Contractor’s equipment seized in embezzlement case at Pivdennyi port

The equipment may contain information about the circumstances of the procurement of railway equipment, in which law enforcement officers see a possible overestimation of the cost.

The court has seized two hard drives seized during a search of the premises of the “Zaliznychnyi Budivelnyk” company in Odesa. This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the ruling of the Hadzhibeyskyi District Court of Odesa.

According to the investigation, officials of the SE “MTP “Pivdennyi” and representatives of JSC “Dneprskyi Strelochnyi Zavod” and LLC “VKP “Tako” could have been involved in the possible abuses. Law enforcement officers believe that during the procurement of railway equipment, its cost could have been overestimated.

In 2024, the port held three tenders for the purchase of such equipment with a total expected cost of almost 25 million UAH. There was only one participant in each procurement – LLC “VKP “Tako”, which became the winner.

According to law enforcement estimates, the difference between the cost of purchasing and selling equipment could exceed UAH 7.1 million. At the same time, economic and commodity expertise indicated a possible overestimation of the cost of purchases by UAH 4.8 million.

According to the investigation, one of the organizers of the scheme controlled “Zaliznychnyi Budivelnyk” LLC and its manager. The company could be used to form an inflated expected cost of purchasing railway equipment.

Law enforcement also suggests that the manager of the supplier company could have known about upcoming tenders in advance and influenced the preparation of tender documentation. In particular, the technical requirements could have been formed in such a way as to limit the circle of potential participants, and the expected cost was justified by commercial offers with inflated prices, in particular from related companies.

At the end of June 2026, the manager of a private company was informed of the suspicion. That same month, BEB detectives searched the company’s office in Dnipro. They seized contracts, acts, invoices, invoices, orders, and other documents that the investigation recognized as physical evidence. According to law enforcement officers, these materials can confirm the circumstances of the case and be used during handwriting examinations.

In August, detectives searched the administrative and non-residential premises used by “Zaliznychnyi Budivelnyk” LLC in Odesa. During the search, two hard drives were seized. The detective recognized them as physical evidence and applied to the court with a motion to seize them.

The prosecutor explained that the information on the media may be important for the investigation. In particular, it was planned to be used during the inspection and forensic computer technical examination. Law enforcement officers also assume that the disks may contain data on connections with other possible participants in the case.

The representative of the property owner objected to the seizure. The lawyer argued that there were no sufficient legal and factual grounds for such a decision, and also drew the court’s attention to possible problems with the decisions on the basis of which the search was conducted. According to the defense, the search could have been conducted without proper legal grounds.

The court did not agree with these arguments and granted the motion of the detective Bureau of Economic Security. Therefore, the owner was prohibited from disposing of and using two hard drives until a decision is made in the criminal proceedings. The investigation is currently ongoing. The final conclusions regarding the guilt of the defendants must be established by the court.

USM also recently wrote that the court returned a berth in one of the Danube ports to state ownership.