Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
🔐 Certificate for one sack and tons of earth: how a coal cartel circumvents AMCU bans and keeps profiting from hospitals and boarding schools
AMCU and the National Police recorded a large-scale collusion in coal supply, fined the participants, and put them on a “blacklist.” However, the scheme did not stop. Instead, new companies appeared that use the same quality certificates and continue to bid for budget funds to heat hospitals, children’s boarding schools, schools, and correctional facilities.
In September AMCU adopted decision No. 682-r, which found that LLC Zakhidmarket, PE Naftoagroservis, LLC Resursy Batkivshchyny, LLC Promtopresurs, and LLC Energo Vostok Antratsyt distorted the results of 15 tenders with a total expected value of more than 91 million UAH. The companies were fined over 4,2 million UAH and banned from participating in public procurements for three years.
At the core of the scheme is LLC Energo Vostok Antratsyt (registered in 2016 with authorized capital of 5 thousand UAH, address in Kyiv at 6a Larysa Rudenko St.). In contracts the firm listed a material and technical base in the village of Bahatyr, Volnovakha district, Donetsk region. The founder is Yurii Slyvynskyi; the director is Evelina Slyvynska. According to the investigation, the real beneficiaries are natives of Donetsk region Ruslan Brahin and Oleksandr Sosiura.
Personnel links between the “competitors” were obvious: Serhii Hlukhiv managed Zakhidmarket after working at Energo Vostok Antratsyt, and Veronika Staylovska simultaneously headed Resursy Batkivshchyny and Promtopresurs.
The Main Investigation Department of the National Police is conducting criminal proceeding No. 12020210000000481 under part 5 of Art. 191 and part 2 of Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Materials from the Pechersky District Court corroborate the investigation of an organized group’s activities.
What they actually supplied
Instead of graded high-calorie coal, institutions received a mixture of coal dust, waste rock, stones, and earth. The fuel burned poorly, emitted a stench, clogged furnaces with slag, and damaged boilers. The state paid for heating for children, the sick, and prisoners, but received garbage unfit for burning.
Complaints came from penitentiary system institutions (including Starobabanivska, Snihurivska, Manevychi, Kamianka and Petrivska colonies), as well as from hospitals and children’s boarding schools. Some facilities refused deliveries or terminated contracts. In one episode the deputy head of the Petrivska correctional colony was detained for a bribe of 205 thousand UAH for accepting poor-quality fuel and signing documents.
New companies and old certificates
After increased scrutiny, key firms began changing owners. PE Naftoagroservis and LLC Resursy Batkivshchyny were re-registered to nominal beneficiary Andrii Sosonnyi. At the same time LLC Postach Form, LLC Palyvo Opt, and LLC Hirnychyi Resurs appeared. Some of them are linked through Mykola Reznik: he registered Palyvo Opt and later headed Postach Form.
New participants in tender documents list third-party companies as the “producer” (for example, LLC TVK Energo), but attach certificates issued to LLC Energo Vostok Antratsyt. These documents become a universal alibi.
State Geology confirmed: neither TVK Energo nor Energo Vostok Antratsyt have special permits to use subsoil for coal mining. Quality certificates (under DSTU 7146:2010) are issued by the branch enterprise UkrNDiVuhlezbachachennya to any applicant based on submitted samples. The institute does not control what is actually loaded into trucks after issuing the document.
While some companies file complaints with AMCU and block purchasers’ quality requirements, others from the same network pick up new contracts.
A systemic problem
Formal sample certificates allow the legalization of surrogate supplies. Purchasers who demand real verification face complaints. Law enforcement is investigating the case, AMCU has imposed sanctions, but legal loopholes and firm rotation allow the scheme to continue. Without changes in certification rules and strengthened control over the actual quality of batches, budget institutions remain vulnerable to being supplied earth and stones instead of coal.
💬 ABleaks_bot
💕 Join
Telegram publication
