The National Guard ordered construction at inflated prices from a company with a criminal record
On September 30, the Central Fuel and Lubricant Supply Base of the National Guard of Ukraine (Military Unit 3071) signed a contract with Artemzbut LLC for the construction of a building with special underground facilities for the amount of UAH 7.40 million. It became known from data “Prozorro” systems, writes “Our Money” edition.
Construction should be completed by the end of 2025, and payment will be made within 60 business days of completion of the work. The price of the contract is fixed and cannot be changed. Financing of this project will take place at the expense of the state budget.
However, already at the stage of procurement, a significant overestimation of prices for construction materials was revealed. In particular, B25 class concrete was ordered at a price of UAH 4,608 per cubic meter, while on the market similar concrete from the manufacturer “Grand Beton” in the Kyiv region is sold for UAH 3,018-3,678 per cubic meter, which is 20% cheaper. The Kovalska group has an even lower price — UAH 3,018–3,900 per cubic meter, which indicates an overpayment of about 15%.
In addition, hot-rolled reinforcing steel with a diameter of 10-12 mm was purchased at UAH 48,888 per ton, while the market price is only UAH 32,648-33,260 per ton, which is 50% cheaper. Carbon Eco polystyrene foam with a thickness of 100 mm was calculated at 710 UAH per square meter, while it can be purchased much cheaper on the market: at “Techno” for 515 UAH/sq.m., and at the construction base “Kub” for 438 UAH/sq.m. .m.
There are also questions about other materials, such as insulation, tiles and sandwich panels, due to the insufficiently detailed description of which it is impossible to accurately compare their market prices.
The contract was concluded without competition, since only one company submitted an application for simplified procurement – “Artemzbut” LLC. This became possible due to the requirement that two engineering and technical employees have an internal auditor’s certificate, which limited the range of potential participants. The customer responded to an inquiry regarding this requirement by stating that there is no discrimination.
It is interesting that the company “Artemzbut”, registered in Cherkasy and managed by Artem Naumenko, has repeatedly appeared in scandals. In particular, it was noticed in the overestimation of the cost of construction materials during the construction of the regional center of emergency medical care and the repair of buildings for internally displaced persons in Cherkasy.
In addition, in 2020, “Artemzbut” appeared in criminal proceedings on suspicion of collusion with officials of the 3070th military unit of the National Guard. According to the investigation, the company participated in a scheme to embezzle budget funds in particularly large amounts. Despite this, since 2020, the company has concluded state contracts worth more than UAH 400 million, mainly with military units of the National Guard of Ukraine.
