During the organization and holding of an open auction for the sale of SE "Volyntorf" on October 6, 2023, the State Property Fund of Ukraine acted within the framework of the current legislation.
This is stated in the message of the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine emphasized that the starting price of small privatization objects for sale was determined at the level of the book value of the asset, as well as the starting price of SE "Volyntorf"; Prozorro.Sale provided equal access for all participants; the auction announcement was published within the time limits specified by law; and the current legislation provides that if only one participant is registered to participate in the auction, the auction can take place.
The SPF was prompted to clarify the situation around the privatization of SE "Volyntorf": 2 weeks after the auction, investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation and the prosecutor of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office accused the state agency and the buyer of conspiring to underestimate the price of the enterprise by UAH 100 million.
The Fund provided a chronology of events:
On October 6, the auction for the sale of SE "Volyntorf" was won by LLC "Agrobiostandart" with a bid of UAH 212.22 million; on November 1, LLC "Agrobiostandart" paid the full sale price (UAH 254.7 million, including VAT); on November 6, LLC "Agrobiostandart" and the Regional Office of the State Property Fund of Ukraine in Lviv, Zakarpattia and Volyn regions signed a sale and purchase agreement.
At the same time, on October 20, the SBI investigator opened criminal proceedings regarding the criminal conspiracy between LLC "Agribiostandard" and the State Property Fund of Ukraine; on October 21, he submitted materials to the court; on October 25, a judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv granted the motion; on October 26, the judge issued a ruling to arrest SE "Volyntorf".
LLC "Agribiostandard" stated that they learned about the seizure from the news and were not informed about the proceedings. The company is convinced that someone is resisting privatization.
"The corruptionists who have been making money from this enterprise all their lives are trying to create some obstacles one way or another. At first, they wanted to disrupt privatization, then somehow postpone it and increase its cost. And when they realized that we had acquired these enterprises, they had nothing better to do than to initiate a criminal case and come to us demanding that we allow them to enter into our company for free," said Konstantin Brovchenko, co-owner of LLC "Agribiostandard".
The company said it would go all the way to defeat the corruptionists and show that "we need to believe and invest in Ukraine."
"LLC "Agribiostandard" is part of "Asvio" Group, which employs more than 10,000 people. This is the group whose companies did not stop working and paying salaries for a day during the war and ensured an uninterrupted supply of bread and other products in Kyiv during the first, most difficult weeks of the war. We know how to fight and not give up in the most difficult situations," LLC "Agribiostandard" summarized.
Profit of SE "Volyntorf" amounted to UAH 6.2 million in the first half of 2023, UAH 10.6 million in 2022, while 2020 and 2021 were unprofitable.
In early July, the State Property Fund of Ukraine sold the state enterprise "Rivnetorf" at auction for UAH 205 million, and the state enterprise "Zhytomyr Torf" did not find a buyer at all.