Two years have passed since the high-profile scandal surrounding the purchase of eggs for the Ukrainian army at a price of 17 hryvnias per piece. During this time, certain changes took place in the field of military support, in particular, the appointment of a new Minister of Defense and the launch of the work of the State Rear Operator. However, the key question remained unanswered: will the guilty be punished, and why has the reform of food supply for the army not yet produced the expected results?
As you know, at the beginning of 2023, Yuri Nikolov published an article about the fact that the Ministry of Defense can buy eggs for 17 hryvnias. It was at this price that they were delivered in the catalog of the company "Active Company", which is part of Tetyana Glynyana's group.
As a result of public outrage, amendments to the law were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, and the Ministry of Defense was forced to return food purchases to Prozorro in May.
And a year later, in January 2024, NV Business journalist Artem Alyn found hotels in Croatia that Tetiana Glynyana had bought for herself.
A source of NV Business in Split said that he saw Glinjana during the management of one of the hotels. The journalist found a connection with the hotels Mirari, Ora and another, the name of which the interlocutor of the publication did not know.
NV Business managed to find out that the first hotel is registered under the legal entity NAZARII doo (Brela, Croatia). Croatian sites that publish business analytics based on legal registers indicate that the founder of this enterprise since 2016 is Tetiana Glinjana. In 2022, her daughter Iryna Kut became its owner for a while. Since autumn 2023, Glinjana has become the beneficiary of three more Croatian companies.
A week after the story with the hotels became public, Glinjana sold the property to a Croatian businessman named Nouname, and then she somehow accidentally lost a bag with documents and money, which for some reason she left on the street near the house.
And while society sat in shock over the story with the hotels, the Ministry of Defense tried to carry out nutrition reform. More precisely, DOT drew up a plan for itself, which the opponents overturned in 3 months of methodical resistance.
What's more, even changing the qualification criteria for suppliers and for the customer to see documents about the permanent availability of warehouses were blocked.
And the company "Atomservice" even sent a letter to the Minister of Defense Rustem Umyerov that if they do not return the old criteria, they will withdraw the offers from the tenders.
In the letter to "Atomservis" it was said that they are not satisfied that companies can claim a maximum of 4 lots from the announced lots. Although the requirement was established under the previous defense minister by a collegial body. "Atomservice" was against the fact that the company received funds 50 days after the last delivery. Although in the previous weeks, the "LOMs" paid by the companies were criticized in materials in the Telegram channels of the DOT for wanting to give subscriptions to suppliers.
"Atomservice" did not like the fact that the company would have to deliver goods to other areas than specified.
As a result, the old food manufacturers realized their threat - after losing the court, they withdrew the offers from the auctions. DOT was forced to conclude direct contracts with subcontracting companies. Offering often larger volumes than those requested.
Then there were 3 weeks of actual failure in the supply of food for the army, the DOT had to change companies on the go, which failed in the supply. And at this time, some new buyers added fuel to the fire, ordering not only 50 kg of basil, but also an unknown grain of sago, which was in the catalog. And sturgeon.
DOT held out, supplies stabilized. The agency changed the catalog and removed sago groats, linseed and sturgeon from it. But, unfortunately, the reforms ended there.
Because with the next auctions, almost all the old players returned to supply.
And in July, Ukrainians had to once again open their mouths out of surprise and indignation. And again through Glynynaya's company.
BEB employees seized more than 4.7 million euros of unaccounted cash from managers of companies from the Glynynaya pool.
"The company's accountant was transporting the funds in the trunk of the car. The woman could not explain the origin of the money. The attempt to remove and hide the "black" cash register was discovered by detectives during the investigative measures," said the BEB press release.
Everything was enchanting and beautiful, Ukrainians were looking at pictures of the trunk for a week, until they were replaced by the layout of dollars from the Krup family. But in fact, nothing happened with the investigation of the case after that.
Currently, only one decision on this case can be found in the register of court decisions. And that's it! And in this decision it is precisely about the fact that the Kyiv Court of Appeal refuses to seize property in this proceeding.
Moreover, according to rumors, the detective in this case was sent for re-certification.
NABU's case regarding 17 eggs is also at the stage of investigation. Detectives are waiting for the results of the examination.
In September, DOT presented a new food procurement model. At it, the Deputy Minister of Economy, and now also the head of the Supervisory Board of the DOT, Nadiya Bihun, emphasized that "the catalog must be destroyed." The state operator of the rear actually offered to make a pilot project in 5-7 regions for categorical purchases (sausage products, cereals, milk, meat, vegetables, etc.).
But nothing went according to plan. In November 2024, DOT conducted food purchases under the old system. Before that, the State operator of the rear announced the application of operational and economic sanctions against the company "Trade Granite Invest", which put a fake stew on the front.
And despite the fact that "Trade Granite" gave the lowest price on several lots, it was not recognized as the winner due to the fact that it did not indicate these sanctions in the documents. But the trouble is that he was actually replaced in these lots by the shadow company "Trade Poltava", which before that appeared synchronously with them in court proceedings.
At the last auction, the company "Mit prom", which was involved in the scandal with the trunk with 4.7 million euros, earned more than 2 billion. Another 2 billion was received by "Busky Cannery", which was previously a contractor of the Hrynkevich family. And the final beneficiary of the firm, Oleksandr Lapshin, received two apartments as part of a loan from Grynkevich, who is involved in the criminal proceedings, due to the latter's debt.
The BKZ company has already earned 6.6 billion at DOT tenders. And this is only at tenders, because, in addition to this, in the second quarter the company had direct multibillion-dollar contracts.
And the company "Contrakt prodrezerv" had the most profits from tenders - more than 12 billion from the DOT.
And in this context, it is worth reminding that it was the "Proreserve Contract" that was the first of the old guard to return to DOT supplies. What's more, even before DOT decided to abandon the previous supplier, letters from the Prodrezerv company were sent to the addresses of individual parts that they would soon return to supply.
Where such optimism came from is unknown. And it seems that no one investigated him. But the company received more than 3 billion more under direct contracts.
It is worth noting that historically the company is associated with the security forces of Dnipropetrovsk region.
At the last auction, the DOT limited the possibility of winning for companies to 2 lots. But this does not mean that one of the participants will not use another company as a sign for themselves.
And the worst thing is that no one applied for the large-scale pilot project under the new provision formula. Now it will take place only in Kyiv region.
Company representatives, in informal conversations with the author of the article, said that they did not receive clear explanations from the DOT, and decided not to take risks, so as not to have problems with the law enforcement officers later.
Now DOT from the Ministry of Economy is looking for a new formula to change the system.
But there is a good chance that the food mafia will keep this market.
On the positive side, companies cannot now enter exorbitant prices in the catalog, such as eggs for 17. And they cannot collapse below 40% of the State Statistics Service price.
But even 35% is enough for them to collapse their price in the catalog and then bring low-quality goods to the military, keeping their margin. And not very high fines allow not to deliver products for 10 days.
That is why the author of the article opposed the amendments of the deputies who wanted to remove the 7% fine for defense suppliers. And it should be returned for food supply.
Author: Tetyana Nikolayenko
