The Dnipro City Council's Dnipro Metro utility company found itself at the center of a scandal after concluding a deal worth almost UAH 3 million with a company that had previously been punished by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for collusion in bidding.
On July 30, the metro signed a contract with Lutsk LLC "Avtoprommarket" for the supply of spare parts for metro escalators in the amount of UAH 2,974,618. The company became the only participant in the tender and reduced the price by only UAH 400 from the expected cost. The customer did not find any violations in the documentation and recognized the offer as the winning one.
However, in May 2025, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine found Avtoprommarket guilty of collusion during the Ukrenergo tender. The company was fined UAH 68,000 and deprived of the right to participate in public procurement for three years. This decision was intended to prevent the company from participating in any budget tenders.
Despite this, "Dniprovskyi Metro" concluded an agreement with the violator. Representative of the KP Oksana Dragun, responsible for the procurement, did not answer calls from NGL.media journalists. Experts emphasize: the responsible purchaser had a duty to reject the offer of the conspirator company. Ignoring the requirements provides for a fine of 25.5 thousand UAH (Article 164-14 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
The owner of Avtoprommarket LLC since July 2024 is Kremenchuk resident Andriy Gruba. Until 2019, he worked as an investigator in the local police, and is now a lawyer. Gruba has repeatedly tried to get into the Kremenchuk District Prosecutor's Office, but without success. He also owns several other companies.
This story raises questions about the transparency of procurement and the personal responsibility of officials who allowed a contract to be signed with a company that was officially banned from participating in tenders.
