Two businesspeople were caught conspiring during a land auction in Odesa

Antitrust authorities uncovered a collusion between two businesspeople during a land auction in Odesa. Each was fined 68,000 hryvnias for violating the law.

This was reported by the Southern Interregional Territorial Branch of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

The individuals in question are sole proprietor D. M. Hrebenyuk and sole proprietor O. O. Blashchuk. They jointly participated in an auction for the sale of a non-agricultural land plot owned by the municipality. The auction was held in May 2024 by the Department of Land Resources of the Odesa City Council.

The starting price for the plot was 1.5 million hryvnias. During the investigation, antitrust officials established a number of facts which, in their conclusion, indicated coordinated conduct by the entrepreneurs during the preparation for and participation in the auction.

As a result, each participant was fined 68,000 hryvnias.

The AMCU also noted that holding a business entity liable for anti-competitive concerted actions aimed at distorting the results of a tender within the last three years may serve as grounds for denying it participation in a procurement procedure.

Previously, a farming enterprise and an entrepreneur colluded during four land auctions in the Savran community. For this, they were fined over half a million hryvnias.

Another collusion was uncovered between the “Promin” Farm and the “Seliohlo-2014” Farm. They participated in 28 auctions between July 2024 and May 2025, during which they sold the right to lease municipal agricultural land in the Izmail district.

Companies from Chornomorsk were also caught colluding during tender proceedings.

Ірина Глухова