‘Kyivpastrans’ spent 5.5 million UAH on external solicitors despite having in-house lawyers

Since 2023, the municipal enterprise ‘Kyivpastrans’ has spent around 5.5 million UAH on external legal services, despite having its own legal department. These figures were calculated by the civil society organisation ‘Social Movement’ based on data from Prozorro, according to ‘Khmarchos’.

According to the organisation, over just under four years, the company’s annual expenditure on external lawyers has roughly doubled.

At the same time, Kyivpastrans had its own in-house lawyers. Between 2021 and 2024, the Legal and Human Resources Department was headed by Olga Yurko. She was later informed that she was a suspect in criminal proceedings relating to the company’s procurement of electricity. Court documents indicate that the investigation estimates the potential loss to Kyivpastrans at 11.617 million UAH. This is the investigation’s assessment; the court has not established the guilt of any specific individual.

Who did ‘Kyivpastrans’ pay?

According to calculations by ‘Social Movement’, the lawyer Vitalii Muzyka was the largest recipient of funds — around 3 million UAH since 2023. He had previously represented the company’s interests in major legal disputes, including one with the Lviv Bus Factory.

The company paid a further 1.4847 million UAH to the law firm ‘Centre for Legal Services’. These expenses are confirmed by procurement data: 484,800 UAH in 2024 and 999,900 UAH in 2025.

In 2026, Kyivpastrans entered into a contract with the law firm ‘Fuzik and Partners’ for 980 thousand UAH. According to the public procurement aggregator, this was the firm’s only tender in 2026, and the client was none other than the municipal enterprise ‘Kyivpastrans’.

In 2026, the organisation engaged ‘Anna Lysenko’s Law Firm’ to handle labour disputes.

Contracts for legal services were concluded without open tendering. During martial law, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1178 does indeed provide for a number of cases in which contracting authorities may conclude direct contracts without holding open tenders. However, the grounds for each individual procurement must be assessed based on the specific procedure and its cost.

Why this matters

‘Kyivpastrans’ expenditure on external lawyers is being discussed against the backdrop of a wider debate on the funding of the capital’s transport system. Since 15 July, the cost of a single journey on Kyiv’s public transport has risen from 8 to 30 UAH. Following the fare increase, passenger numbers on ground transport in August fell from 23.5 million to 19 million journeys compared with August last year.

Source

‘Khmarchos’ – an article on the expenses incurred by the municipal enterprise ‘Kyivpastrans’ on legal services since 2023.