The Security Service of Ukraine suspects officials of the Chernihiv regional state administration and a number of private firms of “obstructing the legitimate activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during a special period.” In 2023, the region received UAH 363 million from the state budget. for the construction of military engineering and fortification structures.
Work to protect the border from a possible attack was to be completed by December 31, 2023. However, the work was not completed in full, and law enforcement officers have many questions about what has been done.
According to documents, 200 million hryvnia were spent on strengthening. However, the SBU believes that the volume of work is artificially inflated, and the quality of the structures does not meet the technical conditions.
The main subcontractor was the Chernigov joint-stock company Stroyindustriya. According to the YouControl service, the main shareholders of the company are father and son Alexander and Sergey Pilipenko. They are also co-owners of the Kovalskaya Industrial and Construction Group.
“The actions of officials of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, State Enterprise “UkrSiverStroy” CJSC “DSK” and JSC “Stroyindustry” show signs of a criminal offense under Art. 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” the case file says.
This is an article about obstructing the legitimate activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations. The offense is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years. The case continues.
This is far from the only scandal in which Kovalskaya, its general director Sergei Pilipenko and owner Alexander Pilipenko appear.
In August, court hearings began on the Kovalskaya lawsuit against public figure Dmitry Perov. The activist insists that the company illegally demolished a historical monument on Zhilyanskaya Street in Kyiv last year. The company is currently building the NUVO business center. “Kovalska” demands compensation of 100 thousand UAH for posts on Facebook.
“They see a trend that the role of civil society is growing. They want to make this case demonstrative, to demonstrably punish activists who oppose the destruction of historical buildings. They say, we are such an influential company that the court cannot interfere with us, the police cannot interfere with us, activists cannot interfere with us,” Perov commented on the case.
Kovalskaya is also trying, in its own interests, to block the arrival of Western investment in the construction materials industry in Ukraine. Sergei Pilipenko launched an entire campaign against the deal to purchase two cement plants of the Italian company Buzzi by CRH.
“I believe that this will definitely have a negative impact and even greater concentration in the cement market will occur. This will limit competition and create additional risks for consumers in terms of product availability, accessibility and cost,” said Sergei Pilipenko.
In reality, this is just a dirty game. Kovalskaya wants to block the deal and then independently buy these assets at a lower price. Despite the efforts of the concrete workers, consideration of the agreement by the Antimonopoly Committee (AMCU) has already reached the market test.
Previously, Kovalskaya was involved in other scandals - illegal sand mining, illegal construction, the fall of the Degtyarovsky Bridge in Kyiv. Now, obstruction of the activities of the Armed Forces has now been added to this list, although not directly. Will the owners of Kovalskaya get what they really deserve, or will they get away with it again?
