How are corruption in the Ministry of Defence and high treason interconnected

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An analysis of the latest DOT purchases related to oils shows that the largest tenders were won by the company LLC "Resource Oil A," which virtually ensured these two million savings for DOT in a single tender. It might seem like a reason to celebrate, but the fact is that the winning company was involved in a scandal and accusations against DOT last year for allegedly favoring one supplier. The investigation by Censor.NET tried to find out who this supplier is and whether they are associated with the business accused of state treason by MP Oleksandr Ponomaryov.

In December of last year, a feature aired on 1+1 about supplying fuel for the army.

It told how a tender for 28 million was conducted for a single company. DOT incorrectly set the trade classifier — instead of "oils," they indicated "oil and distillates."

"This seemingly small mistake, the incorrect designation of the code, leads to the fact that oil suppliers, of which there are many, do not see this advertisement in the system, looking for it under the ’oils’ code," the feature explained.

As a result, the tender was won by LLC "Resource Oil A," which was the only applicant.

After the feature aired, DOT declared it a technical error.

"In the situation with purchasing Motor Oil for automotive tractor diesels M-10G2k, a human error was made by the authorized person of DOT, specifically an incorrect DC code was indicated in the electronic field. It’s worth noting that the DC code was correctly indicated in the item name and throughout the tender documentation. This mistake was discovered after the auction took place. Since this procurement was announced in the electronic Prozorro system and is publicly available to all interested market participants, canceling the mentioned trade would be considered a violation of the participant’s rights, who submitted their proposal," stated the "State Logistics Operator."

However, there’s something more interesting in this story — the connections of the mentioned company.

The fact is that "Resource Oil A" is located in the village of Hrebinky in Kyiv Region, at the same address as the facilities of the company "Agrinol," associated with MP Oleksandr Ponomaryov, who was accused of state treason two years ago.

"Resource Oil A" was established 29 years ago. Its owners are listed as Yuliya Slobodyan and Yuriy Tsapenko. Slobodyan became an owner only in January 2024.

The previous beneficiary of the company was Taras Potiiko.

Yuliya Slobodyan is the wife of Serhiy Slobodyan, who is the director of LLC "VS Trade 22." The second owner of this company — Serhiy Valentyrov, was the director of LLC "Trading House Agrinol."

According to the authors of the investigation "Hapuga," LLC "VS Trade 22" re-sells Agrinol oils for "Resource Oil A," as indicated by tax documents.

However, Valentyrov denied this in a comment to the feature.

"Don’t look for something that isn’t there. I’ve answered these questions several times before, and we’ve gone through necessary identification and checks. There’s no reason for you to display any concerns now," said the former deputy.

Ponomaryov was accused of collaborating with the occupying authorities of Berdyansk.

After the occupation of Berdyansk, "Agrinol" moved equipment to Georgia and opened a factory there, receiving primary materials from the Russian Federation. However, the company lost the ability to supply oils for the Ministry of Defence.

In the summer of 2023, company representatives even tried contacting members of the public anti-corruption council to return to the list of suppliers. Then, representatives of the GAR Ministry of Defence, in communication with the then Head of the Resource Support Department of the Ministry of Defence Maksym Hrytsenko, learned that the ministry received a warning from the SSU about the possible association of the manufacturer with Russia.

It should be recalled that for many years, companies from Ponomaryov’s group were monopoly suppliers of part of the oils for the Armed Forces.

"Products from companies under the influence of OPFL MP Oleksandr Ponomaryov have maintained exclusive positions for years, as only their products meet the approved technical conditions for the armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," it was stated in the investigation by "Schemes."

Only under pressure from MPs before the full-scale invasion was this monopoly overcome.

"At least twice, according to my information, this issue was reviewed by the National Security and Defence Council when the NSDC drew the Ministry of Defence’s attention to the fact that purchasing lubricants was dependent on a single supplier, creating corresponding risks," noted parliamentary defense committee member Serhiy Rakhmanin in conversation with journalists.

Judging by the analysis of tender documentation, Ponomaryov’s group found a way to re-enter the game.

According to data from Youcontrol and Opendatabot, the company "Resource Oil A" has significantly increased its tender participations in recent years. While in 2023 it earned only 26.4 million, in 2024 — already 99 million. Meanwhile, DOT alone signed contracts with the company for 66 million UAH.

As the response from DOT to the request from NAKO (Independent Anti-Corruption Commission) states, LLC "RESOURCE-OIL-A" tops the list of oil suppliers for the Ministry of Defense, having signed 9 state contracts, with 8 resulting from simplified purchases, and also 1 state contract concluded without using open tenders and/or electronic catalog.

There are no facts of changing the supply deadlines of the goods. Operational-economic sanctions were not applied to this supplier.

According to the analysis of DOT trades on Prozorro, among other things, the company supplies the Ministry of Defense with motor oil for automotive diesel engines M-10G2k.

DOT twice held tenders for this oil — in January and August 2024. In January, the expected purchase cost was 14.4 million for 200 tons. In August — 28.8 million for 400 tons.

In January, three companies participated:

1. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "RESOURCE-OIL-A" (with an offer of 12,498,000.00)
2. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "EURO OIL PRODUCTION" (with an offer of 12,500,000.00)
3. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "ARIAN-TRADE" (14,380,000.00)

The difference between the lowest and highest price was 1.8 million UAH. Price per ton - 62,490.00.

However, in the August tenders, only one company emerged — the winner of the first tenders - "RESOURCE-OIL-A." The oil was purchased at the same price as in January - 62,490.00.

So everything seems fine.

But here is an important detail. This is the very tender because of which the scandalous feature aired on 1+1. So, on the site, there’s a note from DOT about correcting inaccuracies to the company. One of them indicates that "the proposal contains a file named ’10_DPS.pdf’, which does not meet the requirements of Attachment No. 8 to the Announcement, as the document predates the announcement of the simplified procurement."

Of course, there can be various technical errors in documents. But in the context of a "human" error leading only one company to apply, while the previous price remained, the existence of a document dated before the tender suggests the company might have known about them in advance.

In January, DOT conducted purchases of 600 tons of MT-16P oil with an expected cost of 21.6 million UAH.

Two participants joined the tender:

1. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "EURO OIL PRODUCTION"
2. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "RESOURCE-OIL-A"

The "EURO OIL PRODUCTION" offer was 10 thousand cheaper, but it was rejected due to the lack of documents confirming their experience with similar work. "RESOURCE-OIL-A" won with a price of 19,390,000.00 (price per ton being 64,633.00).

In June, DOT conducted another purchase of this oil. This time, 100 tons of product were purchased.

Two companies participated in the tender:

1. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY "RESOURCE-OIL-A" (with an offer of 6,900,000.00)
2. LLC "PRODUCTION COMPANY "AVEX"" (with an offer of 7,640,000.00)

LLC "RESOURCE-OIL-A" won. The price per ton was 69,000.00.

It should be noted that during the 2021 procurements, this type of oil was labeled as (motor oil "Agrinol MT-16P") https://prozorro.gov.ua/tender/UA-2021-11-16-003809-a.

In tenders for the procurement of other types of oils, interesting nuances in competition between the companies "RESOURCE-OIL-A" and "EURO OIL PRODUCTION" can be observed.

For example, in the May tender for the supply of 200 tons of SI-4/SL; 10W-40 oils, the price of "RESOURCE-OIL-A" was just one UAH cheaper than "EURO OIL PRODUCTION."

But the offer from "RESOURCE-OIL-A" was rejected due to the absence of a number of documents.

In February, DOT conducted a tender for 70 tons of SI-4/SL; 5W-40 oils. Five companies participated in the tender. The proposals from "RESOURCE-OIL-A" and "EURO OIL PRODUCTION" differed by 100 UAH.

The proposal from "RESOURCE-OIL-A" with the lower price was rejected.

The reasons stated: "In the application from participant LLC "RESOURCE-OIL-A" (EDRPOU — 23532573) in the proposal, the participant submitted a quality passport for motor oil VIPER FULLY SYNT.MOTOR OIL 5W40 CI-4/SL (Appendix No. 3 Quality Passport.pdf), which did not specify the actual indicators, determined during laboratory tests.

Also, the LLC "RESOURCE-OIL-A" (EDRPOU — 23532573) participant did not provide a scanned quality passport from the product manufacturer (presented in the original language), certifying the quality of the proposed product, containing data for identification and actual quality indicators.

Market participants anonymously suggested that such things might occur when there are certain agreements between companies in tenders, allowing them to profit "their own."

For example, these actions are characteristic of suppliers of army food, where certain companies retain specific regions for years.

The Risk Management and Compliance Director of DOT Dmytro Bihunets noted in conversation with Censor.NET that analyzing the owners of the company "RESOURCE-OIL-A" does not point to direct connections with Ponomaryov’s group.

However, perhaps it’s worth law enforcement taking a closer look at this story. Otherwise, it might turn out as it did in 2017-2018.

Remember, in 2017, 20 Ukrainian tanks failed. One of the versions was the poor quality fuel from "Agrinol." The company, however, denied this.

In 2018, a representative of the firm associated with People’s Deputy Oleksandr Ponomaryov offered a bribe of 1.49 million UAH to ensure victory in a tender supplying engine oil for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Head of Fuel and Fuel Materials Service of the Rear Command of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The head was named Oleksandr Zayarnyi.

Guess the name of the Head of Central Fuel and Lubricants Supply of the Rear Logistics Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023? Correct, Zayarnyi.

By the way, last year KSL ordered 170 tons of nitrogen oxide reducer AdBlue - a specialized liquid created to reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere resulting from the operation of diesel engines.

Two companies participated in the tender. Their proposals differed by 510 UAH, but the cheaper proposal from LLC "Alkhim" was rejected, and "RESOURCE-OIL-A" won.

On December 26, 2024, DOT purchased another 100 tons of AdBlue from "RESOURCE-OIL-A," rejecting a cheaper proposal due to the absence of a German license translation.

Author: Tetyana Nikolayenko