The National Police of Ukraine and the Department of Strategic Investigations conducted searches at the place of work and residence of employees of the construction company suspected of causing damage to the state for more than 1 billion UAH due to violations in tenders.
“In the course of pre-trial investigation it was established that the officials of the company by means of “artificial” markup in the supply chain of inventories illegally increased the cost of goods, made false information in the acts of work performed, which caused damage to the state budget in especially large amounts – in the amount of more than 1 billion UAH”, – stated in the message of law enforcers.
The press release does not contain the name of the company, but it is stated that it is a construction company “carrying out repair and construction works on state infrastructure facilities”. The company is suspected of violating tender procedures and unauthorized setting prices for the cost of works in different regions of Ukraine.
It is noted that the urgency of the searches was due to the information received about the possibility of destroying documents indicative of criminal activity.
“The activity of the enterprise is not blocked, it continues to function in normal mode”, – emphasized in a press release of the National police.
Earlier on Monday about searches in the office of the company and apartments of its employees reported construction company “Avtomagistral-Yug”. According to the company, the procedural actions were carried out without a court order by the decision of the investigator of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police together with the Department of Strategic Investigations.
According to the company, the searches were carried out within the framework of a criminal case concerning a number of tenders that Avtomagistral-Yug won at different times in different regions. The company emphasized that the claims of the investigators concern the value of the contracts, which were determined in the course of open tenders.
“Procedural actions were conducted on the basis of fabricated criminal proceedings based on the assumptions of investigators (…) We perceive the brutal actions of law enforcement agencies as classic raiding: an attempt to intimidate employees and their families, paralyze the work, and then destroy the company,” the company stressed.
LLC “Avtomagistral-Yug” has been on the market since 2004. It designs and builds expressways, bridges, interchanges, airfield complexes, hydraulic structures. The owner of the company is listed in Opendatabot information as Alexander Boyko. According to the financial results for 2023, the company’s net profit amounted to UAH 624.9 mln, income – UAH 8.215 bln. In terms of revenue, the company became the first among construction companies last year, follows from the data of Opendatabot.
The company noted that among the completed projects are important infrastructure facilities for the state. “The company lent Ukraine more than UAH 8 billion, completing important for the country objects even in the absence of financing,” – follows from the message of the press service of the company.
Financing state budget deficit, bln UAH
Open4Business.com.ua
Unemployment in the eurozone was 6.4% in August, unchanged from the July level, according to the European Union Statistical Office. This is the lowest figure since the calculations were made. The data coincided with the consensus forecast of analysts cited by Trading Economics.
In August 2023, unemployment in the euro area was at 6.6%. The number of unemployed people in the region decreased by 95 thousand in the month before last compared to July, to 10.925 million. Youth unemployment (population under 25) fell to 14.1% from 14.2% a month earlier.
The lowest unemployment rate among the largest eurozone countries was recorded in Germany (3.5%, the same as in July), and the highest in Spain (11.3%, down 0.1 percentage point). In France, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.5% in August, while in Italy it dropped to 6.2% from 6.4%.
Overall, in the European Union, unemployment fell to 5.9% last month from 6% in July.
Ukraine national futsal team defeated France in the match for the third place – 7:1. The goals for Ukraine were scored by Igor Chernyavsky, Mykhailo Zvarich, Yevhen Zhuk and Daniil Abakshin, follows from the broadcast of the match.
For the Ukrainian team – this is the first medals at the world championship.
Argentina and Brazil, the teams Ukraine lost to at the tournament, will play in the final.
Swiss company LLC Global Clearance Solutions Ukraine will join the demining of territories in Kyiv region, the press service of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration (KOVA) reports.
As reported, the relevant Memorandum was signed by the head of KOVA Ruslan Kravchenko and the CEO of the Swiss company “LLC Global Clearance Solutions Ukraine” Dmitry Salimonov. This is a company by engineering and production facilities in Germany and representative offices around the world.
“After the fighting in the de-occupied territories of Kyivshchyna, there are a lot of explosive objects left. There are great dangers for the civilian population. Specialists of the State Emergency Situations Service continue demining works, but exclusively the forces of Ukrainian specialists and budget funds are not enough. Therefore, we attract certified operators, as well as funding from international partners, so that demining does not stretch for many years. Another important issue is the proper amount of professional equipment,” Kravchenko explained.
It is noted that the Swiss company provides a wide range of mine action assistance, in particular project management, consulting, survey and cleanup, capacity building, and training.
Galina Gerega, co-founder of Epicenter K LLC (Kiev), indirectly through Epicenter K and Paravita Holding Limited (Nicosia) has obtained over 50% of votes in Intersport Polska S.A., which develops a chain of stores with the same name in Poland.
As reported by the Polish company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on October 4, this happened after the above companies participated in the closed subscription for Intersport Polska series J shares, with Epicenter K’s share in the total number of votes exceeding 10%.
It is specified that the paid-in share capital of the Polish company amounts to PLN 8 million 274.49 thousand.
During the subscription, 12 million 655.468 thousand shares were sold to one company at a price of PLN1.0471 per share ($0.27 per share).
As reported, Gerega indirectly received 51.3% of Intersport Polska’s share capital at the end of last year within the framework of the investment agreement concluded by the Polish company with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, but at that time her share of votes was just short of 50% – 49.94%.
The investment agreement with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, which also operates stores under the Intersport brand in Ukraine, was concluded on April 19, 2023. The document envisaged a total investment of EUR10 million by the partner and the investor. This amount was to be used, in particular, for the development of the Polish company by opening new stores and modernizing existing ones.
On November 17, Yulia Maksymenko and Aivars Bunde, managing and commercial directors of Epicenter K LLC, a separate subdivision of Intersport Ukraine, joined the supervisory board of Intersport Polska.
Gerega at this week’s forum “Dialogues with NV on the Future. Business and War” in Kiev, said that Intersport Polska was unprofitable, it had no strategic investors, so Epicenter K, which had high indicators of the development of the Intersport project in Ukraine, was invited to cooperate.
“And we agreed to go and help realize this project,” she said, adding that this raised the image of the Ukrainian company in front of international partners.
Speaking about the current problems, Gerega pointed to the lack of staff. “Even for such a small Intersport in Poland, we faced the same staffing problem we have now in Ukraine. Even among Ukrainians who left temporarily to Poland, we can’t find effective staff for them to work in this Intersport,” she stated at the forum.
In the 2023/24 fiscal year (ended March 31, 2024), Intersport Polska’s revenue fell 21% to PLN189.1 million, while its net loss rose to PLN39.6 million from PLN13.1 million a year earlier.
The Intersport Polska network, according to its website, includes 31 stores and a delivery network with about 500 employees, while the Intersport network has about 5,400 stores worldwide.
