A 20-year special permit for charnockite mining in the Khmelnytskyi region was sold at an auction in Ukraine. The winner was a company owned by a local court juror.
The State Service of Geology and Subsoil held a tender on the Prozorro.Sales platform. The lot provided for the right to extract charnockite at site No. 1 of the Medzhybizh deposit.
The starting price of the permit was 4.43 million hryvnias. Two companies took part in the bidding - "Grandcarrier" and "Krynychenka". Grandcarrier LLC won, offering 4.53 million hryvnias. Including VAT, the final payment amount will exceed 5.4 million hryvnias.
The site, covering an area of over 16 hectares, is located near the village of Rusanivtsi in the Medzhybizh community. Charnockite reserves here are estimated at more than 5.4 million cubic meters. According to calculations, with an average annual quarry productivity of 230 thousand cubic meters, these reserves will last for more than two decades.
Charnockite is a type of granite that is widely used in construction. It is used to produce crushed stone for concrete, road surfaces, bridges, railway infrastructure, and is also used for decorative purposes.
The winner of the auction is Grandcarrier LLC, registered in Khmelnytskyi and specializing in mineral extraction. According to the company's open financial statements for 2023, its assets amounted to 809 thousand hryvnias, and its debts amounted to 561 thousand hryvnias, while data on profit and income were not made public.
The sole owner of the company is Oksana Benkalovych, a resident of Khmelnytskyi and a current juror of the Khmelnytskyi City District Court. She also owns the private enterprise Dial Group. Y.M., which operates in the field of medical practice, fitness services, and property rental.
Previously, the beneficiary of Grand Career was her husband Yaroslav Benkalovich. In 2019, he worked as an assistant to MP Viktor Bondar, who was later suspected of corruption.
In addition, Benkalovych was a co-owner of the mining enterprises "Podilskyi Karyer" and "Podilskyi Pisky", but later withdrew from the list of beneficiaries. After that, he worked as an inspector of the Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police in Vinnytsia region, and is currently engaged in entrepreneurial activities.
The fact that a company associated with the jury won a mining bid has already sparked discussion about the potential conflict of interest and transparency of such auctions.
