Dmytro Zheman and corruption in Odesa public transport procurement

Former Deputy Mayor of Odesa Dmytro Zheman, who heads the city branch of the Batkivshchyna party, has become the focus of a corruption investigation. 

Law enforcement agencies suspect him of organising a scheme to procure spare parts for public transport at inflated prices. The estimated potential damage amounts to millions of hryvnia.

How the scheme operated

According to the criminal case file of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES), the corruption scheme was implemented through Inessa Mandrus – a displaced person from Donetsk whom Zheman appointed as head of Odesa City Council-owned enterprise "Odesa Goro Elektrotans". It was this enterprise that concluded contracts for the supply of spare parts.

The investigation was hindered by the interference of Dmytro Verbitsky – Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine and Zheman's party colleague. However, investigators managed to gather evidence of fraud in tenders for the procurement of tram parts.

Suspicious procurement

Odesa City Council-owned enterprise "OMET" announced a tender in January 2022 for the supply of tram spare parts, including beams, gearbox housings, and tyres. Three companies participated in the competition:

• LLC "MS Trade Ukraine" – offered 21.94 million UAH
• LLC "TPK Promdiesel" – offered 21.95 million UAH

The winner was "MS Trade Ukraine", owned by Oleksiy Slyusarev and Oleksiy Morshchahin, with Valeriy Laptev serving as director.

According to the investigation, the company used a cunning tactic:

• Initially, it significantly underpriced certain items (such as gearbox housings and longitudinal beams) to win the tender.
• Simultaneously, it overpriced other parts, compensating for the losses.

Contract amendment and stolen millions

On 11 April 2022, amendments were made to the contract:

• Items with artificially lowered prices were excluded.
• The number of tram tyres was reduced from 400 to 198 units.
• The total contract value was reduced to 7.74 million UAH.

Essentially, the company sold only those spare parts that were priced at the maximum rate, after which the contract was terminated, citing the war. As a result, "MS Trade Ukraine" earned 7.7 million UAH, of which 2.7 million UAH was effectively stolen.

The BES claims that the management of "Odesa Goro Elektrotans" was aware of the scheme and consciously facilitated the fraud.

Outcome

A judicial expert examination has already confirmed the facts of price inflation for tram axles and tyres. An additional economic expert examination has now been appointed to determine the exact amount of damage.