Two-billion-dollar tender for construction of the South Ukrainian NPP was awarded to a person involved in a criminal case

The agreement for the construction of the South Ukrainian NPP was concluded without a competitive procedure and with a company with a dubious past. The deal was worth more than UAH 2 billion. In 2022, the company was accused of misappropriating budget funds for services for the South Ukrainian NPP.

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

It is planned to carry out construction work and current repairs, including engineering protection of the NPP. No open bidding was held.

South Ukraine NPP signed the agreement on December 13 with Yugenergobud Private Joint Stock Company, which offered UAH 2 billion 259 million 799 thousand 252. Completion is scheduled for December 25, 2026.

Screenshot: Prozorro

According to the YouControl analytical system, Yuzhenergobud PrJSC was registered in 1993 with a registered capital of UAH 4 million 174 thousand 800. The founder of the company is Matvii Yasenytskyi. It is currently reported that bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated against the company.

In 2023-2024, the company was mentioned six times in journalistic investigations. They generally concerned price fixing, collusion in tenders, and misappropriation of budget funds.

Since 2015, the company has earned UAH 3.5 billion in public procurement. The main profit came in 2024 - UAH 2.9 billion was raised in tenders. The company's main customer in 2024 was the South Ukrainian NPP.

Screenshot: YouControl

Earlier, in 2022, according to a ruling of the Central District Court of Mykolaiv, Yuzhenergobud PrJSC was involved in a criminal case of misappropriation of budget funds. The case concerned repair work commissioned by the South Ukrainian NPP.

The contractors did not actually perform work on the reconstruction of the automatic fire alarm system of Unit 3 of the South Ukrainian NPP, and officials of YUZHENERGOBUD PrJSC entered false information in the acts of work performed about the allegedly incurred costs of more than UAH 9 million related to the performance of subcontracted work by the said enterprises.

Also, the open bidding was conducted formally, by prior conspiracy of two participants, PrJSC Yuzhenergobud and PE Technobud. Without any steps to reduce the expected value, PrJSC YUZHENERGOBUD formed a tender offer at prices for materials that exceeded the market value several times over for some items.

The company's property was then seized.

This is not the first time that SouthUkrainian NPP has been involved in cases of misappropriation of budget funds, embezzlement and abuse of office. In November, the High Anti-Corruption Court scheduled a hearing on the misappropriation of UAH 12.3 million in the case of the nuclear power plant's executives.

In September, the Antimonopoly Committee uncovered collusion in a public tender and fined the bidders. The tender was for the purchase of network equipment for a nuclear power plant.

In June, the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant concealed prices for materials and conducted the procurement without a specific procedure. Under the terms of the contract, the company must improve the fire safety of the plant's cable systems by December. The prices for imported materials were significantly higher.

Анна Бальчінос