind schedule due to fuel shortages
• “The bus is on the map, but not at the stop”: Mykolaiv residents complain about GPS glitches in transport
• Left at the stop and late for work: residents of the Korabelnyi district complain about a bus
• Why you have to wait longer for bus No. 1 in Mykolaiv in the evening: the carrier’s explanation
• Not just equipment, but the daily work of a large team: “Mykolaivpastrans” celebrated its seventh anniversary