Asset Recovery Agency Auctions Ship Seized For Transporting Stolen Grain From Crimea

The company will forfeit nearly UAH 1 million in bid security if it fails to complete the purchase of the vessel.

The National Agency for Identifying, Tracing, and Managing Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (Asset Recovery Agency) has successfully conducted an auction for the sale of the seized vessel USKO MFU at the third attempt.

This is stated in information published in the ProZorro.Sales public procurement system, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Liga Business publication.

The winning bidder was Universal LTD LLC, which agreed to purchase the vessel at the starting price of UAH 2.48 million in a Dutch auction, a type of auction in which the price starts high and is lowered until someone bids.

The future buyer is also required to pay UAH 4.42 million in customs duties.

If the company does not complete the purchase of the asset, it will forfeit nearly UAH 1 million in bid security.

According to the auction description, the vessel is in poor condition, with dents on the hull, a primary engine requiring major overhaul due to prolonged inactivity, damaged wheelhouse and navigation equipment, and an engine room in unsatisfactory condition.

The vessel is physically moored in the city of Reni.

Owned by a Turkish shipowner, the ship was detained in Reni in July 2024 after visiting Russian-occupied Sevastopol. According to investigators, from 2023 to 2024, the vessel repeatedly called at the Sevastopol seaport to load grain looted by Russian forces and transport it to the Middle East. In October 2024, the bulk carrier was confiscated by court order. The captain of the USKO MFU was fined for his actions in Sevastopol.