A civic organization demands accountability involving several road repair companies connected to state-owned enterprise Ukravtodor for alleged collusion, according to a complaint that the organization sent to the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine on Aug. 27.
According to the document assembled by Competition and Consumers Protection Council, road repair companies Rostdorstroy, Poltavabudtsentr, Mykolaivbudtsentr, Granit-001, and Dorleader are accused of regular tender collusions. Rostdorstroy is the fifth main contractor of Ukrainian state road agency Ukravtodor.
The organization blames the road repair companies for “committing anti-competitive coordinated actions.”
The council argues that Rostdorstroy in collusion with other companies, frequently took part in the same tenders by submitting coordinated price offers, working in tandem and sending similar applications.
For instance, the organization accuses Rostdorstroy and Dorleader in coordinated actions during a tender for the repair of highway N-11 Dnipro-Mykolaiv. The Mykolaiv Oblast road service, which is managed by Ukravtodor, declined the applications from four participants, except from Rostdorstroy and Dorleader, according to CCPC.
According to the report, Dorleader offered the lowest price – Hr 131 million – but at the end of the auction declined to sign the contract with the client. Consequently, Rostdorstroy won, offering to repair the road for Hr 162 million. After that, Rostdorstroy attracted Dorleader as a subcontractor and transferred it Hr 16 million.
The civic organization claims that road companies can be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover. If proven guilty, the road service companies will have to pay double the amount in damages that were done against the state, according to CCPC.
In 2019 the Security Service of Ukraine detained Araik Amirkhanyan, the owner of Dorleader and Poltavabudtsentr, who was accused of bribing Ukrainian state agencies to win state contracts for road repairs.
On July 20, international anti-corruption investigators from Ukraine and Poland arrested Slawomir Novak, the former head of Ukravtodor who managed the agency during 2016-2019. He is accused of running a corrupt scheme in which money was stolen from funds allocated by international financial organizations for Ukraine to repair roads.
