Is Pashinsky the last knight on the arms market? Western media investigation

Photo: UNIAN

< p>The appearance of the Anti-corruption Council at the Ministry of Defense sooner or later should lead to some changes in the system of public procurement for the needs of the Armed Forces. It all started with the fact that the public distrusted the transparency of MoD purchases. The lack of transparency has led to an unjustified increase in prices, in particular, for food products. And so such changes have come. Less than a month after the appearance of Anticorrada, on June 6, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in the “ProZorro” system held 22 auctions to provide food for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the second half of this year.

These were the first open purchases after the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia. The members of the Anticorrad recorded this event on their account as a great victory, because, according to them, the Ministry of Defense was allegedly very resistant to this, wanting to continue to buy from suppliers under a simplified procedure – under direct contracts and without tenders (which, by the way, Ukrainian legislation allows to do during martial law).

But the problem is that one of the winners of the last auctions was a company that Anticorradi knew for sure was risky, submitted false information to the tender commission and is the subject of criminal proceedings. All this – documented fact. Despite this, the commission made a decision that this particular company will be the supplier of food for the Armed Forces for the next six months, and individual members of the Anticorrad, such as Dana (Bohdan) Yarov, assure that there is nothing wrong with that, since other the company is even worse.

Dana (Bohdana) Yarova

Actually, something happened: former People's Deputy Serhii Pashinsky, who is the person behind the "winner", decided to invest money in Yarova's political project. competition – by the “ATOMSERVIS” company.

Eyes saw what they bought

The total amount for which the MoD planned to purchase food for the second half of this year is UAH 24.67 billion. Out of 22 tenders, the little-known LLC “ATOMSERVIS” won 8. At the starting price of one of the lots in the amount of UAH 1,058,866,929.37. this company offered the lowest price – 878,586,440.40. Accordingly, the budget savings amounted to more than 180,000,000 hryvnias. And just by the end of the year, this company had the honor of mastering UAH 7.21 billion. from the budget of the Ministry of Defense.

However, after the competition results were announced, it became known that the competition commission knew that “ATOMSERVIS” is an uncharitable company, and still gave it the victory.

On the site "ProZorro" now anyone can read Excerpt from the minutes of the meeting of the commission of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on defense procurement.

This document, in particular, states that “ATOMSERVIS” has signs of riskiness.

These risks consist in the fact that the head of this company is simultaneously the head of another legal entity against which a bankruptcy case has been initiated. has a negative mention in the public media”, – said in the Extract from the protocol. In particular, this firm is involved in an investigation into a case opened by the Security Service of Ukraine in 2020 regarding the allocation of social program funds for food in 2018-2020 for children of the Volyn and Rivne regions, victims of the Chernobyl disaster.

In addition to this, LLC “ATOMSERVIS” provided unreliable information about the availability of premises rented by him, and the director in violation of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” appointed himself as the person responsible for the implementation of the anti-corruption program.

And, finally, as stated in the protocol, according to the information available on Internet resources (“Our money”), LLC “ATOMSERVIS” belongs to the same group of firms that appropriated funds for food contracts, such as “Rektan”, “KM Resource Service”, and “Military Service-Volunteer”. Note that the mass media attributed all these companies to the sphere of influence of Yuriy Ivanyushchenko – Yenakievskyi.

"The listed facts may be one of the reasons for rejection of the participants' proposal", – said the protocol of the commission.

But “ATOMSERVIS” recognized as the winner of the competition.

After the announcement of the results, another the bidder filed a lawsuit in court. This was reported by Yarova herself. She stated that she knows who did it and who is behind the plaintiff company – “names known throughout the country”. However, she did not name any names. According to her, filing a lawsuit – this is allegedly an attempt to disrupt the competition.

Apparently, Yarova, a member of the Anticorruption Council at the Ministry of Defense, predicted that there would be many questions before such a result. Therefore, in advance and immediately after the competition, she tried to explain how it was possible that a firm with such a reputation and problems with the law, which Yarovya herself knew about, won the competition.

Yarova's argument regarding the selection of an unscrupulous company is that, they say, in the event that it is not her, but the one that won the second place in the competition, then the second is even worse, and the third – worse than the second, fourth – worse than the third and so on. And this is a rather strange logic, which obviously has nothing to do with the law.

Yarova believes that if the winner is not “ATOMSERVICE”, then the supply of food to the army will be disrupted, since we are talking about contracts that will come into effect on July 1, i.e. in two weeks. However, it should be noted that, probably, the competition should not have been scheduled for the beginning of June, but much earlier – including, taking into account probable legal disputes. But Yarova said that a lawsuit (absolutely legal action) will also cause delays in deliveries. Thus, it is difficult to perceive what Yarova said as anything other than manipulation.

And, finally, Yarova emphasized that the plaintiff company, which also participated in the competition, offered the highest price among all other applicants. It is also quite strange to hear such a thing from the lips of a member of the Anti-Corruption Council, because whatever price is offered by one or another participant in the competition, it is in any case lower than the starting price. This is the “ProZorro” principle. – reverse auction. And this – legal, even if the participant offers a price that will be less than the starting price by only 1%. However, it is illegal to deprive a contestant of the right to file complaints. But Yarova emphasizes this, saying that it is not the business of the participant who offered not the lowest price to question the entire competition. In fact, this is his right, guaranteed by law. But the member of the council, who is supposed to fight corruption, for some reason thinks otherwise.

In addition, Yarova has not yet revealed some important details of this lawsuit, namely: the plaintiff, who is not named by her, filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defense on the basis of precisely those facts that testify to the riskiness of “ATOMSERVIS”, and which were noted by the consent commission itself in its protocol Anti-corruption Council and Yarova personally. Simply put, the plaintiff did not have to invent anything – it was enough to look at the conclusions of the same Yarova and go to court with that. Which they did, using their right granted by law.

Law – this is me

In addition to this shocking event, something else happened that the public could not have noticed: the tender for the supply of food for the astronomical sum of UAH 24.67 billion. none of the well-known retailers in Ukraine came. That is, the companies that have the greatest opportunities to provide the army with food at the lowest prices decided that it is not worth it. And there is an explanation for this.

According to our data, some members of the Anticorrad, in particular, Yarova, intervened in the preparation of the conditions for the participants. Figuratively speaking, these conditions are very similar to the following: “The winner can only be the company whose name begins with “atom.'' and ends with "service".

As you know, on the "ProZorro" website Contest participants can publicly ask any question to the customer of goods or services. We noticed that they were worried about several rules.

In particular, the winner of the competition was required to provide a deposit or a bank guarantee in the amount of 1% of the contract value, which in the case of ATOMSERVIS, as the winner, amounts to UAH 10,588,669.29. >

In addition, the winner is required to deposit 3% of the contract amount. That is, this money – more than 30 million hryvnias – will actually be frozen for the duration of the contract. At the same time, they must be transferred to the MO account, and the interest on such a “deposit” are not accrued.

One of the participants of the competition noted the following: "Taking into account the expected cost of the purchase the size of the deposit will amount to tens of millions of hryvnias, which will be temporarily withdrawn from the economic turnover of the winner and which will not be able to be used in the execution of the concluded contract for more than six months. In addition, in the conditions of martial law, the instability of the national currency and the constant fluctuation of the exchange rate of the hryvnia against the US dollar and the euro, any participant will include in the price of his offer the amount of probable inflation and the probable amount of currency fluctuations for the amount of a deposit of tens of millions of hryvnias< /strong>, which will have to be paid in case of conclusion of the contract. Also  each participant will include in the price of his offer the amount of minimum profit from the amount of the deposit of tens of millions of hryvnias, if the participant could use the specified funds in his economic activity… We believe that, from the very beginning of the procedure, the condition for the winner to provide security for the performance of the contract in the form of a deposit, the amount of which is 3% of the contract value, does not contribute to the customer receiving the most economically advantageous price offer and artificially narrows competition, which violates the principles… effective use of budget funds…».

According to retailers, who were familiar with the conditions of the competition, but refused to participate in it, the specified amounts are not too burdensome for them.

"The point is not that we will have 30 million frozen. Yes, it's annoying in itself, but it's not a big problem. Here, the problem is complex, because together with the artificial withdrawal of our working capital, we were offered such conditions that can be considered draconian,” said one of the retailers.

Yes, the following conditions were invented for the winner of the competition:

• military units will not be able to accept food by more than 10%, which means that when delivering even a small amount of goods with a surplus, the whole batch will not be accepted and paid for;
• in order to receive payment, all expense invoices must be submitted to the Ministry of Defense every week: on average, 60-70 types of goods must be supplied in one week, which should be multiplied by the number of weeks (about 25, i.e. six months of the contract) and multiplied by the number of military units (by the way , still unknown) – it is extremely difficult to process such a number of invoices, it requires additional resources and costs;
• in case of product replacement after 48 hours, the fine is 100%;

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• in case of delayed delivery or underdelivery, the penalty is 20% of the amount + 0.1% penalty for each day;
• in case of any violation by the supplier, MO has the right not to pay.

«We consider such demands risky and unacceptable , another retailer said on condition of anonymity. – In this "equation" there are a lot of unknowns. The parameters of the contract are clearly discriminatory. Only those who have a special relationship with the customer that is not provided for by law could agree to such conditions.. We don't want one day to receive suspicion from the law enforcement officers.

ATOMSERVIS, which won the competition, provided the commission with a bank guarantee of over 10 million hryvnias. It is obvious that other conditions also suited her quite well. And large, experienced retailers – No. And this is a rather negative signal for the entire market – not only retail.

However, the fact that the terms of the competition were written for one company, there is an explanation if you consider who is behind it.

Money, politics and Serhii Pashynskyi

According to our data, "UKRATOMSERVIS", as well as other companies associated with Yuriy Yenakievsky, are actually controlled by the Kryuchkov brothers – Dmytro and Leonid.

As the media reported, the brothers control the food suppliers of LLC “ACTIVE COMPANY”. and LLC “Rektan” – the latter is mentioned in the decision of the commission on the victory in the tender “UKRATOMSERVIS”; and their mutual connection.

It is known about Leonid Kryuchkov, in particular, that he was one of the managers of the subsidiary company “Ukrinmash”, which was part of the structure of Ukroboronprom. And about Dmytro, that until 2016 he managed JSC “Ukrnaftogazbud”, whose shareholder was JSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine”.

The brothers cooperated with Petro Poroshenko's entourage, in particular, with the former deputy secretary of the National Security Council Oleg Gladkovsky, whose corruption scandal cost Poroshenko the presidential seat.

According to our data, the Kryuchkovs have now joined forces with another well-known figure – a former national deputy and chairman of the VRU Committee on National Security and Defense, Serhiy Pashinskyi.

We remind you that in In 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine bought old BMP-1s from a Polish company at inflated prices. According to the NV magazine, Pashinsky and – again – Hladkovskyi. That is, Pashynskyi as the former chairman of the defense committee and as a businessman had affairs with the Ministry of Defense – he is well acquainted with public procurement. Like the Kryuchkov brothers.

Among other things, Pashynskyi at one time helped quite famous persons to get into politics. He invested money in various political projects, in particular, the “Fatherland” party. Yulia Tymoshenko and “People's Front” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, not to mention individual majority MPs.

And now, while the war continues, you can hear more and more often about elections to the Verkhovna Rada. That's why Pashynskyi decided to join a party known to very few people with the tentative name “Dream”.

Recently, the publication RBC-Ukraine reported the following: “The biggest intrigue is probably the format of participation or non-participation in the elections of Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny.” Various political groups are now trying to attract the extremely popular general, while he himself, according to the available information, has not finally made the decision to enter politics. In particular, they want to see him in the ranks of the project called “Dream”, which includes many famous military personnel and veterans, such as Yury Gudymenko or Yulia “Tyra”. Paevska It must be understood: whatever party Zaluzhny will be in, it will be the main “party of the military”, no matter who is still on the list.

In connection with the mention of the party “Dream” it is impossible not to mention that in February of this year Dana Yarova presented a charity fund, which is also called “Dream”. The fund was created to help the families of captured and fallen defenders of Ukraine. The guest of the presentation was, in particular, the spokesman of the State Government Andriy Yusov. During the evening getting to know “Mria” a charity auction was held. The lots included a t-shirt and a calendar with Valery Zaluzhny's autograph.

Corruption Council

Whether there will be elections in the near future or not, you should prepare for them and bet on those who are guaranteed will go to the parliament. Not everyone can give such a guarantee now, but a conditional party of the military – definitely can.

But the election – thing is expensive. Therefore, according to our sources, Pashynskyi gradually began to invest in the “Dream” party, which is also being built by Dana Yarova.

Given this information, it cannot be ruled out that Yarova could be under the influence of Pashynskyi. At least, this is indirectly indicated by the frank defense of “ATOMSERVICE”.

And this should become the subject of consideration by both the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the Anti-Corruption Council itself, which in just a month of its existence has already managed to undermine confidence in itself due to undisguised lobbying and, in fact, undisguised corruption.

NYT : the company associated with Pashynskyi became the largest private supplier of weapons to Ukraine

The company associated with former People's Deputy Serhiy Pashynskyi became the largest private supplier of weapons to the Armed Forces. However, the Ukrainian military receives the necessary weapons at the highest prices. This is stated in the investigation of The New York Times.

“Desperate” a phone call from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

The publication recalls that in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, the Armed Forces urgently needed weapons and ammunition, as deliveries from NATO countries had not yet begun. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities were forced to turn to the former People's Deputy Serhiy Pashinskyi, who has connections in the arms market.

"Prior to that, he (Pashynskyi. – Ed.) lived in virtual political exile in his country estate, removed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and his promise to eradicate corruption", – the article says.

According to the publication, Pashynskyi had connections in the arms business, he knew how to work in conditions of fierce competition and was not afraid of bureaucracy. It was invaluable in wartime.

"In order to supply weapons to the front lines, the leaders resurrected figures from Ukraine's difficult past. Government officials have stopped blacklisting suppliers who cheated the military,", – the article says.

Ukraine's largest private arms supplier

A New York Times investigation showed that eighteen months later, a company associated with Pashynsky became the largest private supplier of weapons in Ukraine. It buys and sells grenades, artillery shells and rockets through a trans-European network of intermediaries

Last year, the company reported the best annual turnover in its history: sales totaled more than $350 million, compared to $2.8 million in the year before the Russian invasion.

And again under investigation

According to the NYT, Pashinsky is now under investigation again, and law enforcement officers are checking his companies.

The ex-Deputy himself denies any interest in the arms business.

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Bulgaria as an example

Ukraine's armed forces rely heavily on Soviet-caliber ammunition, and there is only so much of it, mostly in the former Soviet bloc, including those unwilling to antagonize Russia by selling it to Ukraine. Getting access to this offer requires sophisticated networks, which Pashinsky and his team possess.

One country that had a large arsenal of Soviet-style weapons and ammunition was Bulgaria, which refused to sell directly to Ukraine for fear of angering Russia.

This made Pashinsky particularly valuable, officials say.  Ukrainian Armored Vehicles, a company associated with the former deputy of the People's Republic of Ukraine, had connections in Bulgaria.

Since Bulgaria did not allow the sale of ammunition directly to Ukraine, "Ukrainian armored vehicles" concluded an agreement with 70-year-old Polish mediator Andrzej Kowalczyk. He received documents in which Poland, not Ukraine, was indicated as the final buyer.

The documents show that the weapons went from Bulgarian manufacturers to a Bulgarian broker named Kaloyan Stanislavov, then to a Polish intermediary, then to Ukrainian armored vehicles and finally to the Ukrainian military.

With each step, prices rose , and the Polish intermediary received his share.

According to the publication, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office is currently investigating this network and checking whether Pashinsky received kickbacks from the Polish intermediary.

Consequences

"In the near future, the gamble pays off. Ukraine held off Russian forces long enough for international aid to arrive. The long-term risk is that these temporary changes will take hold, and that Pashinsky and others will emerge from the war with more money and influence than ever, ", – the article says.

Much of the money fueling the system comes from European aid, says an official with knowledge of Ukraine's wartime financing.

But European and American officials don't like to discuss Pashinsky for fear of playing into Russia's narrative that the Ukrainian government is corrupt.

Privately, however, they say the re-emergence of figures like Pashinsky is one of the reasons why the US and British governments are buying ammunition for Ukraine, and not just hand over money.

"Let's not touch people for what they did in February-March 2022. Even if it looks suspicious", – Deputy Minister of Defense Volodymyr Gavrilov said in a comment to the publication.

Let us remind you that in 2021, ex-Nardeput Serhii Pashinsky  was acquitted of shooting a person.