Construction Firm Linked to Former MP Wins ₴38M Security Center Contract in Posad-Pokrovsky

In Posad-Pokrovsky, a Black Sea construction company associated with a former MP from Trukhanov's and the Party of Regions' parties was awarded the contract for the construction of the Security Center. The company has already won tenders for more than a billion hryvnias and is involved in criminal and journalistic investigations.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the Prozorro procurement system.

A new Security Center worth almost 38 million hryvnias is planned to be built in the village of Posad Pokrovske. The project is being ordered by the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Kherson Oblast, with funding coming from the state budget.

According to the tender documentation, the contractor must perform a full range of works: from dismantling and excavation to masonry walls, roof installation, facade insulation, and boiler installation. The center will include a fire station, a police station, an ambulance station, and a basement.

The auction was held on April 18 and was attended by two Odesa-based companies, Rostdortsroy and Paritetbudinvest Construction Company, which was chosen as the winner. The company offered 27 thousand less than the planned amount.

Screenshot: Prozorro

The CPR decided to find out who this company is, how long it has been on the tender market, how much it has earned on public procurement and whether there are any facts of corruption in its history. According to the YouControl online analytical system, Paritetbudinvest Construction Firm LLC was registered in 2019 in Chornomorsk with a registered capital of UAH 100,000.

The company is affiliated with the Budregiongroup consortium and has been the subject of many journalistic investigations. In 2022, it was also involved in a case of misappropriation, embezzlement, or seizure of property through abuse of office.

The company is currently owned by Artem Sobolev and Arkadiy Ilyashchuk from Vinnytsia. As previously reported by Anti-Corruption Dimension, Ilyashchuk was previously an assistant to Valentyn Hapunich, a deputy of the Odesa City Council from the party "Trust the Deeds". In the previous convocation of the City Council (2015-2020), the company's co-founder Valentyn Gapunich represented Hennadii Trukhanov's Trust the Deeds party. Before that, in 2010, he was elected from the Party of Regions.

Screenshot: YouControl

In total, the company received over UAH 1.4 billion in public procurement. The customers were utility companies, rural administrations, departments, offices, the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in Odesa Oblast, Local Roads of Kherson Oblast, etc.

In March last year, firms with MPs' connections won a tender for more than a billion hryvnias for the maintenance of 14 roads in Odesa Oblast. Among them are almost 97 kilometers of the international highway M-13 Kropyvnytskyi - Platonove (to Chisinau), as well as five regional and eight territorial roads. The construction company Paritetbudinvest was among the participants.

In November, the Department of Civil Protection and Defense of the Kherson Regional State Administration signed six contracts for the installation of non-explosive barrier systems in the region worth UAH 163.4 million. One of the contracts - worth UAH 22.4 million - also went to Paritetbudinvest.

Анна Бальчінос