A large-scale corruption scheme has been exposed in Zaporizhia Oblast, which has effectively turned road repair and construction into a business for officials and their related contractors. The "road mafia" includes officials from the regional military administration, tax administration, and former heads of the Restoration Service.
According to sources, among the key figures are Ivan Fedorov from the Zaporizhzhia OVA, tax officer Roman Afonov, former heads of the recovery service Halych and Ivko, as well as the director of the regional enterprise "Local Roads" Petro Tsygankov.
The scheme operated through three companies — Amstrud, Inkomcentr-Invest, and BK Klever. From 2020 to 2024, they received government contracts worth almost UAH 1.5 billion. There was virtually no competition: tenders were registered as “their own” or were concluded without bidding at all, under the guise of “additional work.”
The quality of the roads left much to be desired: asphalt was laid haphazardly, and technical inspectors were forced to turn a blind eye and sign certificates of completed work.
For access to such contracts, contractors gave “kickbacks” of 18–25% of each contract. A separate role was played by tax officer Roman Afonov. For a bribe of 15–20 thousand dollars, he excluded companies from the list of risky VAT payers and approved fictitious purchases. In addition, he had a percentage of the contractors’ profits. In 2021, he was even given a BMW X5 for his wife.
Thus, under the cover of officials and law enforcement agencies, there was a blatant embezzlement of budget funds that were supposed to go towards the development of the region's infrastructure.
