NABU and Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office exposed an organized group that seized over UAH 24 million from the port of Izmail

NABU and Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office have exposed an organized group that seized over UAH 24 million from the state-owned enterprise “Izmail Sea Trade Port”.

The scheme operated in 2022-2023 and involved inflating the cost of equipment and goods, NABU reported.

According to the investigation, the port director, as well as representatives of private supplier companies controlled by the organizer of the scheme, were involved in the deal. He actually performed the role of “general director”, and his subordinates were responsible for the technical and financial direction.

The group members had access to official information regarding future procurements and determined the “winners” of the tenders in advance.

Subsequently, these companies independently:

• negotiated with manufacturers;

• prepared technical requirements and tender documentation instead of the port;

• included discriminatory conditions in the documentation to eliminate real participants;

• submitted inflated price offers to increase the expected cost of procurement;

• committed other anti-competitive concerted actions.

As a result, leading manufacturers and dealers did not participate in procurement, and goods were supplied by “their” companies at inflated prices.

The participants in the scheme transferred the funds received from the port to the accounts of their own enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, after which they withdrew them in cash and distributed them among themselves. The preliminary estimate of the losses caused is more than UAH 24 million.

All members of the organized group were notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

NABU detectives initiated criminal proceedings in May 2024 based on their own findings — in particular, after analyzing public procurement in the Prozorro system and complaints from bidders. Some of the companies involved in the scheme have already been included in the “black lists” of the Antimonopoly Committee.

The amount of losses was determined thanks to the conclusions of specialists from the State Audit Service and experts from the Institute of Special Equipment and Forensic Examinations of the Security Service of Ukraine.

The NABU appealed to citizens and businesses in the maritime industry with a request to continue reporting corruption. The information received is carefully processed and taken into account in investigations.

Earlier, USM reported that a scheme for the sale of decommissioned ships of the Ukrainian Navy was exposed in Kyiv.