How they want to feed army with water instead of meat: "There’s a war going on in country, we’re all in deep shit, and you’re ordering chilled meat. How can this be understood?"
What do you think will happen to the supplier if he calls the soldier and tells him that he is crazy for demanding normal meat? You are right, nothing will happen. But at least such dialogues will become known to the country, so that people will know who is profiting from the army and how.
A food manager who earned enough money to buy expensive cars and apartments in Bali. A supplier who signed contracts worth 15 billion with the Ministry of Defence, but still wants to steal a million every week.
This is just one of the stories that Ukrainians have seen over the past month thanks to the State Bureau of Investigations. However, without the supplier's name.
On the other side of this story is the Ukrainian army, which, because of such profiteers, ate rotten vegetables for the enrichment of a few individuals.
Expired vegetables, margarine instead of butter, chemical whey instead of yoghurt and, of course, water instead of meat – these are the top items that food suppliers to the army make money on.
But while food managers are sometimes arrested, company owners consistently avoid responsibility.
In addition to the scandalous Major Kostiantyn Svyrydov, the commercial director of the Busk Canning Plant, Mykhailo Mar**nenko, also appears in the SBI proceedings.
But, as it turned out, he was not the only one trying to figure out how suppliers could make more money from supplying food to the military.
Censor.NET obtained a recording of a conversation in which the manager of the same Busk Canning Plant calls a military unit and tries to push through a replacement order.
To make it easier to understand, I will briefly explain the food procurement system. Every year, more than 40 billion hryvnias are allocated from the budget for food procurement. After the scandal with eggs priced at 17 hryvnias and inflated prices, tenders are held in the Prozorro system, but according to the same catalogue.
The catalogue contains 365 food items that are supplied to the army. The supplier company arbitrarily evaluates the catalogue, but in such a way that prices are not 30% lower than the State Statistics Service prices. At the same time, it trades at an amorphous price per daily allowance. The conditional price is 107 UAH excluding VAT, and within this price range, the military unit must then order food with a certain calorie content.
Companies are so eager for these contracts that last year, the Busk Canning Plant and Trade Granit Invest collapsed prices at auction by more than a billion hryvnia.
If companies are slashing prices like this, how are they making money?
- Through fictitious invoices (when some of the products are simply not delivered).
- Through cheap, low-quality products (margarine instead of butter).
- By replacing goods with those that are profitable to supply. If a company has a loyal food manager, it will be able to transport the goods that are more profitable for it. For example, frozen meat instead of chilled meat.
And it was precisely this dialogue that fell into the hands of a journalist from Censor.NET.
Judging by the recording, the manager of the Busk canning plant is pressuring the food manager to replace chilled meat with frozen meat in the application.
It should be explained that, according to the catalogue provided by the company, there is no difference in price for the supplier depending on which product is delivered.
For example, the company sells chilled and frozen chicken fillets for 186 hryvnias. Chilled and frozen chicken legs are sold for 87.50 hryvnias.
Boneless pork loin is sold for 212 UAH.
So what is the difference, you may ask?
The difference is that frozen meat can be injected with water, while chilled meat cannot. Both the production manager and the supplier are well aware of this.
And in this dialogue, the factory representative is trying to get his profit. He is also trying to reach senior management to resolve the issue.
BCP representative: Hello, good evening. Good evening. Is this Maksym?
Head of the food warehouse: This is Maksym.
BCP representative: My name is Serhii Volodymyrovych, senior manager at BCP. We are starting to deliver products to you from period 3.3.
Head of the food warehouse: Yes.
BCP representative: What is your position? Please tell me.
Head of the food warehouse: Head of the food warehouse.
BCP representative: You?
Head of the food warehouse: Yes.
BCP representative: Is there a higher position that makes decisions on replacements, or not?
Head of the food warehouse:Yes.
BCP representative: Who? Please tell me on this phone and what their name is. Okay?
Head of the food warehouse: I am in charge of replacements, and there is one other person.
BCP representative: Okay. I don't understand. There's a war going on in the country, we're all in deep shit, and you're ordering chilled meat. How can I understand this? There isn't any right now. It's stupid. Don't you want to eat, or is this some kind of whim? Who is making this request? The commander? I am a reserve colonel, I have the right to say this. I had been a unit commander for nine years and finished my service as a colonel. My question is, why? There isn't any.
What should we bring you to eat? Please think about it, because tomorrow the truck will be loaded, so sort out your request. They sent you to us because, apparently, you fucked them up. That company is gone.
I'm just curious. You put the meat in the freezer anyway, it stays in the freezer. What's the point of transporting it chilled? Your entire request.
Food warehouse manager: Okay, in accordance with your position, I'll give you a phone number, and you can talk to someone at your level.
BCP representative: Okay, thank you. Send me a phone number and a name.
The quality of frozen meat has already become a proverb. There are more than a dozen videos about how the military is left with half a bucket of water after defrosting. And it is obvious that the company earns much more on the volume of frozen meat due to water. But the military gets significantly less meat. And no recipe from Klopotenko can save the situation here, because a rotten banana cannot become fresh, and 3 litres of water cannot become meat, no matter how much smoked paprika you add to it.
More than a month has passed since the moment with food manager Svyrydov and BCP. The DPA knows exactly which company was mentioned in the video.
But no decisions have been announced during this time. Instead, we saw PR photos of Zhumadilov and Klopotenko about the upcoming collection of recipes.
Meanwhile, last year, the Gran Prix company was deprived of its contract for being involved in a similar story.
Rumour has it that DPA head Arsen Zhumadilov has a special attitude towards the Busk canning plant.
That is why the contract with him will not be terminated.
At the same time, according to sources, Zhumadilov received the minister's approval to expand the 3PL model to the central and western regions. And he must also present a detailed plan to avoid the aforementioned risks.
And here we can only say one thing: the idea was good, but last year in the Kyiv region it was launched only on the second attempt, it turned out to be significantly more expensive (by about 50 hryvnias), and no well-known manufacturers joined.
They say that Zhumadilov explained to the leadership of the Ministry of Defence that the problem was not with the supplier, but with the system.
Well, now Zhumadilov has a unique opportunity to somehow explain the published dialogue to Ukrainians and tell them why the military has to make concessions to a specific company at the expense of the quality of their own food. He could weave Klopotenko's dead bees into the explanation.
Because the problem with the system still does not explain why you are terminating a contract with one company and leaving another in a similar story.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
