Kherson highway repair contract won by defendant in corruption case

In the Kherson region, a company that was previously accused of allegedly embezzling budget funds won a contract to repair a road. The works were estimated at over UAH 83 million.

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

In October, the state institution Local Roads of Kherson Region announced an open tender for the current repair of a 5.5 km long section of road from the border of Dnipropetrovska oblast to the border of Mykolaivska oblast. The expected cost of the works was UAH 83 million, and they are expected to be completed by December 31, 2025. The works involve leveling the road and bringing the section to proper technical condition.

The e-auction started on October 23, with two bidders - Paritetbudinvest Construction Company and Global Build Engineering. The latter company won the auction by offering the lowest price. The company is currently awaiting a decision on signing the contract.

SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

According to YouControl, Global Build Engineering LLC was founded in 2017 with a registered capital of UAH 10 million. The company has already won government contracts worth 1.6 billion hryvnias, and in 2024 alone, its revenue amounted to almost 1 billion. The main area of activity is the construction of residential and non-residential buildings, but recently the company has been actively involved in road and defense contracts in the Kherson region.

The company has previously come to the attention of law enforcement and journalists. In 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the NABU to investigate possible embezzlement of budget funds during the construction of a shelter at the Vysokopil school, where Global Build Engineering was a contractor. The criminal proceedings involved misappropriation of property with the participation of Kherson Regional State Administration officials. The company also has ties to the deputy head of the Kherson Regional State Administration, Anton Samoilenko.

In July, the company was also awarded a contract to repair about 7 kilometers of the road between the villages of Davydiv Brid and Bobrovyi Kut. The works were valued at UAH 81.7 million.

SCREENSHOT: YouControl

The company was also featured in a media investigation. In 2024, Global Build Engineering received UAH 280 million for fortification works in Kherson region. Instead of direct purchases from manufacturers, the contractor purchased materials through a little-known company called Dnipro Promsnab Torg, which had signs of a "padding company" - a company specially created to resell overpriced goods.

The company purchased anti-tank pyramids and concrete blocks from manufacturers and then sold them to Global Build Engineering at much higher prices, which could have resulted in an overpayment of up to UAH 35 million. At the same time, the owner of Dnipro Promsnab Trade, Vitaliy Ponomarenko, also received profits from the contractor, which indicates a close connection between the companies. Thus, the margin was probably artificially created, and budget funds remained within the same group.

Анна Бальчінос