In Mykolaiv, a tender for medical equipment was awarded to a company with a history of price gouging during COVID-19

In Mykolaiv, a tender for the supply of medical equipment worth 16 million was awarded to a company accused of misappropriating budget funds and inflating prices.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

At the end of July, the Mykolaiv Regional Oncology Center announced an auction for the purchase of a modern fluoroscopic X-ray machine. It was planned to spend UAH 16 million 500 thousand from the budget.

The auction, which took place on August 12, had only one participant, Ukr Med Service, which was awarded the contract without a competitive procedure. The bidder reduced the amount by only UAH 11,300.

TheCenter for Public Investigations decided to investigate whether the company's activities had so-called "red flags", whether it was involved in criminal proceedings and whether it was involved in cases of misappropriation of budget funds. As it turned out, yes, it was, and it was in the procurement of medical equipment.

According to the YouControl online analytical system, Ukr Med Service was registered in Mykolaiv in 2011 with a registered capital of UAH 893,726. At the same time, two of the company's founders are from Odesa. They are Oksana Kalmykova (share: 99.89%) and Anna Lychko (share: 0.1119%).

The main KVED of the company is wholesale trade in pharmaceuticals. In addition to the main activity, the company has 14 other activities, three real estate objects and one vehicle.

In total, the company has earned UAH 236 million 003 thousand 505 at public tenders.

As for the proceedings, Ukr Med Service was involved in three administrative court cases and two administrative offenses. It was also involved in two criminal cases related to overpricing of medical equipment and misappropriation of budget funds by prior conspiracy.

On January 19, 2022, a judge of the Central Court of Mykolaiv decided to partially grant the investigator's motion to extend the pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings from August 20, 2020 to June 20, 2022.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted over possible abuse of office by officials of the Mykolaiv Regional Special Medical Supply Base, who, acting in the interests of Ukr Med Service LLC, purchased ventilators "UVENT-T". The devices were purchased to implement measures aimed at preventing and spreading COVID-19.

The corresponding tender for UAH 8 million 400 thousand was published in the Prozzoro public procurement system in June 2020. The winner was Ukr Med Service with an offer almost twice lower than the planned one.

These institutions were suspected of having colluded to set the price of medical equipment at a price that was UAH 80,800 higher per device than the manufacturer's price.

The total price of this contract was UAH 4 million 585 thousand. The buyer paid for 7 devices worth UAH 655 thousand each, transferred two equivalent amounts of UAH 2 million 292 thousand 500 to the supplier's account.

At the same time, Yutas Company LLC, which is the manufacturer of the devices, concludes contracts with other companies where the cost of the device is UAH 574,200 per unit.

Thus, the officials of the Mykolaiv Regional Special Medical Supply Base and Ukr Med Service spent over UAH 565,600 of budget funds.

The court decided to extend the pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings until June 20, 2022. Already in February 2022, Ukr Med Service filed a complaint with the Central District Court of Mykolaiv with a motion to close the criminal proceedings dated 20.08.2020. The applicant requested to close the criminal proceedings due to the fact that the pre-trial investigation had lasted more than 14 months. But the court denied the applicant's request.

This is not the only company that has "red flags" in its activities when procuring medical equipment.

For example, a company registered in Switzerland recently earned more than twenty million hryvnias in 2024 from supplying equipment to medical institutions in Mykolaiv region. In addition, it was involved in criminal proceedings for misappropriation of budget funds during the procurement of medical equipment.

And the reconstruction of the Bashtanka Multidisciplinary Hospital buildings for 300 million was given to a dubious company with which they had already signed a contract. In 2019, Pivdenbud Mykolaiv LTD and the Capital Construction Department of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration were involved in a case of misappropriation of budget funds by abuse of office by prior conspiracy. The funds in question were allocated for the restoration of the building of the Mykolaiv Regional Children's and Youth Sports School.