The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine optimized the distribution of housing among military personnel, introduced liability for violations of this process, carried out an inventory of land used for the construction of housing for military personnel, objects of unfinished construction, and also distributed almost three hundred apartments among military personnel that did not have owners.
These are the performance results recommendations of the Accounting Chamberprovided based on the results of the audit of the effectiveness of the use of budget funds allocated to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the construction (purchase) of housing for servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2020-2021.
During the control event, the auditors established that the Ministry of Defense did not ensure effective management of almost 2.4 billion UAH of budget funds provided for the construction and purchase of housing for the servicemen of the Armed Forces in 2020-2021. In particular, almost 47% of them, which is more than 1, UAH 1 billion was spent on the purchase of commercial housing and payment of compensations, and not on the completion of construction (reconstruction) of residential buildings, which is more economically profitable.
In the period studied by the audit, despite the allocation of almost UAH 350 million for the construction (reconstruction) of housing, not a single habitable house or dormitory was put into operation. Instead of ready-made housing, the Ministry of Defense received unfinished capital investments, the amount of which as of January 1, 2022 was UAH 1.1 billion.
In addition, a discrepancy was established in the accounting of unfinished capital investments in the amount of UAH 65.1 million. This happened due to the lack of proper communication between the structural units responsible for the organization of housing construction, its financing, accounting and reporting.
Also, the Ministry of Defense’s ineffective control over the state of housing facilities by the capital construction department led to court decisions not in its favor, repeated revisions of project and estimate documentation in the direction of its increase, and even to the destruction of unfinished housing.
The auditors established that the apartment management authorities and housing commissions ignored the requirements of the Instructions for providing residential premises to the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their family members during the distribution of housing. In particular, due to the improper performance of duties by the officials of the specified bodies and the mistakes they made, 285 apartments, for the purchase of which more than UAH 340 million were used, were not distributed among the servicemen who were on the apartment register for a long time.
The Accounting Chamber provided the Ministry of Defense with 11 recommendations to eliminate these and other shortcomings.
In accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Defense, in particular, it carried out an inventory of the lands used by its capital construction departments and state enterprises for the construction of housing for military personnel – in 2023, 107 land plots were surveyed, on which construction was organized with the involvement of non-budgetary funds.
In addition, the Ministry informed the Accounting Chamber about the results of the inventory of objects under construction: as of January 1, 2024, the Ministry of Defense registered 270 such residential objects with a total value of UAH 849.6 million. Of them, three objects worth UAH 156.1 million were supposed to be completed in 2024, 83 objects worth UAH 324.4 million – after the end of martial law.
The Ministry of Defense also informed the Accounting Chamber about the distribution of 285 apartments purchased in 2020-2021 as part of the implementation of investment agreements.
Together with the prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Defense conducted claims and lawsuits for seven construction contracts; thanks to court decisions in these cases, contracts with unscrupulous developers were terminated.
The release emphasizes that the implementation of the recommendations of the Accounting Chamber also contributed to changes in the system of housing distribution for the military. Order of June 19, 2024 No. 404/nm “On Approval of Changes to the Instructions for the Organization of Provision of Housing to Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Members of Their Families” stipulates the responsibility of officials who distribute housing of housing and operating bodies for non-compliance with regulatory acts in terms of the legality of providing housing to military personnel, as well as the process of distribution of built housing has been optimized.
It is noted that based on the results of the information provided by the control object, the Accounting Chamber concluded that all recommendations provided by it have been implemented.
