The oligarchs agreed with Groysman to dismantle the railway
Corruption schemes on the Ukrainian railway are subordinated directly to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau does not react in any way to the conclusion of contracts unfavorable for the state.
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People's Deputy of Ukraine Vitaly Kupriy stated this at a press conference in Kyiv.
“It was possible to stop payment for these contracts that were unfavorable for Ukraine, but NABU did not do this. Moreover, literally a few days before the new year, contracts for bolts and nuts were signed again using the same scheme. The first tranche caused losses of 5 million hryvnia. NABU was also inactive in this situation,” the deputy said.
He also said that last year it was planned to reassign Ukrzaliznytsia to the Cabinet of Ministers.
“This means that Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman took full responsibility for corruption in Ukrzaliznytsia, absolutely irresponsibly declaring that not a single turnover passes there without his knowledge,” Kupriy added.
According to him, he repeatedly wrote statements to the prime minister, demanding official investigations, but there was no reaction.
“The oligarchs agreed with Groysman on how to further defund the state-owned enterprise,” the politician is confident.
He also said that a tender has now been announced for the purchase of thick-sheet and thin-sheet steel in one lot in the amount of 107 million hryvnia.
Ukrzaliznytsia knows that it is possible to hold two different tenders and purchase these steel grades separately. But the only manufacturer that makes both is the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Ilyich, which belongs to Rinat Akhmetov. “Everything is being done to ensure that the terms of the tender are tailored to a specific person and that enterprises that offer a more favorable price for the state are not allowed to participate in the tender,” says Kupriy.
Another corruption scheme involves improper fulfillment of obligations by state-owned enterprises that serve Ukrzaliznytsia, after which private companies sue them and collect the debt with penalties, fines, etc.
“In the end, Ukrzaliznytsia is paying for its inactivity with state money. You have no idea the amount. Inactivity damaged the enterprise by 74 million hryvnia. I am absolutely sure that a portion of such fines and penalties is returned to private businesses in the form of kickbacks for allowing such inactivity,” says the deputy.
He is skeptical about the statement of the head of Ukrzaliznytsia Wojciech Balczun that the company ended 2016 with a profit of 300 million hryvnia.
“I ask you to look at how many tenders were announced, for what amounts and how many were canceled after Ukrzaliznytsia officials saw that their companies were not winning these tenders. They simply cancel these tenders. And these 300 million profits came from the fact that Ukrzaliznytsia did not purchase the equipment necessary for it. This artificially created profitability due to the lack of procurement next year may manifest itself in the fact that the safety of our citizens will be in question. Because the goods and services necessary to repair the tracks are not purchased, which leads to the collapse of the enterprise and networks. I think Mr. Balchun is out of place. He clearly entered into a conspiracy, subordinate to the prime minister and people from parliamentary committees who are now puppet masters. We need to change this situation,” Kupriy urges.
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