UzAuto tender voided after Anti-Corruption Agency investigation reveals violations

The Anti-Corruption Agency confirmed the identified violations in the state procurement conducted by UzAuto Motors, according to the agency's press service. The state regulator's inspection began after the incident was reported on the Telegram channel "Revisor".

UzAuto Motors announced the selection of the best proposal for the purchase of components for Nexia-2 car doors. On July 8, the procurement commission accepted the final proposal worth 1.3 billion UZS.

Only two companies participated in the tender: Eko Tsem Komplekt Oborudovanie and Eko Lit Metall, which became the winner and reserve winner, respectively.

According to "Revisor," the companies are presumably owned by father and son. Anvarjon Mutalipov, the head and sole founder of Eko Lit Metall, previously owned 50% of Eko Tsem Komplekt Oborudovanie.

"It is impossible to verify these assumptions independently, and I hope they will be clarified by the competent authorities," noted the author of the Telegram channel.

The investigation conducted by the Anti-Corruption Agency revealed that the companies indeed belong to close relatives, violating the public procurement law, which prohibits related parties from participating in the same tender.

The companies were recognized as affiliated (interconnected) entities.

In an official comment, UzAuto Motors stated that the competition was conducted on the etender.uzex.uz platform, but no contracts were concluded with any of the participants.

According to public procurement legislation, the procurement commission within the customer's structure is responsible for compliance with regulatory procedures and impartiality in decisions. Officials and employees of the state customer must prevent conflicts of interest that harm and restrict the rights of other participants.

Failure to disclose the interconnectedness of participants in the public procurement process results in fines for officials ranging from 20 to 30 BCA (from 6.8 to 10.2 million UZS).

However, considering the size of the selection amount and the revealed relationship of the participants, the parties, including UzAuto, may face additional administrative and criminal liability measures, explained a public procurement expert to Spot, who wished to remain anonymous.

The Anti-Corruption Agency has submitted a proposal to annul the tender results.

At present, changes have already been made to the public procurement form, indicating the customer's refusal based on the procurement commission's statement due to the identified violation of the legislation. However, the date and details of the submitted statement and the customer's refusal are not specified.

"The documents collected during the investigation have been sent to law enforcement agencies to hold the guilty parties accountable," the agency noted.