TOP-3 shady tenders of the week in Kharkiv region: an advisor from Azarov’s government receives sizeable contracts

TOP-3 shady tenders of the week in Kharkiv region: an advisor from Azarov’s government receives sizeable contracts

Despite a number of publications, the Kharkiv Regional State Administration continues to hold dubious procurements and award contracts to people close to the regional leadership. Such as Yozef Bronevskyi, an adviser to the deputy head of the Kharkiv RSA (Yevhen Shakhnenko).

I. In early December 2015 the company Bronevskyi owns, “Tehex-gaz,” signed an agreement with the Department of Housing and Communal Services and Infrastructure Development of the Kharkiv RSA for 4 million UAH. The company is to reconstruct part of the main heating network in the city of Lozova, Kharkiv region.

Tehex-gaz’s competitor turned out to be the little-known Kharkiv firm “Fazis,” owned by a certain Lidiya Bilokon and the Lviv LLC “Enerhoresurs-montazh.” One of the beneficiaries of the latter, Nazar Nironovych, ran in 2010 for local elections from the Party of Regions. For two years the firm worked with former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Why “Fazis” came to Kharkiv is unclear, but alongside adviser Bronevskyi they have little chance.

As for Bronevskyi himself, during the Yanukovych era he was an adviser to the Minister of Regional Development of Ukraine Anatoliy Blyznyuk. He now advises the “Poroshenko people” in the Kharkiv RSA. In addition, Bronevskyi was one of the candidates for the Kharkiv City Council from the Solidarity party, but he did not win a seat.

In the autumn of 2015 Bronevskyi’s company received contracts from the RSA worth more than 10 million UAH. For example, Tehex-gaz will receive over 7 million UAH for the “technical re-equipment” of the heating system in the urban-type settlement Chkalovske, Chuhuiv district.

According to the project of works, next year the Kharkiv Regional State Administration intends to spend almost 500 million UAH on optimizing heat supply in Lozova, where Bronevskyi has already “appeared.” So it will be very interesting which company receives the contracts for these works and whether there will be any “promising” structures close to Bronevskyi, the “eternal adviser.” Given that Governor Raynin sees nothing corrupt in the fact that advisers to the deputy head of the regional administration participate in and win tenders, this possibility should not be excluded.

II. In Ukraine, politics astonishingly affects business. The change of power almost everywhere led to a replacement of fuel suppliers for state institutions. However, this replacement took place according to a long-known algorithm.

Before the Revolution of Dignity, most fuel tenders in Kharkiv region were won by the firms “Real-NP” and “Gallon-Group,” which belonged to adviser to the former governor Mykhailo Dobkin, Oleh Hurevych. Today Hurevych’s structures are under investigation for ties to fugitive oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko. Accordingly, the market for fuel procurement for state bodies in the region was redistributed. And the winners, according to the old scheme, again became officials of the Kharkiv RSA or people and structures close to them.

For example, LLC “Nefteprodukt.” For a long time the sole founder of this company was Volodymyr Huba, who until recently worked as deputy head of the Fuel and Energy Complex Department in the Kharkiv RSA and was responsible for ensuring emergency services in the region had no problems with fuel and lubricants. Now the company founder is listed as Iryna Sotnikova, but this woman is not unknown to Huba. They jointly own the production-commercial firm “Kredit,” which is now declared bankrupt and is in the process of liquidation.

Last week LLC “Nefteprodukt” received a contract to supply fuel for the emergency rescue service of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Kharkiv region. The contract value amounted to 2,26 million UAH. For these funds LLC “Nefteprodukt” must supply almost 166,7 thousand tons of A-76 gasoline (80).

The winner managed to outperform competitors — in particular LLC “Vector-Oil,” which, after Hurevych’s companies were pushed out of the market, supplies fuel to the city’s municipal enterprises, and LLC “Midas Oil,” among whose founders is former Kharkiv mayor Volodymyr Shumilkin (he, incidentally, is among the owners of the Ovis gas station chain). One can assume that Raynin’s people do not let Kernes’s subordinates win regional tenders.

Thus, in the region the fuel supply tenders are won by the company of former RSA official Volodymyr Huba, while in the city of Kharkiv — by LLC “Vector-Oil.” This company, by a strange coincidence, shares an address with LLC “DBK ‘Uroven’,” which is a regular winner of construction tenders for various objects in Kharkiv. LLC “DBK ‘Uroven’” belongs to city council deputy from the Revival party Valeriy Pievniev and LLC “KUA ‘Finex-Ukraine’,” affiliated with Mayor Kernes.

When the tender for fuel supply to the rescuers was announced, Huba was still an RSA official. He has now resigned. However, it will be very interesting to see whether the former official’s firm will continue to win tenders.

III. Last week it became known that the Kharkiv enterprise “Enerhoservis PMK” will receive 43,28 million UAH for the installation of video surveillance, perimeter and security alarm systems at nine Kharkivtransgaz facilities.

Previously Enerhoservis PMK installed energy equipment at the Metalist stadium, prepared the fan zone on Svobody Square for Euro-2012, and recently carried out capital repairs of the square near the Mirror Stream. The company was founded by the family of the region’s chief financial inspector and city council deputy from Solidarity, Stanislav Kosinov — in particular, his mother Svitlana Kosinova.

Being the son-in-law of the rector of Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kosinov remains close to financial flows despite the political conjuncture. In 2002 he was a Member of Parliament from Volodymyr Lytvyn’s People’s Party. From 2006 he headed the territorial office of the Accounting Chamber. And during Yanukovych’s time he became the region’s chief financial inspector. Kosinov still holds that position. Lustration somehow bypassed him. Now the company “Enerhoservis PMK” has been re-registered to Kateryna Spitsyna.

But there were several interesting coincidences in this tender. In particular, the rejection of cheaper bids. For example, the bid from Kyiv LLC “Kompleksnyy Standart” for 6 of 9 lots was cheaper than the winner’s; the difference reached 3–33%. However, it was rejected due to the absence of a State Mining and Industrial Safety permit for performing hazardous work, copies of documents for technical means and other papers.

Instead, LLC “Slobidska Budivelna Artil” was admitted to the bidding. The owner of the enterprise is Denys Vasylyev, who to this day is the head of the Kharkiv city organization of the People’s Party, from which Stanislav Kosinov once became a People’s Deputy. The party organization’s address coincides with the address of LLC “Enerhoservis-PMK.” Thus, one can assume that Kosinovs’ firm was, in effect, competing with itself in the tender.

It is worth recalling that last week Enerhoservis PMK won a tender to install traffic light objects at the corner of Plekhanivska and Derzhavinska streets in Kharkiv. The tender has already become scandalous because the cost of work to install traffic lights at one intersection amounts to as much as 2 million UAH.

If the tender winners could not be linked to any official or politician, then journalists might have no reason even to hint at corruption. But for now “we have what we have”…

Depo.Kharkiv