The NABU and the SAPO have exposed six individuals involved in organizing a criminal group that profited from procurements of medical equipment for cancer patients at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
During 2021–2022, while procuring medical equipment under the project “Establishment of a Modern Clinical Base for Cancer Treatment at the NCI,” participants in the scheme allegedly misappropriated over UAH 231 million.
DOZORRO experts at TI Ukraine analyzed the NCI’s procurements to determine which of them might be linked to the scheme.
Medical equipment procurements for the NCI in 2021–2022
According to BI Prozorro, between 2021 and 2022, the National Cancer Institute announced 717 tenders, resulting in 668 contracts (25 tenders failed, and 24 were canceled). The total value of the signed contracts was UAH 1.4 billion.
Case materials reveal that the actual head of the largest group of companies specializing in the sale of medical equipment in Ukraine, allegedly the scheme’s organizer, has been served with a notice of suspicion. According to Slovo i Dilo, this refers to Herman Fistal.
Main suppliers
The three companies with which the NCI signed the highest-value contracts in 2021–2022 and which the media link to Fistal are:
Alliance-2013 LLC – UAH 178 million
Artek Medical Group LLC – UAH 173 million
Globalmedgroup LLC – UAH 74 million.
Their combined contract value was UAH 425 million. Investigators report that the scheme involved awarding contracts to affiliated companies through non-competitive procedures, with prices for certain equipment inflated by up to 50%.
Alliance-2013 LLC supplied the NCI with an endoscopic intervention equipment set for nearly UAH 174 million and an ultrasonic bipolar generator for UAH 1.8 million in 2021. In these procurement transactions, the winner’s competitor was another company allegedly linked to Fistal — Fiore-M LLC. In 2022, Alliance-2013 LLC also delivered a flexible video gastroscope for UAH 2.1 million. The company was the sole participant in this simplified procurement. Over the past two years, it has received two more service contracts worth about UAH 1 million for the maintenance and repair of medical equipment.
Artek Medical Group LLC was awarded six contracts by the NCI in 2021–2022. These included: an angiographic intervention system for UAH 30 million, a CT system for nearly UAH 47 million, an MRI system for UAH 46.5 million, a contrast injector for UAH 1.5 million, another CT system for over UAH 45 million, and an ultrasound system for UAH 3.4 million. In 2021, the company won by offering lower prices than its competitors, who were not found to have links with Fistal. In 2022 procurements, it was the sole bidder.
Globalmedgroup LLC supplied 17 anesthesia ventilators and 4 mechanical ventilators for nearly UAH 65 million under a single contract. A second contract worth UAH 3 million involved medical refrigerators. In the second procurement, the only competitor was the now-familiar Alliance-2013; in the first — another company allegedly linked to Fistal — Suchasna Likarnia LLC. Later, in July 2022, the company was awarded UAH 2.6 million for 20 functional beds under a direct contract. Three more contracts covered smaller equipment — incubators (thermostats), laminar boxing, and an air sterilizer. For the first two, the only competitor was Fiore-M LLC, again linked to Fistal. In the sterilizer procurement, the competitor was BTM UA LLC, which has no publicly known connection to Fistal.
“The procurements suggest that in 2021, affiliated companies mostly appeared in pairs at tenders — effectively creating fake competition. In 2022, that was no longer necessary since one bid was enough for a tender to proceed,” explains Yaroslav Pylypenko, Senior Analyst of DOZORRO TI Ukraine.
The procurements suggest that in 2021, affiliated companies mostly appeared in pairs at tenders — effectively creating fake competition. In 2022, that was no longer necessary since one bid was enough for a tender to proceed
Yaroslav Pylypenko
All companies linked to Fistal
In total, the companies identified by the media as being linked to Fistal (seven firms) received NCI medical equipment contracts worth UAH 456.5 million in 2021–2022.
For example, Medharant LLC received a contract in 2021 for supplying an orthovoltage therapeutic X-ray system for almost UAH 15 million. Two companies participated in the procurement, offering identical prices and making no reductions during the auction. Medharant won simply because it submitted its bid first.
Topservice-Medtechnica LLC received two contracts worth UAH 6.4 million — over UAH 5 million for furniture and more than UAH 1.3 million for an air sterilizer. Both were simplified procurements. In the first, the company had no competitors. In the second, the procuring entity rejected another participant, whose proposal was more than twice as cheap, due to minor discrepancies in equipment specifications: a slightly smaller volume and a greater temperature error in the chamber.
Suchasna Likarnia LLC received its largest contract from the NCI — nearly UAH 3.5 million for defibrillators and ECG machines in a tender where it competed with Fiore-M LLC. In turn, a tender where Fiore-M LLC won a UAH 2.3 million contract for an automated immunohistochemistry stainer featured Svitmed LLC as its only competitor, also reported to be linked to Fistal.
The HACC has set bail in the amount of UAH 200 million as a pre-trial restraint for businessman Herman Fistal, who is suspected of involvement in large-scale embezzlement at the National Cancer Institute. This was reported by journalist Oleh Novikov.
In addition, Fistal was ordered to report upon first request, notify of any change in place of residence or employment, not leave the Kyiv region without permission, refrain from communicating with other individuals involved in the case, surrender all international passports, and wear an electronic bracelet.
Alongside Fistal, a notice of suspicion was also served to Andrii Shypko, a member of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council who at the time served as Acting Director of the National Cancer Institute, as well as to two representatives of private companies involved in the group and two employees of the Institute.
This material is funded by the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union
