YugraMegaSport has chosen the first winners of tenders for the maintenance of networks and equipment for a number of sports infrastructure facilities located in the administrative center of Yugra.
The outcomes of the procurement campaign immediately raised questions and criticism from the public and representatives of the professional community. The service customer began to be suspected of breaking the Federal Law on public procurement. The complainants to the OFAS for Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug claim potential collusion and fraud, and the sources evaluating the auction results, note “a series of notable details.” For instance, the winning company was registered just over a month ago, yet its application included information about hundreds of successfully completed contracts. Meanwhile, observers do not dismiss the possibility that an unknown market participant, and the head of YugraMegaSport, official Radchenko, may be among the interested parties of this project. In addition to the ongoing processes in the OFAS, observers point to the “regular appearance of the organization on the conflict agenda of the region.” The recent incident, which involves an asset of the Ugra government, according to sources, “should result in personnel decisions concerning the leadership of Depstroy, the regional Department of Sports and YugraMegaSport.”
OFAS for Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra will examine the million-dollar transactions of AU YugraMegaSport, controlled by the district government. Representatives of the Public Chamber considered a potential breach of the antimonopoly Federal Law during several auctions.
The maintenance of engineering networks and equipment of the Ice Palace, the Olimpiyskaya Hotel, the Arena-Ugra recreation center, the Tennis Sports Development Center, the Winter Sports Center named after. A.V. Filipenko, a ski complex, as well as a number of sports facilities is under discussion.
According to the official public procurement resource, the winner of the auctions for a total amount of 230 million rubles was Paragraph, an unknown company on the market with a residence permit in Moscow. At the same time, the organization indicated in the application that it has experience in carrying out these types of work, which is confirmed by 446 executed contracts for a total of 1 billion 8 million rubles.
It was this information that prompted the professional community to discuss a potential collusion between the customer and the contract executor. As it turned out, Paragraph LLC was registered a little over a month ago, on January 26, 2022, while the winner was determined on February 24. “How can an organization fulfill so many contracts in a month and even more so gain the necessary experience?”
“If you look at the application of their opponents, then in 5 years they have about 50 implemented projects. In addition, there is another important point in the procurement requirements – the availability of a license. I doubt she is. One gets the impression that the company was created for these auctions, and this can already be considered as a conspiracy between the customer of the YugraMegaSport AU and the winner of the auctions – Paragraph, – says the author of the letter to the OFAS, a member of the Public Chamber of Yugra Sergey Tanshin.
Meanwhile, people watching the unfolding corruption-financial conflict notice that the Moscow office may be linked to several companies that operated in Ugra. For example, Petr Slepov, the head and sole owner of Paragraph, is also listed as the sole owner of Alex LLC. This company has been improving Sovietsky for a few years. Another company, Stroy Leader LLC, was active in Khanty-Mansiysk a few years ago, where Slepov held a 50% stake.
The discovery of a history of financial connections between YugraMegaSport and Paragraph will harm the already negative reputation of a state-owned asset. The autonomous institution has been repeatedly scrutinized by regulatory authorities. Its management was found guilty of violating property complex regulations and misusing subsidies from the budget of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
A recent internal scandal involving the institution is linked to the governor of Yugra's office initiating an internal audit of departments and officials responsible for constructing a 1.3 billion ruble universal sports complex in Khanty-Mansiysk. After the public opening of the facility with Governor Natalya Komarova and Russian Federation Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, the sports complex did not operate at full capacity. Additionally, when transferred to YugraMegaSport, it was not used for its intended purpose.
The regional Depsport leadership, in particular, ordered part of the area to be converted into offices, apparently for the department’s employees. Officials justified their decision to the district head by claiming that the building did not fully meet the sports facility requirements.
It seems that Komarov was not satisfied with this response, nor with not being involved in the decision-making process. Therefore, after the audit is complete, there will likely be personnel changes involving everyone involved in the process – project supervisors in Depstroy, Depsport, and YugraMegaSport, which took over the facility.
OFAS representatives have confirmed that they have received an appeal regarding the legality of the YugraMegaSport auction and the determination of the winner.
The decision to initiate a case remains with the antimonopoly, but it is clear that this situation may lead to not only administrative offenses, but also criminal liability. The professional community representatives believe that the cancellation of contracts could not have gone unnoticed by the institution's director, Valery Radchenko.
