A defendant in a fraud case wins the repair of a berth in Chornomorsk

A permanent contractor has won the tender for the overhaul of the Black Sea port's berth. The history of this berth and the winning company has previously raised suspicions of tender fraud and unfulfilled work.

This was reported by Intent with reference to the Prozorro procurement system.

In early September, the Chornomorsk Seaport Authority announced a tender for the overhaul of berth 9. The cost of the repair was estimated at UAH 61.4 million.

The auction for the overhaul of the hydraulic part of berth No. 9 in the Chornomorsk port took place on September 29, and two companies, Morbudproject LLC and Anchor LLC, competed for the victory. The offer of the latter company was the lowest and amounted to UAH 200 thousand less than the expected purchase amount.

SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

According to YouControl, Ankor LLC was registered in 2002 in Odesa. The company's main KVED is activities in the field of engineering, geology and geodesy, and in addition to it, 10 other activities, including the construction of water facilities. The company's founder is Hlib Yevhenovych Pushkin, and its director is Andrii Valeriiovych Zemskyi.

The company has already earned over UAH 114 million in public procurement. In recent years, the main customers have been the branches of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority - Chornomorsk, Reni, Mykolaiv and Kherson. <span>The company earned the most in 2025, which has not yet ended, - more than 24 million.</span>

What is interesting is not even how much the company earned, but the story that journalists discovered about this berth and the company that won the contract. The tender for the current repair of the berth was announced back in 2020 and was estimated at more than 513 thousand. It did not take place then because there were no takers.

SCREEN SHOT: YouControl

According to a ruling of the Chornomorsk City Court of Odesa Oblast on April 16, 2025, the judge granted access to the contractor's documents. It concerns procurements worth more than UAH 22 million announced by the Black Sea Port Authority, in which investigators see falsifications.

During 2022-2024, one of the firms won at least four of the six tenders announced by the Black Sea branch of the USPA. The total value of the contracts exceeded UAH 22 million. A similar contract, mentioned in the court ruling, was concluded with this firm (Anchor LLC) by the Chornomorsk Seaport Authority. It also involved the repair of berth 9, for more than UAH 8 million.

According to the investigation, officials of the state-owned enterprise could have artificially created discriminatory conditions to favor a predetermined company. Investigators also found that there was no information on the use of budget funds under these contracts, which gave rise to suspicions of falsification of the scope and quality of work performed. In particular, the work was not completed in full, but the work was paid for.

In addition, the company is involved in another criminal case under several articles of the Criminal Code - embezzlement, forgery, tax evasion, etc. This is a criminal investigation into the activities of Metproject.

The investigation found that the company entered into contracts with the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority for UAH 155 million and could have underpaid taxes. As Intent wrote, the company declared relationships with controlled companies that had signs of fictitious transactions. And one of these controlled companies was Anchor.

Анна Бальчінос