02.07.2025 Tenders

Ivan Fedorov as a “supervisor” of Zaporizhzhia’s budget schemes

Мер Мелітополя Іван Федоров вважає місто тимчасово окупованим - Останні та актуальні новини України та світу, новини дня онлайн - Україна Молода

Zaporizhzhia region, which is under constant threat due to its proximity to the war zone, receives significant budget funds for infrastructure projects, including the construction of roads, radiation shelters, and medical facilities. However, an analysis of data from the Prozorro public procurement system for 2022-2025 revealed a picture in which a number of tenders held by regional authorities end up in the private pockets of Zaporizhzhia CMA officials.

A number of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs associated with the regional authorities systematically receive contracts worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias. All of this is realized through artificial restriction of competition, overpricing, fictitiousness of participants and entails further legalization of illegally obtained funds.

Who is behind the tender fraud?

The central figure in this story is Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Authority. Using his influence, he coordinates the actions of regional structural units and controlled organizations to lobby the interests of related companies. The list of which includes:

  • DORGARANT LLC
  • AKVI-BUD Construction Company LLC
  • MELSITY LLC
  • GRADPROEKT-M LLC
  • ESCO ZAPORIZHZHYA LLC
  • CALMius Construction Company LLC
  • Kateryna Yuriyivna Svintsitska, a private entrepreneur.

Each of these legal entities has repeatedly won tenders organized by the Department of Capital Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, SE “Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Region”, Department of Infrastructure and Improvement of Zaporizhzhia City Council, and Melitopol City Council.

How does the scheme work?

The scheme is based on several key elements:

The first is the artificial restriction of competition. Tenders are held with minimum deadlines for submitting proposals, which makes it impossible for other companies to participate. Thus, the winners are companies with minimal authorized capital, lack of experience or material and technical base. The “right” participants submit proposals at inflated prices or without discounts, and after the contracts are signed, changes are made to adjust the amounts.

At the same time, procurements are often conducted without using Prozorro to completely eliminate public control and thus transparency.

Tenders that raise questions

Among the real-life examples of procurement conducted by Zaporizhzhia DPA is the receipt of 131 million by DORGARANT LLC for the provision of services for the operational maintenance of public roads from the State Enterprise “Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Region”.

Interestingly, the most favorable offer from AMSTRUD LLC (UAH 12.4 million cheaper) was rejected due to formal discrepancies, such as a discrepancy of UAH 3 thousand in the documents. The customer changed the terms of the contract three times, including extending the deadline without proper justification. A comparative analysis of prices for similar services in other regions showed an overestimation of the cost, which indicates inefficient use of budget funds.

Another example is AKVI-BUD LLC, which was paid UAH 67,000 by the Melitopol City Council’s Department of Culture and Youth (which has no authority to manage the housing stock) for the management of an apartment building.

This tender is suspicious for several reasons. First, AKVI-BUD was the only participant, which created a monopoly in the formation of the offer from the start. In the estimate, the cost of services, as expected, fluctuated at an inflated level from UAH 1,099.62 to UAH 1,974.60 without any feasibility study.

Another favorite of the Zaporizhzhia authorities, Melsiti LLC, which often acts as the sole bidder, received 107 million from the State Enterprise “Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Region” 107 million for the construction of a radiation shelter for Zaporizhzhia Gymnasium No. 84.

The tender for the construction of the shelter revealed a number of violations. In particular, MELSITY LLC did not provide a certificate of origin for the diesel generator, which is mandatory. The bidder’s material and technical base did not meet the requirements: the company had neither bulldozers nor dump trucks. The contract was changed 7 times in 3 months without proper justification.

The tender for the construction of a children’s hospital building with a radiation shelter for more than UAH 440 million was awarded to GRADPROEKT-M LLC, despite the fact that the customer, Local Roads State Enterprise, does not specialize in medical facilities.

In addition, the process of signing the agreement was accompanied by numerous manipulations, including a shortened deadline for submitting proposals (12 business days), which made it impossible to prepare high-quality documents. Then there were changes in the qualification requirements without extending the deadline, and there were no requirements for the phasing and audit of the work at all.

And the most interesting thing is that registered only a month before the tenders, CALMius Construction Company LLC received contracts for more than UAH 660 million from the State Enterprise Local Roads of Zaporizhzhia Region.

At the same time, the company’s authorized capital is only UAH 5,000, it has no material and technical base and qualified personnel, and its experience is confirmed by a dubious subcontract with LLC “Kompaniya POSITIV”, concluded 3 days after registration. Nothing suspicious, right?

Thus, Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Administrative Body, and companies associated with him systematically misappropriate budget funds through manipulation of tenders. Artificially limiting competition, inflating prices, using fictitious participants and non-transparent procedures allow hundreds of millions of hryvnias intended for roads, radiation shelters and medical facilities to be diverted.

We urge citizens who have information about the activities of Fedorov or his close associates or companies to report it.

Did you witness a crime?

Let us know about it. We will help protect the violated rights!

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