How to “master” 5 billion on the roads and cash them through pads and carpets

The last audit of government spending on road construction was in 2018. Since then, more than one investigation has been published in the Ukrainian media about the activities of the road cartel and abuses at Big Construction.

At the end of 2023, ZN.UA issued material that without an audit of the State Autonomous Inspectorate of Ukraine, NABU cannot further investigate the case of the former head of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration Reznichenko about abuses in the construction of roads in the region.

At the same time, Censor.NET obtained materials describing abuses that could have been carried out by one of the largest contractors in the construction of roads, the Avtomagistral Yug company.

A month ago, Romania signed an agreement with a consortium of concessionaires Avant Airports and the Ukrainian company Avtomagistral-South to build a new airport near Bucharest.

General Director of Avtomagistral-South Nikolay Timofeev called the airport the most large-scale infrastructure project in Romania. For Avtomagistral-Yug itself, this is also a big plus. After all, for many years the company was the largest contractor in the construction of roads in Ukraine, and now our state spends more money on weapons than on asphalt.

Over the past year, the income of Avtomagistral-South amounted to UAH 8.215 billion. This is somewhere like the earnings of the companies of the Glinyan family or Atomservice from food tenders of the Ministry of Defense.

At the same time, two weeks ago it became known that Avtomagistral Yug was suspected of improper performance of work during the construction of a water pipeline in Krivoy Rog. Therefore, the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development requests that UAH 9.1 million be recovered from Avtomagistral-Yug LLC.

According to information from YouControl, Avtomagistral-Yug LLC appeared on the market in 2006. The company was founded by Oleg Nalivanny and Valery Korotkov. The company has long been associated with Gennady Trukhanov, and for several years Alexander Boyko recognized his control over it.

Avtomagistral-Yug is the largest contractor for Ukravtodor in road construction.

For comparison. In 2019, Avtomagistral-Yug received 5.8 billion hryvnia in contracts, while Onur received 2.3 billion, and Avtostrada received 1.5 billion. In 2020, Avtomagistral-Yug has already received 17.2 billion, while its competitors Rostdorstroy received 7.8 billion, Onur received 6.7 billion, and Avtostrada received 5.8 billion.

In 2021, Avtomagistral-Yug won contracts worth 23 billion, Rostdorstroy - 7.6 billion, Onur - 11 billion, Autostrada - 12.2 billion.

In previous years, the Antitrust League reported that Avtomagistral-Yug is a defendant in numerous criminal investigations by various law enforcement agencies, from the police, tax and SBU, to NABU for tax evasion, theft of budget funds, transfer of 15% kickbacks to Ukravtodor employees, inflating prices for building materials, using “fictits and envelopes” and the like.

According to the Anti-Trust League, Avtomagistral-Yug is “a contractor who includes in the cost of repairing and building roads for budget funds the cost of building materials is 20-50% more expensive than the price at which companies from its orbit purchased them.”

“Our money” even published a table with criminal proceedings against the company.

Less than a week ago, the Darnytskyi court of the capital allowed the seizure of more than 100 documents from the Kievsvet enterprise as part of criminal proceedings. Among them there are some related to the “Motorway South”.

The court ruling said that the National Police in the city of Kyiv received a message that during the monitoring of public procurement, where the customer was the Kyivgorsvet enterprise, it was established that the volume and completeness of the work performed “does not correspond to the terms of the concluded contract, and also contains arithmetic inaccuracies, which indicates a waste of budget funds.”

Among other things seized there:

Calculation of the size of the planned estimated wages for workers of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC, original 2 sheets;

Calculation of actual indicators of general production expenses of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC based on the results of 2022, original 1 sheet;

General production expenses by cost items of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC for 2022 original 2 sheets;

Information on the structure, capacity of general production expenses based on the results of the activities of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC in 2022, original 2 sheets;

Calculation of the actual administrative costs of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC for 2022, original 2 pages.

It looks like a very detailed study of the activities of not just Kievsvet, but a much larger player.

Censor.NET sent inquiries to the National Police and the State Bureau of Investigation regarding the existing proceedings in relation to Avtomagistral-Yug, but both law enforcement agencies refused to provide such information.

At the same time, the publication has materials at its disposal that may indicate the possible misappropriation of public funds during 2019-2022 in an amount close to 5 billion hryvnia by Avtomagistral-Yug LLC and its satellites. We are talking about cooperation between the companies Shlyakhovik 97 LLC, Belogvi LLC, Modern Road Materials LLC, as well as Placent-Prom LLC, Medan LLC, Snab Point LLC, Centvin LLC, PE " Element 29-SN", LLC "Lari-Mar", LLC "Centuri".

In particular, the materials available to the publication indicate that the enterprises LLC Placent-Prom, LLC Medan, LLC Snab Point, LLC Centvin, carrying out financial and economic activities, one after another rented the same non-residential premises LLC "Avtomagistral-yug" and LLC "Shlyakhovik-97" rent the same warehouse premises, containers, platforms, and other property.

It is known that the enterprises LLC “Plaisent-Prom”, LLC “Medan”, LLC “Snab Point”, LLC “Sentvin” carried out financial and economic activities until law enforcement agencies became interested in their activities.

From open data it follows that Placent-Prom LLC operated from January 30, 2019 to July 31, 2020, then it was replaced by Medan LLC, which operated from March 27. 2000 to 08/13/2021. Today, this is Snab Point LLC, which has been operating from December 1, 2000 to the present day, and Centvin LLC from January 14, 2022 to the present day.

How are these companies connected? As already mentioned, only recently did Boyko admit that he owns Avtomagistral Yud. The registers note that he is also the founder of Shlyakhovik-97 LLC, which is the main supplier of materials for Avtomagistral Yug. And the director of Shlyakhovik is his brother Yuri Boyko, also known as the manager of Avtomagistral-Yug.

In Modern Road Materials LLC, the owner of a 50% stake is Shlyakhovik-97 LLC.

Probably, Placent-Prom LLC, Medan LLC, Snab Point LLC, Centvin LLC are gasket companies that, judging by the materials available to the publication, are used to implement transactions.

The fact that all these companies are connected is also evidenced by the court’s ruling in one of the criminal proceedings against Shlyakhovik-97 LLC regarding the fictitious purchase of bitumen.

As part of the seizure of evidence, “documents, seals and stamps of non-resident legal entities “Lightcom Trade LLP “SEAL”, “TRIDENT OVERSEAS MANAGEMENT LTD COMPANY SEAL”, “WESTPARK BUSINESS LTD “ANGUILA”, “LLC” were found and confiscated from one of the defendants in the case SZSK St. Petersburg, as well as the seal of MEDAN LLC, SNAB POINT LLC, SENTVIN LLC, etc.

“The identification of these seals subsequently influenced the identification and seizure of primary financial and economic documents containing the details of these enterprises due to the existence of the belief that these business entities are controlled by officials of Shlyakhovik-97 LLC and Avtomagistral-Yug LLC,” - stated in the court ruling.

The Avtomagistral Yug company commented on its connections with these companies to the publication Censor.NET:

“In total, the company’s database includes more than 10 thousand contractors (suppliers of construction materials and other inventory items). However, the disclosure of commercial information about prices and supply volumes, if the company is not its sole owner, contradicts the confidentiality policy and the terms of contracts with contractors,” the company’s response to the publication’s request is noted.

And when asked about renting premises by laying companies, they answered: “Renting out production or other premises is not the main activity of the company. However, the company may lease premises to other manufacturers to organize more efficient supply for the company's needs. All transactions are confirmed by relevant documents.”

After all, the materials that Censor.NET has at its disposal describe the possible misappropriation of state money through various schemes.

The details of the abuse can be traced by how individual components were purchased - sand, loam, bitumen and the like.

In the register of court decisions, Censor.NET found a case where one of these schemes is described.

“During the pre-trial investigation, information was received that officials of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC, in collusion with officials of the Highway Service in the Dnepropetrovsk region, the former head of the Service PERSON_5, sole proprietor PERSON_6 and officials of PJSC Petrikovsky Fish Farm, organized the theft of budget funds during the construction of the national highway N-31 “Dnepr-Tsarichanka-Kobelyaki-Reshetilovka”, by deliberately inflating the cost of sand, as well as its illegal extraction in the territory of the Petrikovsky district of the Dnepropetrovsk region,” the resolution says.

For the construction of the specified highway, Avtomagistral-Yug LLC purchased sand through Placent-Prom LLC, Phil Good Inc. LLC, Concrete Coatings and Technologies LLC and Dorozhnik-97 LLC.

As reported, sand for the road in the Dnepropetrovsk region was allegedly brought from the Vinnytsia region.

“So, officials of Avtomagistral-Yug LLC enter into official documents information about the cost of purchasing sand at a price that is 340% higher than the market price: while the market value of a ton of sand ranges from 35 to 65 hryvnia per ton, LLC “Avtomagistral-Yug” purchases sand from controlled companies at a cost of 124 hryvnia per ton,” the resolution says.

At the same time, during the pre-trial investigation it turned out that sand was mined on the territory of the village. Ivanovka, Petrikovsky district, Dnepropetrovsk region, “without the availability of title documents for such a land plot, as well as permitting documentation for production.”

In confirmation of the crime, officials of PJSC Petrikovsky Fish Farm (which used the site) found “draft” records, funds obtained by criminal means, documents and magnetic storage media confirming criminal activity, seals and stamps, etc. in the premises located on the specified land plot.”

The only thing we could find in the register was that the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Krivoy Rog did not extend the investigation period.

Other stories are also known.

Thus, according to the source, for the entire period of financial and economic activity, Snab Point LLC purchased crushed stone-sand mixture in the amount of 292,508.30 tons, in the amount of UAH 115.6 million.

The main suppliers of crushed stone-sand mixture for Snab Point LLC were Private Enterprise Leader, Technical Center Snami LLC, Comfort LTD LLC, Krivbass-crushed LLC and others.

But there were 2 main buyers of the crushed stone-sand mixture at Snab Point LLC:

1). LLC "Avtomagistral-yug" - 272,356.70 tons in the amount of 130,976,377.80 UAH.

2) LLC “Shlyakhovik-97” – 22,054.61 tons in the amount of 11,507,414.40 UAH.

Thus, Snab Point LLC sold 2 thousand tons more of the mixture than it bought, and the potential overpayment to the company amounted to UAH 26.8 million. And this is budget money.

The case with the supply of diesel fuel is also known. If we compare the available data, the main supplier of diesel fuel to Avtomagistral-Yug LLC was Eurostandard LLC. But Boyko’s company bought diesel directly from him only in small quantities. But the bulk of the volume was purchased through gasket companies LLC Placent-Prom, LLC Medan, LLC Snab Point, LLC Centvin, the publication was told.

For example, for the entire period of financial and economic activity, Placent-Prom LLC purchased diesel fuel in the amount of 29,671,375.95 liters.

The lion's share of diesel was purchased from Eurostandard LLC - 28,253,367.44 liters for a total amount of 585,130,910.64 UAH.

The gasket company bought another part of the fuel from Raf-Service Private Enterprise, Vano Trade Group LLC and Sol-Agrotrade LLC.

The main buyers of diesel fuel at Placent-Prom LLC were:

1) Avtomagistral-Yug LLC – 24,702,737.63 liters in the amount of 681,141,197.88 UAH.

2) LLC “Shlyakhovik-97” -1,587,285.00 liters in the amount of 40,838,875.20 UAH.

3) Modern Road Materials LLC - 1,748 liters in the amount of 45,454.99 UAH.

Several more enterprises bought diesel in small quantities.

But as a result, as available documents indicate, Placent-Prom was left with about 3 million liters of diesel worth more than 0.5 billion UAH unsold.

And since the purchase of diesel fuel by Placent-Prom LLC from such an enterprise as the Raf-Service private enterprise provided an opportunity for the groundless formation of a tax credit for Avtomagistral-Yug LLC, this story begins to acquire signs of so-called “twists”, which, According to Daniil Getmantsev, we haven’t had one for a long time.

In addition, Raf-Service LLC is a defendant in several criminal proceedings, where it is noted that this enterprise has signs of fictitiousness for the transfer of non-cash money into cash.

There is a similar story with the Snab Point company, which also mainly bought diesel from Eurostandard, and sold it to Avtomagistral-Yug LLC, Shlyakhovik-97 LLC and Modern Road Materials LLC. As a result, Snab Point bought fuel for 742.6 million and sold it for 834.8 million. Thus, as the documents show, more than 92 million from the budget, which were most likely embezzled

The gasket companies mentioned sold very different products to large builders. For example, the aforementioned Placent-Prom LLC supplied not only diesel, but also loam. Why not, these are very close areas. Larger multi-machine operators worked only on supplies to the Ministry of Defense.

So, according to the analytics available in Censor.NET, for the entire period of financial and economic activity, Placent-Prom LLC bought loam in the amount of 313,928.90 tons, but Avtomagistral-Yug LLC sold 469,948.3 tons. That is, 156,019.40 tons more than purchased.

The average purchase price of loam by LLC "Plaisent-Prom" was 20 UAH excluding VAT - per 1 ton, and the subsequent sale to LLC "Avtomagistral-Yug" was 35.26 UAH excluding VAT - per 1 ton. If you calculate the difference in hryvnias, you get about 13.8 million hryvnias, which probably ended up in someone’s pockets.

In addition, Avtomagistral-Yug LLC bought 138,618 tons of loam from Medan LLC for the amount of UAH 10,037,038.80.

The average purchase price for Medan LLC for loam is 33.35 UAH excluding VAT per 1 ton, and its further sale at Avtomagistral-Yug LLC is 42.35 UAH. Thus, 1.5 million hryvnia were earned.

Medan was created in 2020, and was already liquidated in 2021. This year of existence was enough to become the subject of an investigation by the National Police, as well as to become the heroes of journalistic materials.

Thus, journalist Inna Popovich in a video blog for Watchdogs.Info said that this company is registered in a department store in Vinnitsa, its owner and director Denis Lobodin is from Chernomorsk, Odessa region. He is also an employee of the Avtomagistral-Yug company.

In that material, Popovich said that Avtomagistral-Yug LLC, through a related intermediary, Medan LLC, inflated the cost of materials for road construction by at least 340 million UAH.

Avtomagistral Yug also bought concrete from the same Placent-Prom LLC, Medan LLC, and Snab Point LLC. Although all these gaskets were taken from other companies. For example, LLC "Vakula-T", LLC "Concrete Coatings and Technologies", LLC "Stroyindustriya-1", LLC "TIR", LLC "Betonbud", DP "Beton Center", LLC "MTS-Beton", LLC "Yug" -Concrete”, etc.

As a result, Placent-Prom LLC sold concrete in the amount of 15,005.17 m3 to the government contractor. Only if Placent-Prom Concrete LLC paid 31.4 million for concrete, it sold Avtomagistral for 43.8 million. As a result, more than 12 million budget funds were wasted somewhere.

By the way, according to the materials available to Censor.NET, the gasket companies then withdrew the money in cash.

For example, “Plaisent-Prom” used so-called “twists” to obtain cash: when, to generate a tax credit, “Plaisent-Prom” LLC purchased household goods for the population for 12 million UAH (carpets, lamps, chests of drawers, beds, chairs, soap dishes , benches, glasses, floor lamps, sconces, knitted fabric in rolls, spinning rods, fishing hooks and many other products).

These goods were sold for cash, and were documented to be sold at Placent-Prom LLC. But in reality, none of this was sold.

Censor.NET contacted the Avtomagistral Yug company for a comment to confirm the existence of purchases from these companies, as well as for an explanation of why they bought from them and not from manufacturers.

“Avtomagistral Yug” provided the following answer: “The choice by construction companies of one or another supplier of materials is associated with a combination of factors: the availability of the required volume of products, the ability to ensure delivery on time, the ability to organize delivery to a certain place, the provision of a significant deferred payment, a guarantee of product quality and things like that. Therefore, the price factor is important, but not the only one. This is why construction companies work with both manufacturers and traders. “Avtomagistral-Yug usually determines the supplier based on internal tender procedures.”

The author of the material is far from thinking that the described schemes are something unique for this market, but it raises questions about the effectiveness of the work of law enforcement agencies and the judicial branch of government.