The prosecutor’s office is asking the court to return the funds spent on holding the festival in Kherson. It concerns funds transferred by the Department of Culture of the Kherson City Council to the Kherson Regional Theatre named after Kulish.
This was reported by Intent, citing the ruling of the Commercial Court of the Odesa region.
From the case materials it is known that the dispute concerns a contract concluded in March 2021, which provided for the holding of the regional festival “Maslenitsa Festival”.
The prosecutor asks the court to annul this contract. He also insists on the return of 149.8 thousand hryvnias. These funds are to be recovered from the theatre in favor of the Department of Culture of the Kherson City Council, and from the department — transferred to the state budget.
The reason for the court appeal was the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine dated July 9, 2024. The AMCU established that the theatre and LLC “Festival Center” coordinated their actions during open tenders. According to the committee’s conclusion, there was an agreement between the participants that affected the procurement results and deprived the tender of real competition.
The prosecutor’s office notes that such actions harm the public procurement system and cause losses to the state. Therefore, in their view, the contract should be declared invalid and the money – returned.
After the publication of the Supreme Court ruling on January 2, 2026, the Department of Culture of the Kherson City Council appealed to the Commercial Court of the Odesa region requesting that the case review be resumed.