The State Audit Service has discovered many violations during procurement for the State Emergency Service (SSES). The total amount of losses for the state from these tenders is more than 3 billion hryvnia, and rescuers were deprived of critical equipment.
Compliance with the instructions of the Ministry of Economy, negligence or sabotage of the work of firefighters? The State Emergency Service carried out centralized purchases of special equipment for rescue services, while the specific needs of regional units were ignored, and the winners of the tenders were structures close to the bureaucracy. According to estimates by the State Audit Service, the state lost more than UAH 3 billion in these “schemes.”
Why doesn’t the specialized department of the State Emergency Service want to buy aerial ladders and other equipment that is extremely necessary for rescuers? And who benefits from this? StopCora journalist Artem Rebrov looked into it .
There are dozens of regional units of the State Emergency Service in Ukraine. Usually, each of them separately forms the needs and makes purchases of what their desperate and dangerous work requires. However, this year the situation has changed: in June, the Ministry of Economy, represented by Yulia Sviridenko, obliged the State Emergency Service of Ukraine to carry out centralized procurement.
In particular, together we purchased 71 tank trucks - this lot was won by the Pozhmashina . According to preliminary estimates , the businessmen made several million hryvnia on each car. To highlight this situation, StopKor sent a number of relevant statements to law enforcement agencies.
What was the reaction of law enforcement?
Subsequently, it became known that the SBI opened a criminal case based on these facts, and some of its details were publicly commented on by the State Audit Service. In particular, they reported that Pozhmashina supplied the State Emergency Service of the Lviv region with three fire engines at a price of UAH 11.04 million each. The company's profit amounted to UAH 3.4 million. But GASU, guided by government decree No. 335, recognized this as a loss to the state. Moreover, inspections were carried out at all suppliers of the State Emergency Service, because Pozhmashina is not the only counterparty of the State Emergency Service, and the department’s conclusions regarding other companies are similar.
The editors of StopCor received a memo addressed to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Igor Klimenko . The document lists dozens of facts of violations during the procurement of the State Emergency Service. And the total amount of identified violations and shortcomings exceeded UAH 3 billion. For comparison, this amount could purchase more than 200 thousand FPV drones, which are urgently needed by our military.
This document also provides specific examples.
Back in May, rescuers of the Kharkov region asked the State Emergency Service to provide permission to purchase a ladder truck from 45 to 55 meters. The choice of this length is not accidental, because there are many 16-story buildings in Kharkov. Especially on the long-suffering Northern Saltovka. The border with Russia is less than 30 kilometers from here, and the microdistrict regularly suffers from shelling. However, instead of one long staircase, two short ones were distributed here.
But Sumy rescuers also asked to be allowed to purchase aerial ladders 35 and 45 meters long. But the tenders had to be canceled altogether, because this money was taken for the same wholesale purchase of fire trucks.
“As a result of the audit, the auditors found out: this tender was registered specifically for the Pozhmashina company. In order for this company to get the biggest jackpot - UAH 1.4 billion, the purchase was divided into two lots. It turned out that exactly these machines were purchased a year ago, the auditors compared the prices - and voila: the state was “heated” by almost 300 million hryvnia on this purchase ,” comments Artem Rebrov.
And the most interesting thing, according to the memorandum, in fact, in fact, we do not have a shortage of fire tankers up to 3 tons - there are almost three times more of them than needed. And there was no need to purchase them in such quantities.
And a few more interesting figures that government auditors noticed.
As follows from the report, more than 226 million UAH were made by the suppliers of the State Emergency Service when purchasing aerial ladders for various departments. The service lost another 109 million UAH from the budget during various types of defense procurement for rescuers. Officials “overpaid” UAH 45 million when purchasing special vehicles in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions.
And these are just a few examples. The total amount of damage to the state, according to the State Administration of Ukraine, is 3 billion 038 million 685 thousand hryvnia.
Why and in whose interests does the main apparatus of the State Emergency Service ignore the urgent needs of its units?
StopCor sent a request to the service on this issue, but the journalists never received a response. Requests were also sent to other competent authorities. However, few responded. In particular, the Prosecutor General's Office sent these facts for consideration and verification during the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on the grounds of a criminal offense. But NABU does not see objective data indicating that corruption offenses have been committed.
“ This story has received considerable publicity, and I would like law enforcement agencies to finally become interested in this topic. We will again send statements about the violations found and hope for a speedy response ,” the investigator summarizes.
Let us remind you that, despite the comments of state auditors and the criminal trail of the favorite, the State Emergency Service held a tender for the purchase of vehicles for firefighters - the total amount of lots amounted to 1.3 billion. And the winner of the bidding, almost without competition, was the company of former high-ranking official Oleg Averyanov .
