In the Odesa region, the State Bureau of Investigations is investigating an embezzlement scheme at the Pivdennyi Port

Nearly five million hryvnias may have been overpaid during the procurement of railway equipment for the state-owned port of "Pivdennyi." Investigators are looking into whether the terms of the tender were drafted in such a way that the winner was determined even before the bidding began.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

According to investigators, officials at the state-owned enterprise “Pivdennyi Sea Trade Port” may have colluded with representatives of VKP “Tako” LLC and Dniprovsky Switch Plant JSC during the procurement of railway equipment at allegedly inflated prices.

The investigation found that in 2024, the port announced three tenders for the procurement of such equipment with a total estimated value of nearly 25 million hryvnias. Each procurement had only one participant—VKP “Tako” LLC—which was awarded the contract.

According to the BEB, the company purchased the equipment from the manufacturer and other suppliers and then sold it to the state-owned enterprise at a higher price. According to investigators’ estimates, the difference between the purchase price and the sale price exceeded 7.1 million hryvnias. At the same time, economic and commodity expert analyses indicated that the purchases may have been overpriced by 4.88 million hryvnias.

Law enforcement officials also suspect that the head of the supplier company may have had prior knowledge of upcoming tenders and influenced the preparation of the tender documentation. According to the investigation, the technical requirements were formulated to limit the pool of potential bidders, and the expected cost was justified by commercial proposals with inflated prices, particularly from affiliated companies.

In late June, BEB detectives conducted searches at the company’s office in Dnipro. They seized contracts, certificates, invoices, delivery notes, orders, and other documents that the investigation deemed to be physical evidence. According to law enforcement officials, these materials may corroborate the facts of the case and will be used in handwriting analysis.

The court granted the detectives’ motion and placed the seized documents under seizure, prohibiting their use or disposal until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The pretrial investigation is ongoing.

As reported by Intent, law enforcement officials believe that the head of a private company coordinated the group’s actions, maintained contacts with officials at a state-owned enterprise, and devised mechanisms to inflate the cost of procurements.

Анна Бальчінос