Sienkevych is waiting for a public response from the investigation as to whether an exemption was issued for $5,000 at the Department of Physical Education

Mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Senkevych stated that the organisation of the sale of exemptions from mobilisation for 5,000 dollars in the Department of Physical Culture and Sports is not true and is awaiting the results of the investigation.

He said this in a comment to NikVesti.

As is known, the investigation believes that officials of the department received illegal benefits for fictitious employment of conscripts. This refers to the registration of men for work without actually performing their job duties. The head of the department, Iryna Bondarenko, is likely to be involved in the illegal activity.

According to the mayor, the Department of Internal Financial Control, Audit and Anti-Corruption conducted an audit of the department, in particular of the booking procedure, and found no violations. In addition, Iryna Bondarenko personally confirmed to him that there were no such facts in the work of the department.

«According to our information, the information is not true. I am very sorry that the media often make their own court decisions about what was found there or who is guilty. Law enforcement agencies have their suspicions. They have taken all the documents. I hope that they will review them and come out with the same public position. They will nicely tell us whether they found such cases. Because it was written that property was seized, then it was found that there was no property, only documents. I really hope that we will all hear whether there were such people, whether there are any conclusions written in anonymous Telegram channels about such rumours. She confirmed to me that there were no such facts in her department,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

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The mayor emphasises that the basis for opening the proceedings was precisely the reports from anonymous Telegram channels, not media publications.

«I want to say that our Mykolaiv media did not write about this. It was information on Telegram channels that reservations could be bought for $5,000 in the sports department. Based on these reports in anonymous channels, the information was entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, and an investigation is currently underway. We all want to hear publicly from our law enforcement agencies through the media whether these rumours from anonymous Telegram channels are confirmed or not. We are all waiting,» said the mayor.

The mayor stressed that he expects the law enforcement agencies to publicly announce the results of the investigation.

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«Our law enforcement agencies respond very well, sometimes even too well, to various events. It is important for us to hear not only that something has been arrested or searched, but also to hear about the results: what damage was done to the city, what losses were incurred, whether they were compensated, who was punished, and so on,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

As is known, searches were conducted at the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Mykolaiv City Council on Tuesday, 20 January. NikVesti sources in law enforcement agencies reported that searches were conducted at the department headed by Iryna Bondarenko and at two sports schools. According to our information, these are the Peremoha sports school, headed by Oleksandr Munch, and the Specialised Children's and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve No. 6, where the former head of the sports department, Oleg Mashkin, works as deputy director and boxing coach.

A few days later, Iryna Bondarenko, head of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Mykolaiv City Council, commented on the information about the searches that took place last week. She accused the media of spreading rumours, while confirming that the department had provided all the necessary documents requested by law enforcement agencies.

On 23 January, the Central District Court seized the property of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Mykolaiv City Council that was confiscated during the searches.