An investigation was conducted in the Odesa region into the port's 25-million-procurement

Law enforcement officials are investigating possible overpricing of railway equipment purchased for the Pivdennyi Port. According to investigators, officials from a state-owned enterprise and representatives of two private companies may have been involved in the scheme.

The Center for Public Investigations examined the details of the case.

According to the investigation, officials from the state-owned enterprise “Pivdennyi Sea Trade Port” conspired with representatives of JSC “Dniprovskyi Switch Factory” and LLC “VKP ‘Tako.’” In 2024, the port announced three tenders for the procurement of railway equipment with a total estimated value of nearly 25 million hryvnias. Each tender had only one participant—LLC “VKP ‘Tako’”—which emerged as the winner.

Law enforcement officials believe that the cost of the equipment may have been inflated during the procurement process. According to their calculations, the difference between the purchase price and the sale price exceeded 7.1 million hryvnias. Economic and commodity expert analyses, however, indicated a possible overpricing of 4.8 million hryvnias.

According to investigators, “Zaliznychnyi Budivelnik” LLC may have been used to inflate the cost of the equipment. Law enforcement believes that one of the possible organizers of the scheme controlled the company and its director.

In June 2026, one of the scheme’s organizers was notified of the charges against him. In August, BEB detectives conducted a search of the premises used by “Railway Builder” LLC in Odesa and seized two hard drives. They were deemed physical evidence, as the information on the drives may contain details regarding the circumstances of the procurements and connections to other possible participants in the case.

As reported by Intent, law enforcement officials suspect that company representatives may have had prior knowledge of upcoming procurements and may have influenced the terms of those contracts. 

Анна Літман