Ukrzaliznytsia held a tender for almost a billion hryvnia for the purchase of new comfortable and safe cars for night express trains. However, they will be manufactured by the winning bidder, the Kryukov Carriage Works, with the sanctioned Russian final beneficiary Stanislav Gamzalov. Why was there only one participant? And how to draw up the terms of the tender so that unwanted players, including foreign companies, do not enter?
Ukrzaliznytsia recently successfully held a tender in the amount of 980,450,400.00 hryvnia and will purchase 44 cars at the expense of the state budget. According to the ProZorro system, they will be manufactured by the Kryukov Carriage Works. The delivery of new cars must be completed within two years in accordance with the terms of the concluded contract.
The company explained that “This quantity will allow the formation of up to 3 trains of the “Night Express” class entirely from new cars: 6-7 compartment cars (20 in total), 3 SV cars (9 in total) and in each train - per carriage intended for the carriage of passengers with disabilities (3 in total).
It is also planned to purchase 9 reserved seat carriages (3 per train). Typically, “Night Express” trains consisted only of compartment and SV carriages, but the updated format will also include reserved seat carriages in order to expand transportation capabilities in the most socially significant segment.
Features of the tender from Ukrzaliznytsia
However, this is not all the surprises from Ukrzaliznytsia. The tender organizers outdid themselves by drawing up the procurement conditions in such a way that only one participant could take part. This can be concluded from the complaint filed by SENSO DYNAMICS on the ProZorro platform.
Addressing the developers of the project documentation, SENSO DYNAMICS reports the illegality of the procurement procedure. After all, the price of the company that received the contract is inflated. And the tender conditions are written in such a way as to filter out other companies that could offer more attractive prices and create competition. In addition, the conditions of the tender documentation are set out in such a way that no foreign company can take part in the tender.
Since SENSO DYNAMICS is not a resident, it is not able to register a tax invoice and cannot open accounts with the State Treasury of Ukraine, and this is a mandatory requirement in the submitted tender documents. And this was reported. However, none of the comments were taken into account and no changes were made to the documentation. That is, Ukrzaliznytsia deliberately pushed for the purchase of cars from the Kryukov Car Building Plant.
But regarding the point where payment for goods is stated, the position of Ukrzaliznytsia is generally incomprehensible. Based on Art. 23 of the Budget Code of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia stipulates that payment will be made only if there are appropriate budgetary allocations.
So what do we have then? If there is no necessary financing, then how should Ukrzaliznytsia sign the agreement. After all, if the payment is made using budgetary funds, then these are budgetary obligations. In this case, the wording of the section. 4.4. meaningless.
But let’s remember the not-so-long-ago information about how, as of January 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia was able to owe more than UAH 1.48 billion to the same Kryukov Carriage Works. 66 cars were delivered.
“The state ordered cars for UZ, planned funds for this, and the railway from the end of 2021 to November 2022 was unable to issue payment orders and transfer them to the State Treasury Service. And only in November-December 2022 they went there on December 13, only one was paid for 82 million UAH. The rest were returned to UZ due to the end of the financial year,” said Vladimir Prikhodko, chairman of the company’s supervisory board.
As you can see, the issue of lack of funds and non-payment of bills is not so new for Ukrzaliznytsia and, of course, none of the foreign companies will agree to such a scheme.
What interested the Kryukov Carriage Works?
Consequently, according to open tenders, 44 cars will be produced and supplied to Ukrzaliznytsia by the Kryukov Carriage Works, which is the largest manufacturer of cars in Ukraine. 45% of its shares belong to entrepreneur Vladimir Prikhodko and members of his family: Natalya Prikhodko is his wife, Pavel Prikhodko is his son. They are also the owners of the largest blocks of shares - TRANSBUILDING SERVICE LIMITED (UK), OW Capital Management GmbH/OW Capital Management GmbH (Austria), Osauhing DELANTINA and AS Skinest Finants (Estonia). Another 25% belongs to the company “Skinest Finants” by Oleg Osinovsky.
But 25% of the shares belong to Russian citizen Stanislav Gamzalov, who, according to open data from youcontrol, is one of the final beneficiaries. And here questions arise again. Gamzalov Stanislav Dzhakhparovich is today under sanctions from several countries.
Also, according to a statement by the National Police, Stanislav Gamzalov owns a number of critical infrastructure facilities, including in the defense sector.
Gamzalov is associated with the notorious party of Zhirinovsky LDPR. Gamzalov once ran for the Saratov Regional Duma from this political force.
Gamzalov's sanction is not classified information. Having accessed the “Arendabot” service for monitoring registration data of Ukrainian companies, we are immediately confronted with this information.
And here is just such a question. How can we now understand the requirements for the tender if Ukrzaliznytsia itself has prescribed that none of the final beneficiaries should be subject to sanctions, which is also required by Ukrainian legislation.
To date, it has been subject to a ban on public procurement.
In addition, at the request of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office on May 31, the corporate rights of KVBO were arrested and the issue of transferring them to the management of ARMA is being resolved. According to investigators, the Kryukov Carriage Works systematically purchased parts for the construction of cars at inflated prices from enterprises from Russia, when Ukrainian analogues were several times cheaper. The Office of the Prosecutor General reported this in a telegram channel.
No one argues that the carriages, which have not been updated since 2008, need to be replaced with more modern, comfortable and safe ones. But, still, there is a but... At a time when there is a full-scale war, ordinary citizens and partner countries spend money on weapons and supplying the army, public funds are spent on creating comfort.
Therefore, I really want to ask whether such updates are relevant. Of course, carriages with air conditioning, changing tables, controlled lighting, sockets and USB ports, coffee machines and a video surveillance system are very convenient. However, are these amenities comparable to the conditions in which the majority of the population of Ukraine finds themselves today?
Analysts sent a request to Ukrzaliznytsia and Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ukrzaliznytsia Sergei Leshchenko with a question about how much there is an urgent need for the purchase of billion-dollar cars during the hostilities in Ukraine, we are waiting for an answer and will keep you informed.
