“Shipping Register” lost more than UAH 50 million

The financial audit and audit of the financial and economic activities of the SE “Classification Society Shipping Register of Ukraine” revealed that the company did not receive income in the amount of more than UAH 50 million.

The Northern Office of the State Audit Service carried out inspections of the “Shipping Register”, which showed that the state-owned enterprise lost more than UAH 50 million in revenue. Oleksandr Karabanov, head of the Northern Office of the State Audit Service, told Ukrinform about this.

According to him, individual owners of hydrotechnical structures and operating organizations neglected the need to carry out annual inspections of the technical condition of hydraulic structures and did not apply to the Register for their implementation.

Kabanov noted that the Register of Shipping is the only organization in Ukraine that has the right to provide services for technical supervision of hydraulic structures, to issue a certificate on their technical condition and suitability for operation.

However, at the legislative level, the state-owned enterprise does not have measures to influence the owners and operating organizations of the GTS regarding the timeliness and regularity of the annual GTS inspections. This calls into question the observance of safety during the operation of the GTS, creates the risk of an accident and deprives the opportunity to receive adequate income from the provision of technical supervision services for the GTS – in the amount of more than UAH 31.8 million by calculation.

The State Audit Office also established that the management of the Register, on the initiative of the governing body (State Service of Sea and River Transport of Ukraine), made an ineffective management decision to transfer the functions of inspection of small vessels to third-party entities of non-state ownership (so-called “recognized enterprises”). Due to this, the Register lost the opportunity to receive adequate income from the provision of services for the inspection of small vessels in the amount of more than UAH 18.7 million.

The materials of the control measure, which recorded violations of the legislation in the use of state funds, were handed over to law enforcement agencies for appropriate response, Karabanov summarized.

Previously, USM reported that two employees of the State Enterprise Shipping  Register of Ukraine  demanded and received bribes bribes in the amount of USD 2,700.

According to the investigation, an employee of the Odesa office of the SE “Classification Society Register of Shipping of Ukraine” demanded a $1,700 bribe from the director of a private enterprise.

Also, the head of one of the departments of the Central Office of the DP was exposed for taking a bribe. She demanded 1,000 USD from the same entrepreneur for the preparation of a “positive” package of documents for obtaining a Certificate for the enterprise’s quality management system, in particular, regarding the compliance of equipment with international standards and proper qualification of employees.

A week later, it became known that the General Director of the Register Oleksandr Riffa leaving his post . The employee held the position since November 2021. It is currently unknown who will be the next head of the institution.