Contractor for Pokrovske fortifications halts construction due to searches
9 October 2024 13:34
The Avtomagistral-Pivden construction company has stopped work on fortifications along the front line in the Pokrovske direction due to investigative actions by the National Police. The company announced this on its Facebook page, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
It is noted that during the search, law enforcement officers seized crucial documents, namely design and executive documentation for critical infrastructure facilities.
The company’s computer network, which provides electronic document management and controls almost all production processes, was also disrupted.
The company stressed that the seizure of communications equipment makes it impossible to manage and coordinate the activities of production units.
“Work on critical infrastructure facilities, especially on fortifications along the frontline, in particular in the Pokrovske direction, has been suspended! There is a risk of disruption of logistics and military routes due to the inability to maintain frontline roads,” the company said.
The company noted that the investigation failed to explain why the company was attacked.
“Disputed issues regarding pricing, tender procedures, etc. are being resolved in court. Investigators claim alleged damages, but admit that the expertise has only been ordered! Where did the figure come from? It was invented by the investigators only to justify the lawlessness. The ordered nature of the case is obvious,” Avtomagistral-Pivden claims.
It should be noted that on the morning of 7 October, Avtomagistral-Pivden reported on large-scale searches that took place on 4 October. The company noted that the proceedings are related to several tenders that it won at different times in different regions on Prozorro.
The National Police conducted urgent searches at the company, which is suspected of causing budget losses of more than one billion hryvnias. This is a construction company that carries out repair and construction work on state infrastructure facilities.
The investigation believes that the company’s officials, through artificial mark-ups in the supply chain of inventory, “unlawfully increased the cost of goods, entered false information into the acts of work performed, which caused damage to the state budget in particularly large amounts – in excess of one billion hryvnias”.
Urgent searches of the company’s employees’ places of work and residence were conducted after receiving operational information that “documents evidencing criminal activity may soon be destroyed,” the National Police said.
Prior to 2022, Avtomagistral-Pivden was the main road contractor for the Big Construction programme. During the full-scale war, it continued to receive large contracts, including for the construction of the Ingulets-Kryvyi Rih water pipeline.
In September 2024, the company won a multimillion-dollar tender to repair an emergency bridge near Darnytsia metro station in Kyiv.
“Avtomagistral-Pivden is owned by businessman Oleksandr Boyko.
