A court has granted law enforcement officials access to documents belonging to a company suspected of misconduct during the construction of a bridge across the Dniester River. Investigators believe that, instead of the new steel pipes specified in the project, recycled scrap metal was used at the construction site.
This is stated in a ruling by the Kyiv District Court of Odesa.
According to the court’s ruling, the police were granted access to contracts, certificates of completion, personnel records, and the company’s internal correspondence. Permission to seize the documents was granted for a period of 30 days without prior summons of company representatives, in order to prevent the risk of evidence being destroyed or falsified.
Investigators determined that for the construction of a bridge between highways M-15 and T-16-25, a contract was signed with a company that hired a subcontractor, LLC "Kyiv Bridge Construction Company" to clean and weld used pipes to make them look like new. According to law enforcement officials, this could have led to a significant overpricing of the work.
During the pre-trial investigation, it was revealed that the contractor purchased used steel pipes as ordinary scrap metal, then cosmetically cleaned and welded them, passing them off as brand-new materials in accordance with the project documentation. In addition, the main winner of the 209-million-hryvnia tender turned out to be linked to other involved firms through a common ultimate beneficial owner.
Upon analyzing personnel records, investigators also discovered that some of the workers who repaired and welded these pipes were simultaneously officially employed by several affiliated contractor companies.
In addition, law enforcement officials are verifying whether the construction work had the necessary environmental permits and approvals.
Юлія Калабайда