A court in Odessa denied a request to freeze a company's funds in connection with embezzlement at the port

The court refused to freeze the assets of a company whose CEO is suspected of embezzling nearly 4.9 million hryvnias from a state-owned enterprise. The case involves the procurement of railway equipment for the Pivdennyi Port, which may have been purchased at inflated prices.

The Center for Public Investigations examined the details of the case.

According to investigators, the CEO of VKP TAKO LLC may have colluded with unidentified port officials to purchase equipment at prices above market value. Commercial proposals from companies linked to the suspect may have been used to establish the expected cost.

Under three contracts , the Pivdennyi Port purchased equipment totaling approximately 25 million hryvnias. Investigators believe the overpayment on these contracts amounted to 4.88 million hryvnias. In June 2026, the company’s director was notified of suspicion of misappropriation of property through abuse of official position.

The prosecutor’s office requested that the company’s outgoing transactions at PrivatBank be frozen. As of August 28, the company’s accounts held 1.2 million hryvnias.

However, the court ruled that the presence of funds in the account and previous payments from the port do not prove that this money was obtained as a result of a possible crime. Furthermore, the prosecutor’s office did not provide evidence to substantiate the grounds for special confiscation.

Additionally, in a recent case involving embezzlement related to equipment for the “Pivdennyi” Port, the contractor’s equipment was seized. In 2024, the port announced three tenders for the purchase of such equipment totaling nearly 25 million hryvnias. Law enforcement officials suspect that the head of the supplier company may have known in advance about the upcoming tenders and influenced the preparation of the tender documentation.

Анна Літман