"Turned a blind eye" to the idling of private wagons: abuses in "Ukrzaliznytsia" exposed for over UAH 9 million
Kyiv • UNN
Eight station managers of "Odesa Railway" received suspicion notices due to manipulations with wagon downtime. Their actions led to losses for "Ukrzaliznytsia" of over UAH 9 million.
Law enforcement officers have uncovered manipulations involving the idle time of Ukrzaliznytsia wagons, and eight heads of local stations involved in this scheme have been served with suspicion notices. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, writes UNN.
Under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, a scheme of abuses in the regional branch "Odesa Railway" of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" was uncovered. Based on the collected evidence, 8 station chiefs were notified of suspicion of abusing their official position for the purpose of obtaining undue benefits for a legal entity, which caused grave consequences (Part 1, 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, in 2023, officials did not draw up acts on the delay of freight wagons of private enterprises that remained on the tracks for more than a day – that is, longer than the allowed established period. Such actions allowed private companies to avoid charging for demurrage. As a result, JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" suffered losses of over UAH 9 million.
Dozens of cases of unjustified idle time of freight wagons have been documented. Some of them remained on the tracks for more than a month.
Law enforcement officers conducted more than 20 searches of the suspects and at the stations of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia", during which documents, computer equipment and telephones were seized.
The issue of choosing a pre-trial restraint for the suspects is currently being decided.