The Ossipenko family headed by Nikolai Ossipenko whose company Ekovir recently outbid such giants as Ragn Sells and Veolia for five waste collection tenders in Tallinn has become a major player on the Tallinn waste management market, Äripäev wrote on Nov. 13.

A company that belongs to Ossipenko’s family has now acquired Adenal Prügiveod, third-largest company on the Tallinn waste collection market.

Although legally Adelan was acquired by the wife of Nikolai Ossipenko's brother Viktor and Viktor claims that his businesses are not part of Nikolai’s business empire, it is widely believed that the actual owner of the company is Nikolai.
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The recent deal with the City of Tallinn and the acquisition of Adelan has made him overnight the most influential player on the Tallinn waste collection market.

Three Russian businessmen in Estonia who owned Adelan have refused to name the sale price of Adelan, but are believed to have earned about a million euros as a result of the deal.

Adelan is collecting waste in Lasnamäe district in Tallinn.

In August, Ossipenko’s company Ekovir won municipal contracts to collect and handle waste in the districts of Haabersti, Kesklinn, Kristiine and two districts in North Tallinn.

Competitors claimed that the bid amount does not even cover the company’s costs.

„I doubt that Evikor has even calculated the cost of collecting waste in the capital city,” said Agu Remmelg, business manager of Ragn-Sells.

Argo Luude, CEO of Veolia, added that the City of Tallinn and Evikor may be preparing a scheme which will not lower, but increase the price of the service for the consumer.

„I would ask why such bids are being made right now?” said Luude, adding that he is sensing political games that could go much further than waste collection business.

„Ekovir has never bid for other tenders and I have a question why is it pushing to a market where it has to invest between 1.5 and 2 million euros in equipment alone, in order to meet the terms. The service tariffs that the City expects to see, in the same time, are ridiculous. There is something going on in the back rooms,” said Luude.

Commenting the claims, City of Tallinn’s deputy mayor Aivo Sarapuu said that competitors were using the name of Ossipenko to scare the public. „It’s all part of a dirty waste war where competitors are determined to hold their positions and delay the process by disputing the results,” he said.

City of Tallinn has said that Evikor’s tender victory means that waste collection fees paid by residents will fall by about a third.

In Kohtla-Järve, Ossipenko is known as the „Road King” because his companies have for years been winning municipal tenders in Northeast Estonia.

Ossipenko was involved in the largest local government corruption scheme ever uncovered in Estonia. Besides Nikolai Ossipenko, other suspects include Kohtla-Järve Mayor Jevgeni Solovjov, suspected of causing nearly 1 million euros of damage to the city's budget, as well as former mayor Jüri Kollo, and 23 private limited companies and 10 sole proprietors.

Four tenders for road construction and maintenance were rigged between the City of Kohtla-Järve and Nikolai Ossipenko's company.