Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have notified four persons that they are suspected of embezzling over UAH 20 million of state-owned enterprise Ukrzaliznychpostach (now the branch of Ukrzaliznytsia), the NABU has reported on its website.

The deputy director of Ukrzaliznychpostach, a member of the tender committee, the head of the procurement department of the company and a member of the tender committee are suspected under part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion or property by malversation).

The director of the supplying company and the financial director of a group of companies that incorporated the supplying company are suspected under Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209 (legalization (laundering) of criminally obtained money and other property) and Part 3 of Article 212 (evasion of taxes, duties or other compulsory payments) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to the investigators, during 2014 officials of Ukrzaliznychpostach entered into a preliminary collusion with representatives of one of the private enterprises, which intended to supply metal products for the needs of Ukrzaliznytsia. The officials of Ukrzaliznytsia helped the chosen limited liability company to win a tender. Then they signed an agreement to supply hardware products at the prices that at that time almost doubled the average market prices. As a result, according to the investigators, Ukrzaliznytsia faced damage in the amount of more than UAH 20 million.

The pretrial investigation is underway. It was started in July 2016. The NABU has almost 20 criminal cases revealing corruption scams at Ukrzaliznytsia.