New episode in Ukrzaliznytsia "diesel fuel" case

On May 18, 2021, NABU and SAPO served notices of suspicion to three persons whose actions during the purchase of diesel fuel for Ukrzaliznytsia PJSC resulted in almost UAH 103 million losses to the company.

The suspects are:

•  Head of Ukrzaliznytsia "Production Support Center" branch (Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
•  Head of branch's Department of Accounting for Petroleum Products and Warehousing (Part 2 Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
•  director of a company (corruption scheme mastermind) - Part 3 and Part 5 Art. 27, part 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

* positions as of crime date

According to the investigation, in early January 2017, Ukrzaliznytsia's Production Support Center entered into a number of contracts with a company controlled by corruption scheme participants for the purchase of 55,000 tons of diesel fuel at a price of UAH 18,499 to UAH 18,999 per ton. At the same time, the head of the branch refused to order diesel fuel under these cost-effective agreements, and instead in January 2017 ordered diesel fuel from the same company, though under other contracts with a higher price - from UAH 21,300 to UAH 22,230 per ton.

Subsequently, at the end of January 2017, the participants in the corruption scheme, acting in favor of the said company, concluded a number of additional agreements to the supply contract, which unreasonably increased the price of diesel fuel for Ukrzaliznytsia by 10%. The suspects hid the illegal actions by manipulating information on price fluctuations in the fuel market. After several price increases under the additional agreements, the branch management issued orders for the supply of the entire volume of fuel. As a result, in January-February 2017, Ukrzaliznytsia PJSC overpaid over UAH 102.7 million, purchasing diesel fuel at a price ranging from UAH 22,421.1 to UAH 22,971 per ton.

This case is the fourth episode of the corruption scheme exposed by the NABU Detectives, which was implemented in 2015-2017 at Ukrzaliznytsia with the participation of the said commercial company.

Follow this link for more information on other episodes in the case