Zaporizhzhia's fake procurement scheme

In Zaporizhzhia, the management of the state-owned enterprise JSC "Ivchenko-Progress" has found itself at the centre of a major scandal. According to the investigation, the company, which designs and manufactures gas turbine engines, organised a scheme with private entrepreneurs to misappropriate state funds through fake procurements. 

Among the key figures under investigation are the company's director, Ihor Kravchenko, and a number of businessmen linked to private companies.

How the fake supply scheme worked

Between 2021 and 2023, the state enterprise transferred 120 million hryvnia to the accounts of two private companies: LLC "PP Carbon" and LLC "UPK Carbon". Notably, 94% of all income received by these companies came from "Ivchenko-Progress", indicating that these firms had no other clients and existed solely on state orders.

Despite the substantial inflows, the companies lacked production facilities, qualified staff, or warehouse space. In essence, they were intermediaries that resold goods at significantly inflated prices. For instance, the supply of cathodes and other components actually cost several times less than what the state enterprise paid.

Pseudo-certification and tender manipulation

To bypass tender procedures, officials of "Ivchenko-Progress" artificially created conditions under which only these two companies could supply goods. The quality and origin certificates for the products, on which the purchases were based, turned out to be forged — they allegedly came from international companies that did not actually supply the products.

Money laundering through shell companies

Going beyond fake supplies, the scheme's organisers used intermediary companies for money laundering. Through shell firms, such as LLC "Bridge Construction", funds were transferred in a chain, with the purpose of payments being altered. For example, money received for the supply of components could be documented as financial aid or the purchase of materials.

Furthermore, "Bridge Construction" actively participated in tenders via the Prozorro system, winning more than 50 tenders in cities such as Dnipro, Boyarka, and Vyshneve. However, as the investigation revealed, the company did not carry out the work itself. Construction projects were executed by other firms, but at inflated prices.

Confiscation of funds and further investigations

Law enforcement officers conducted an audit and identified numerous suspicious transactions between the companies. As a result, the accounts of "Bridge Construction" were blocked in several banks, including JSC "EPB", JSC "KB Globus", and JSC "Sense Bank". It also emerged that the firm had been re-registered from local businessman Dmytro Pasuri to a Kazakhstani citizen, Alexey Kamalov.

According to information from the ABSOLUTION detective agency