Boris Ostapyuk
On September 8, on the instructions of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an audit of the financial and economic activities of the state-owned enterprise Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) was launched.
On September 8, on the instructions of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an audit of the financial and economic activities of the state-owned enterprise Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) was launched. In this regard, the general director of the enterprise, Boris Ostapyuk, appointed by the new government, was temporarily suspended from his duties.
During the reign of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrzaliznytsia gave a significant part of the contracts to companies associated with the president’s circle. INSIDER decided to check whether the situation has changed since the appointment of new management.
Procurement at a rapid pace
Before becoming general director, Ostapyuk had already repeatedly held high positions in the structures of Ukrzaliznytsia. In the past, he worked as director of the state enterprise “Ukrzaliznychpostach” and deputy general director of Ukrzaliznytsia. All of his previous positions were related to the material supply of state-owned enterprises.
Since April 1 of this year, all divisions and enterprises included in the structure of Ukrzaliznytsia have held more than 600 tenders totaling about 2.8 billion hryvnia.
Among other things, this included payment for utilities and food for each of the six railways, hospitals and other divisions of Ukrzaliznytsia.
Directly “Ukrzaliznychpostach”, which provides railway services, held 120 tenders. About a third of them were canceled for various reasons; those that took place cost almost 1.7 billion hryvnia.
75% of this money was spent on repairing old cars and tracks – UAH 1.23 billion. Another 356 million was spent on fuel and lubricants, 46 million UAH on textiles and about 10 million UAH on building materials.
INSIDER previously reported that purchases for the needs of the ATO, over approximately the same period, cost the state three billion hryvnia.
Tender Champions
The list of companies that won entire tenders and individual lots is quite large. But truly large contracts went to only a select few. Of all the money spent by Ukrzaliznychpostach since April 1, only ten companies will earn more than 80% or 1.4 billion hryvnia.
The largest contract – 220 million hryvnia – went to the company “Dniprozaliznychpostachannya” (“DZP”). It is owned by Alexander Dyadechko and managed by Dmitry Abramov. Previously, Abramov was one of the shareholders of the Dnepropetrovsk Switch Plant, the only competitor of DZP at the tender. The winner will supply parts for turnouts.
A little less – UAH 207 million. Viktor Pinchuk’s Interpipe Ukraine will earn money for the supply of wheels for trains. Similar purchases from Interpipe are carried out annually.
Several contracts for the supply of rails worth UAH 177 million. went to Transinvest Holding, part of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM. Transinvest also wins similar tenders every year. Its only competitor in this and the previous year was the Dniepropetrovsk “Spetsukrpostachannya”, recorded by the Cypriot Umistreco Holdings ltd.
Bidding for the supply of rubber gaskets and fastenings worth UAH 167 million. Lviv company “Exposition” won. In the register, its owner is Andrey Bokhenok, but the real beneficiary of the company is called the people’s deputy from UDAR Yaroslav Dubnevich. Previously, “Exposition” had not won UZ contracts. But the KRT corporation of Yaroslav and Bogdan Dubnevich was a major supplier of rail fastenings in 2008-2010, when UZ was headed by their fellow countryman from Lvov, Mikhail Kostyuk.
Five tons of bolts and washers worth UAH 140 million. for UZ will supply “Inkomm”. Officially, the company is owned by Nadezhda Bogdan from the village of Trushki, Kyiv region. The only competition at the auction was the Alevarus company. The owners of the latter are LLC Luxven and Kiev resident Alexander Timoshenko. Until recently, the Inkomm company was headed by Pavel Khlevnoy, associated with the aforementioned Luxven and Alexander Timoshenko.
The Azovkabelsbut company will earn UAH 108 million. on the supply of cables for ultrasound. The company is registered to Kiev resident Anna Beletskaya. Previously, she had not received government contracts.
About 20 lots in various tenders for the supply of spare parts with a total value of UAH 56 million. The company “EK Zenit”, registered to Svetlana Grushko, won. In most cases, its only competitor was Leonid Kolosov’s NPP Lokomotiv. Until the summer of 2011, both companies were registered at the same address in Kyiv, and until January 2012 they worked with one phone number for both of them.
Another about 48 million UAH. For the supply of brake systems, the company “BMZ” will receive, which, according to “Our Money”, is associated with the regional leader Anton Prigodsky and the Yanukovych group. The company began winning contracts from Ukrzaliznychpostach just six months after its creation in August 2012. Since then, it has earned about UAH 150 million.
New trends
Using the example of the tender, which was won by the two remaining companies from the list, one can trace a certain trend in the conduct of public procurement by Ukrzaliznytsia, which appeared after the appointment of new management.
Large contracts began to be divided into several lots, which should have allowed small contractors to take part in them. This method was practiced before, but now it is used much more often.
Bidding for the purchase of oils and lubricants for UZ with a total value of 356 million hryvnia was supposed to take place back in April, but the date was postponed several times. In addition, technical conditions were changed 9 times.
The tender was divided into five separate lots. 10 companies sent their applications for participation in the auction. Later, six of them were rejected. Due to the fact that each company applied for different lots, it was ultimately quite difficult to figure out who competed with whom.
In this case, all the winners: “Levada Oil”, “Element Oil” and “Trading House “Agrinol” (not included in the top 10 largest) submitted applications for only one lot so as not to be competitors to each other. After most of the proposals were rejected, only one company competed with all three – East Mining Ukraine.
“East Mining” is registered in Donetsk on Umova Street, 1. Apparently, at the place of mass registration of legal entities – several hundred more companies are registered there. The owners of East Mining are Donetsk resident Alexandra Timoshenko and Hungarian East Mek.
The main winner of the tender, who will receive UAH 163 million, is also registered at the same address. – “Levada Oil”. This company was created in April of this year and is registered to Andrei Gaevoy and Yuri Kiyashko.
Power.no