A company suspected of corruption bids for Odesa Port Plant

Agro Gas Trading (AGT), a company suspected by NABU of corruption schemes while managing the Odesa Port Plant, has submitted an application for an auction. Despite its scandalous background, it may regain control of one of Ukraine's largest chemical complexes.

This became known from the company's press service.

According to the statement, the company has submitted a full package of documents, paid the registration fee and signed a confidentiality agreement (NDA). The NDA is expected to be signed by the state authorities in the near future. According to the press service, in 2019-2021, Agro Gas Trading invested its resources to launch and maintain the operation of the refinery.

During the same period, according to NABU, the criminal organization received more than UAH 2 billion in illegal benefits from controlling the plant.

AGT, according to the investigation, played a role in the scheme: it supplied gas in exchange for finished products (ammonia and urea), with AGT receiving all the income from the sale of fertilizers and the plant receiving only a fixed fee for processing. On March 22, 2023, the NABU and the SAPO updated the suspicions of all members of the organization, headed by the former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.

Participants in the scheme, including former SPFU chairman Dmytro Sennychenko and AGT co-owners Oleksandr Horbunenko and Volodymyr Kolot, caused more than UAH 400 million in losses to the state. Also on October 7, the SAPO prosecutor sent an indictment to the High Anti-Corruption Court in the case of abuse at the OPP. Among the defendants is also MP Oleksandr Hranovskyi, who was served with a suspicion in October 2022.

In September, the State Property Fund put up 99.57% of the OPP's shares for privatization auction. It is one of the largest chemical complexes in Ukraine, producing nitrogen fertilizers and ammonia and exporting over 85% of its products to more than 30 countries. Due to the full-scale war, the plant was partially operational, so a large private investor with access to port facilities to load Panamax vessels is needed to fully restore it. The auction will take place on November 25, 2025, with a starting price of UAH 4.5 billion.

Анна Бальчінос