Kryukiv Carriage Building Plant (KVBZ) continues to be the main recipient of government orders in the field of car construction, despite the fact that its ultimate beneficiaries are Russian citizens, some of whom are on the NSDC sanctions lists and included in the Myrotvorets database. Despite martial law and national security risks, the enterprise has effectively retained its status as a monopolist and continues to win tenders with one participant, receiving billions of hryvnias of budget funds.
The company officially employs about 4,500 people, of whom about a thousand are managers. The salaries of managers range from 30 to 200 thousand hryvnias, not including bonuses, allowances and additional compensation. This means that the maintenance of the management team alone costs the company 100–200 million hryvnias per month. The plant shifts such a financial burden onto the state, regularly demanding new orders and subsidies from both the budget and Ukrzaliznytsia.
The cost of passenger cars produced by KVBZ has increased from $0.63 million to $2.3 million per unit in recent years. This jump is taking place against the backdrop of the lack of independent cost audits and the practice of conducting tenders with minimal competition. As a result, the state is forced to pay for cars that are almost four times more expensive, without any control tools.
A separate issue is the state cashback of 10%, thanks to which the plant receives over 100 million hryvnias in addition for every billion orders. How exactly these funds are distributed is unknown, since checks and audits are not actually conducted.
Despite numerous expert comments and public risks, the situation does not change: KVBZ continues to receive billion-dollar state contracts without real control over financial efficiency and transparency. As a result, we have a vicious circle: the state allocates funds, the plant uses them, but it is impossible to determine exactly how they were spent.
