"Sovereign AI Factory" for 225 million: how the tender of the State Enterprise "DIA" led to a Russian trace

In August 2025, the State Enterprise "Diia" announced a tender for the procurement of the "Sovereign Artificial Intelligence Factory" software and hardware complex with an expected value of UAH 227.5 million. LLC "LAN TEK" won with a bid of UAH 225.891 million. Such a significant procurement amount and a reduction in cost of only 2 million hryvnias from the expected amount attracts attention and forces a closer look at the tender participants, writes UNN.

Hundreds of millions in two weeks: how Diia's tender was conducted

The announcement of the open tender by SE "Diia" was published on August 7, 2025. The subject of the procurement was the "Sovereign Artificial Intelligence Factory" software and hardware complex with an expected value of UAH 227,525,000. The deadline for submitting tender proposals, taking into account changes to the documentation, was set for August 19, which is only 12 calendar days.

For a regular procurement, this could be a formality, but in this case, it concerns a highly complex high-tech complex: server equipment, specialized graphics accelerators, network infrastructure, data storage, software for managing computing clusters, and, likely, custom integration.

It is obvious that the technical complexity of the subject of the tender and the extremely tight deadlines narrowed the possibility of participation in the tender and created privileged conditions for the winner. By the way, it cannot be ruled out that LLC "LAN TEK" could have had access to information about the preparation of the tender and was able to prepare in advance.

After all, according to the tender requirements, companies with a confirmed high level of partnership with server equipment manufacturers; specialized certificates for personnel; and letters of confirmation from manufacturers of key components, including global corporations such as Nvidia, could participate in the bidding.

Formally, this looks like a concern for quality. In fact, such strict requirements are a classic tool for narrowing competition and ensuring the victory of a pre-selected company. Because if the requirements were formed for a specific company, other potential participants would not have had time to collect the necessary package of documents.

Officially, several companies participated in the bidding, and the winner, LLC "LAN TEK", submitted the lowest bid: UAH 225,891,000. In second place was LLC "NETWAVE" with a price offer only UAH 52,787 higher than the winner's. For a procurement of over UAH 225 million, such a difference in price offer seems more symbolic than a real attempt to compete for the lot. Therefore, it seems that the bidding was formal.

As a result, on September 5, 2025, agreement No. 9051/25 was concluded between SE "Diia" (buyer) and LLC "LAN TEK" (supplier) with a validity period until December 31, 2026.

"LAN TEK" and "Lantek": a trail from Odesa port to Diia's mega-contract

The director of LLC "LAN TEK" is Serhii Finashkin. The ultimate beneficiary is Oleh Lytvyn from Odesa. This entrepreneur is also the founder, beneficiary, and head of the private enterprise "Lantek", which has also repeatedly participated in state IT procurements.

PE "Lantek" has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of journalists. For example, according to media reports, a court in Izmail is considering a case regarding the port's purchase of computer equipment at inflated prices. According to the investigation, the enterprise allegedly overpaid more than UAH 983,000 after an official approved PE "Lantek"'s commercial offer without market analysis. However, despite the criminal proceedings, the company concluded other contracts worth more than UAH 131 million during 2025.

The company "Lantek" was also mentioned in an investigation by the "Nashi Hroshi" program in 2021. According to journalists, the State Statistics Service ordered software updates and digital maps for the population census for almost UAH 30 million, and the execution of part of the work worth UAH 2.75 million was entrusted to PE "Lantek", moreover, in the mode of additional similar services against the background of existing contracts.

So, it is not the first time that Oleh Lytvyn's company wins multi-million tenders for IT services and equipment, while in at least one case, law enforcement officers directly speak of a probable overestimation of the cost by almost a million hryvnias. Against this background, the victory of LLC "LAN TEK", associated with the same beneficiary, in one of Diia's largest tenders, seems not accidental, but a logical continuation of the history of access to "digital" budget flows.

IE "I-AR-SI", ERC group schemes for billions and connections with Russia

Another player appears on the horizon of this story – the foreign enterprise "I-AR-SI". Formally, it is not a party to the agreement with SE "DIIA". However, according to UNN sources, after receiving a 30% advance payment under the contract, LLC "Lan Tek" transferred all funds to the "I-AR-SI" group of companies.

In a number of criminal proceedings, this foreign enterprise appears as a "front company" in the chain of IT equipment supply for state bodies for price overestimation, and as a tool for "cashing out" funds.

According to registration data, IE "I-AR-SI" is controlled by Austrian "ERC Holding GmbH" (90%) and Ukrainian venture fund "Forint" (10%). The beneficiaries are Serhii Artiukh, Leonid Stolnikov, Andrii Dehoda.

In 2019, "I-AR-SI" was included in the rating of the 200 largest companies in Ukraine by revenue as one of the key players in the electronics distribution market.

In fact, "I-AR-SI" is the central company of ERC – a group of companies in the field of distribution of computer and office equipment, software, digital photo and video equipment, etc. In retail, the company is represented by the MOYO brand (LLC "NRP"). The group also includes PJSC "EUROTERMINAL" and JSC "AltBank".

The beneficiaries of most companies are the aforementioned Artiukh, Stolnikov, and Andrii Dehoda. At the same time, in the media, ERC is called the business of the Dehoda brothers - Andrii and Oleksandr.

It should be noted that some companies from the ERC group have already been at the center of scandals. They were accused of tax evasion, and of trading household appliances through a private "gas" company associated with NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine".

By the way, the household appliance store with the "Naftogaz" sticker is still operating. And it appeared during the period when Oleksiy Chernyshov, suspected in the "Midas" case regarding corruption in the energy sector, headed NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine".

It is interesting that in addition to Serhii Artiukh and Leonid Stolnikov, among the owners of "AltBank", which is part of the ERC group, there was a certain Ihor Olehovych Volokh. In addition to Ukrainian citizenship, he also had Cypriot and Belarusian citizenship.

From 2005 to 2007, Ihor Volokh was the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Raiffeisen Bank Aval. In 2007-2014, he worked as the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Universal Bank, and from 2016, he headed the Board of Neos Bank, which eventually became "AltBank" when Dehoda and his partners bought the bank from Mykhailo Fridman. On December 21, 2020, Ihor Volokh was dismissed from the position of Chairman of the Board at his own request, but for some time he remained a co-owner of the bank. As of now, Volokh is no longer among the owners who have share packages larger than 5%.

In turn, the foreign enterprise IE "I-AR-SI" is involved in seven criminal proceedings, including those opened under Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement of property or seizure of it by abuse of official position).

In court materials, the company is directly described as a "front company" in schemes of embezzlement of budget funds in IT tenders. For example, in criminal proceeding No. 42023000000000246 dated 17.02.2023 regarding the embezzlement of UAH 10 million in tenders for IT services and equipment for the "Okhmatdyt" children's hospital, investigators indicate that the price of equipment was inflated by 20-60%, and some of the equipment was purchased "contraband" and then sold through IE "I-AR-SI", which ensured the conversion of funds into cash and the sale of "schematic" VAT credit.

"It was also established that in the period 2020-2022, about UAH 30 million was transferred to the accounts of IE "I-AR-SI" by the specified business entities, of which about UAH 20 million was converted into cash by carrying out non-commodity operations," states one of the court decisions.

The foreign enterprise also appears in case No. 42023000000000108 regarding one of the distributors of Apple equipment in Ukraine. The criminal proceeding is related to alleged falsification of reporting to avoid tax payments. Here, IE "I-AR-SI" again appears as a large supplier, through which hundreds of millions of hryvnias of turnover pass with obvious substitution of nomenclature and non-commodity operations.

Another proceeding, No. 52022000000000243, in which "I-AR-SI" is involved, is being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) regarding SE "Center of State Land Cadastre" and LLC "Company KIT". According to the investigation, servers were purchased from a foreign seller for about UAH 3.7-3.45 million, resold to IE "I-AR-SI" with a 35% markup, and then purchased by SE "Center of State Land Cadastre" with a margin of over 279-412% on each unit of equipment.

"I-AR-SI" also appears in criminal proceeding No. 42021140000000229 regarding the embezzlement of state funds by officials of the State Enterprise "Lviv International Airport named after Danylo Halytskyi" in a tender for the procurement of IT equipment. IE "I-AR-SI" appears as a front company in the supply chain.

So the scheme is the same everywhere: a group of interconnected IT companies enters state tenders, artificially narrows competition, inflates prices, and a "front company" necessarily appears in the supply chain, through which superprofits are withdrawn and fictitious VAT credits are formed.

Russian trail and risks to critical infrastructure

Most interestingly, the foreign enterprise "I-AR-SI" can not only cause financial damage to the state in the form of unpaid taxes, but also pose a serious threat to national security.

As is already clear, this foreign company is interested in contracts exclusively with state enterprises. What if these state enterprises are critical? What if they are interested in this company exclusively in the context of access to important information? What if this information can then fall into the hands of the enemy – the Russian Federation?

The Main Investigation Department of the SBU from 2021 to 2024 investigated criminal proceeding No. 42021000000000647, in which Russian commercial structures "Borlas group" and CJSC "RDTECH" are involved. According to the investigation, through their Ukrainian subsidiaries – LLC "RDTECH", "BSS Ukraine", "OS Consulting" and others – they implemented and supported software and hardware solutions for the NBU, the Ministry of Finance, Oschadbank, central government bodies.

"Available information indicates that JSC "RDTECH" can carry out remote access to corporate servers of a group of related business entities LLC "RDTECH", LLC "OS Consulting", LLC "BSS Ukraine", including those involved in technical support of software and hardware integrated into information and telecommunication systems of state institutions, law enforcement agencies, telecommunication operators, banking institutions, etc., where information with restricted access circulates, the protection of which is required by current legislation of Ukraine. In addition, officials of LLC "RDTECH", LLC "OS Consulting", LLC "BSS Ukraine" by using special software via the Internet, under the pretext of carrying out technical work and maintenance, periodically gain access to the information systems of the above-mentioned institutions," states the court materials.

Investigators indicate that such access to databases and information and telecommunication systems of critical infrastructure allowed the Russian side to obtain confidential information, including in the interests of Russian law enforcement agencies, and at the same time to shadow the Ukrainian economy through a network of "fictitious" counterparties. Ultimately, the case was closed, but it is interesting that among the "front companies" mentioned by the investigators, there is also IE "I-AR-SI".

Against this background, the story of the "Sovereign Artificial Intelligence Factory" takes on a new color, because it is not just about the purchase of another batch of servers, but about the basis of the state AI cluster, which will process huge amounts of data of Ukrainians, businesses, and the state.

It is obvious that if companies with a Russian trail or structures that law enforcement officers already suspect of schemes for withdrawing funds appear in the chain of implementation of such systems, this creates not only corruption risks, but also a direct threat to state security.

Recall

Earlier, MP Oleksandr Fediienko stated that a file with personal data of about 20 million Ukrainians was found in open access.

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak commented on the statement of his colleague Oleksandr Fediienko about the data leak of about 20 million Ukrainians, stating that it was an old leak, from an old leak of the "Diia" database of 3.5 million rows. "Diia" itself denied the information about data leaks.