The Kyiv Boryspil high-speed rail link went off the rails pretty quickly.
The line, connecting Kyiv Boryspil airport and the central railway station in 35 minutes, broke down three times in the first eight days of running in December.
Then, less than two months after its all-bells-and-whistles launch on Nov. 30, attended by President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, the National Police have opened a probe into a large-scale embezzlement during the construction of the rail link.
Ukrainian media reported on Jan. 22, citing materials from Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, that police are investigating a corruption scheme involving the officials of the state railways company, Ukrzaliznytsya, and a private contractor called Relaid LLC.
Kyiv Boryspil Express was built in seven months and cost the government Hr 580 million ($20.8 million). Only part of this sum, Hr 135 million ($4.8 million), was allocated for the services of private contractors.
Relaid won a public tender for the construction of the line’s rail bed, the installation of a metal canopy over the platforms, and landscaping worth of Hr 20.5 million ($735,284).
However, it allegedly posted false information in its construction progress reports and transferred the money to the bank accounts of ten firms that appeared to be shell companies. Police suspect that the Ukrzaliznytsya officials overseeing the project were aware of this and abetted the siphoning off of public funds. The court granted the police access to Relaid’s bank accounts.
According to the public watchdog Railway Without Corruption, Ukrzaliznytsya signed four new contracts with Relaid for additional work on the Kyiv Boryspil rail link at the end of December, nearly three weeks after it had been launched and had broken down three times. The contracts were worth a total of Hr 4.5 million ($161,841).
Relaid’s main line of business is leasing and renting cargo vehicles, according to the Ukrainian corporate registry. The company also works in road and housing construction. Its director Yuriy Kulakov could not be reached for comment by the time this story was published.
Ukrzaliznytsya denied any wrongdoing. In an official statement released on Jan. 22, the company said the selection of contractors and suppliers for the construction of Kyiv Boryspil Express was conduct in an open manner through the state public procurement system ProZorro.
Volodymyr Datsenko, the head of Railway Without Corruption, says that 30 percent of Ukrzaliznytsia’s tenders involve dubious private contractors, which appear to be used for money laundering.
The watchdog has recorded 40 criminal investigations into corruption in Ukrzaliznytsia being opened from 2017 to July 2018; none has been closed.
“Some of them have been sent to court. Some public officials have received notices of suspicion. But that’s all. No convictions,” Datsenko told the Kyiv Post.
