Thursday, 10 April 2025 09:02 
🌐How to Minimize Criminal Risks in Public Procurement: Expert Recommendations
📌On March 20, 2025, a roundtable titled “Criminal Liability in Public Procurement” was held, organized by the publishing house “Юридична практика” (Legal Practice) in partnership with the law firm Globa&Globa, with informational support from the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine.
The participants analyzed current judicial practices in cases of criminal offenses related to public procurement, examined automated risk indicators in the Prozorro system, and discussed issues surrounding the evidentiary basis in such criminal cases. Special attention was paid to the risks arising during the procurement of petroleum products, particularly for the defense sector, as well as expert evaluations and the consequences of violations in defense procurement.
✔️The event was moderated by Constantine Globa, Managing Partner at Globa&Globa. He proposed an active format with interactive engagement between speakers and participants.
👤Larysa Kovalenko, detective of the second detective unit of the second main detective division of National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, opened the roundtable with a presentation on “Key Violations by Procuring Entities in Public Procurement that May Lead to Pre-trial Investigations.”
She began by emphasizing the core purpose of the public procurement system — ensuring the transparent use of public funds. However, she noted that in practice, the system remains highly vulnerable to corruption risks. The speaker highlighted that the most common violations by procuring entities often occur in collusion with suppliers of goods, works, and services.
👤Nataliya Shymko, Deputy General Director of Prozorro, presented on the topic of automated risk indicators in the Prozorro system. She emphasized the uniqueness of Ukraine’s electronic procurement system, which contains a large volume of open data, allowing for effective procurement analysis. According to her, Prozorro remains one of the most transparent systems in the world even under martial law.
👤Mykhailo Tretiakov, Managing Partner at AZONES, focused on criminal risks associated with public procurement of petroleum products. He shared the experiences of SOCAR and other fuel suppliers serving government institutions, including the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia, and the State Reserve Agency of Ukraine.
He paid special attention to the challenges of gathering evidence in criminal cases related to procurement violations.
👤Olga Kukuiuk, Partner at Globa&Globa, emphasized key criminal risks in the field of public procurement and provided practical recommendations for minimizing them. She underlined that such risks exist and will continue to exist regardless of legislative changes, as the interaction between procuring entities and suppliers in the use of public funds is always accompanied by potential threats.
👤Iryna Ped, Managing Partner at the S&D Expert Group, forensic economist, Doctor of Economics, gave a presentation on “Expert Evaluations in Public Procurement Cases.” She noted that businesses often fail to understand that criminal proceedings that do not occur or are closed due to lack of evidence are still an important part of law enforcement practice.
👤In her speech, Roksolana Lukinchuk, Partner at ADVANQ, drew attention to the complex criminal-legal consequences of violations in defense procurement, stressing the importance of thoroughly analyzing tender conditions and the implementation phase.
👤The event concluded with a presentation by Serhii Fomin, Judges of the Supreme Court in the Criminal Cassation Court, titled “Current Practice of the Supreme Court in Criminal Offenses Related to Public Procurement.”
Serhii Fomin noted that the main legal battles in such criminal proceedings occur in the first and second instances, as the Criminal Cassation Court is not a court of fact. It only verifies adherence to proper legal procedures within the criminal proceedings.
👉More details about the roundtable “Criminal Liability in Public Procurement” can be found at the link (Ukrainian language):
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