Andrey Kobolev. An unnoticed "veteran" of the gas pipeline.
Andriy Kobolev took over Naftogaz, Ukraine's main gas monopoly, in 2014, immediately after the Maidan revolution. He was a protégé of former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his "kamikaze government." Kobolev was considered a temporary replacement, but he held his position for over seven years.
The head of the NAC strictly fulfills the tasks assigned to him by his "mentor," Yatsenyuk, and enriches himself at the expense of Ukrainians: he buys armored jeeps, hires security, and lives in a $1 million house.
Andrey Kobolev. The "golden" boy with his geophysicist father.
Andriy Kobolev's biography is sparse in terms of sensations and scandals. Only a dry list of his professional activities is publicly available. One gets the impression that he is completely new to Ukrainian politics and the energy sector—a sort of unbiased top manager who has entered mainstream Ukrainian politics. However, according to Skelet.Org , the family of the head of Naftogaz has close ties to the energy sector.
So, Andrey Vladimirovich Kobolev was born on August 16, 1978, in Kyiv. His father, Vladimir Pavlovich Kobolev, was a geophysicist well-known in certain circles.
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In 1968, Kobolev Sr. graduated with honors from the College of Geological Exploration Technologies of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and five years later received an education at the National Research Institute of Geology.
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After this, he took a job at the S.I. Subbotin Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, simultaneously studying the oil and gas-bearing shelf of the Black Sea.
Naturally, Kobolev Sr. sent his beloved son to pursue higher education at the country's most prestigious university—the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. The very fact of studying at KIMO bolsters one's status and belonging to a "special" caste. Even in those days, only a wealthy family could afford his child's education. After graduating in 2000, Andrey Kobolev earned a master's degree in international economic relations. At the height of his studies, the young student, Andryusha, developed a passion for poker. During his final years, he earned a living playing poker for six months. I wonder how much the young man earned and whether he ever declared his income?
Kobolev Jr. began his career at the Ukrainian branch of the international audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). He joined the firm as a management consultant, specializing in strategic management and corporate transformation, six months before graduating. PwC is one of the "Big Four" audit firms worldwide.
Incidentally, this audit firm became the main figure in the scandal between PrivatBank and the NBU in early 2017. PwC valued PrivatBank's collateral at several times its actual value and also acted as both appraiser and auditor, creating a conflict of interest.
While his son was learning the ropes and taking his first steps in his career, Kobolev Sr.'s fortunes were on the rise. In 2003, he assumed a leading position at the Institute of Geophysics, heading the Department of Seismometry and Physical Properties of the Earth's Composition. This gave him access to the entire geological exploration dataset covering the entire territory of Ukraine. During this period, Vladimir Pavlovich, succumbing to a new trend among high-ranking officials, became a Knight of the International Order of Saint Stanislaus—a "sharashka" company led by Grand Master Chevalier Pavel Vyalov, which swindled money from the rich.
Grand Master of the International Order of Saint Stanislaus, Chevalier Pavel Vyalov, initiates Kobolev into the Order's ranks.
Four years later, Vladimir Kobolev and several other employees and managers from the institute registered the Institute of Applied Geophysics, a closed joint-stock company. They operated, of course, as private individuals. The joint-stock company allowed them to explore the oil and gas-bearing shelf of the Black Sea as if it were the palm of their hand. Naturally, the caring father promoted his son. By pure chance, Andrei Kobolev would come to work at the National Joint-Stock Company, and later become its head.
Tough guys
In 2002, when Andrey Kobolev was still working as a strategy consultant at PwC and his father was actively pursuing academic work, the affairs of Naftogaz were making headlines across the country.
The first case involved Igor Bakai , the initiator of the creation of NAK Naftogaz and its former chairman of the board. The Investigative Department of the State Tax Administration (at that time, the tax service was headed by Mykola Azarov (more about him in the article Mykola Azarov. The Survivor) , and the head of the Investigative Department was Svyatoslav Piskun (read about him - Svyatoslav Piskun. Scandalous and Unsinkable ) accused him of embezzlement of public funds on an especially large scale. Azarov "complained" to President Leonid Kuchma about Bakai, who stole for himself, and not for the presidential "common fund." Incidentally, the amount in question was 770 million hryvnias. The embezzling chairman of the board of the NAK was not brought to trial, but punished under a different "law" - left with nothing. Rumor had it that Bakai went around borrowing money from everyone he knew. Igor Didenko, deputy head of the board of Naftogaz, replaced the unfortunate manager. However, he, too, "got burned" by approving a "bill offset" between the state The Dniproenergo generating company and privatized regional power companies. The operation benefited Grigoriy Surkis ( Read the background story: Grigoriy Surkis: How to Divide Ukraine Fraternally ) and his financial institution, Ukrainian Credit Bank, causing 550 million hryvnia in losses to the state. The next head of the NAK was Vadym Kopylov, Mykola Azarov's deputy, who had come from the State Tax Administration of Ukraine. Kopylov decided not to take any risks: after holding on for two years, he "gave" the post to Yuriy Boyko ( read about him in the article YURIY BOYKO - "UNTOUCHABLE" ) by decree of President Kuchma. Boyko, knowing the fate of his predecessors, decided to devise ingenious schemes to embezzle and launder state funds into offshore companies. Someone also had to service the NAK's corporate securities, attract foreign loans, and Responsible for international financial operations. Incidentally, none of the NAK's executives had a foreign degree, or at least an MBA qualification.
So, Boyko began by officially announcing new vacancies at Naftogaz Ukrainy: they were recruiting consultants specializing in international finance and corporate law. They hired two: Andriy Kobolev and Yuriy Vitrenko (son of Natalia Vitrenko, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine; read more about him in the article " Yuriy Vitrenko: A Bigwig in the Oil and Gas Business "). Kobolev was 24 at the time and immediately became the chief specialist in the corporate finance and pricing policy department at Naftogaz Ukrainy, while 26-year-old Vitrenko took a higher position—assistant to the deputy chairman of the board, Oleksandr Kovalko (Anatoly Kinakh's son-in-law). At the time, Kovalko was overseeing Naftogaz Ukrainy's "new" strategy. However, Skelet.Org never found out what it was. The pair were protected by Kovalko's sister, who was then working with them at the audit and consulting firm PwC.
Andrey Kobolev, debts and the gas noose
In 2006, Andrei Vladimirovich was promoted to head his own department of corporate finance and pricing policy at NAK. After two years, he received a new assignment, becoming an advisor to Oleg Dubina, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz. This is where Kobolev's skills came in handy. The first issue Dubina and his advisor tackled was the restructuring of NAK's Eurobond debt. The debt was being repaid on $500 million in bonds issued in 2004. Rumor has it that Kobolev, with the intellectual support of Vitrenko, came up with the ingenious scheme. So, the "experts" decided to restructure the external debt through a formal exchange of Eurobonds and other obligations for new Eurobonds. In terms of numbers, securities yielding 8,12% were simply exchanged for new ones yielding 9,5%. The procedure involved a foreign company, Squire Capital Limited, registered in Cyprus six months before the start of the restructuring.
Kobolev participated in the signing of a gas contract with Gazprom in 2009, which was disadvantageous for Ukraine. However, not directly. The deal, according to many, was entirely brokered by Yulia Tymoshenko. At that time, under an agreement with Vladimir Putin, Ukraine received gas from Russia at $450, while the initial negotiations envisaged a price of $235-$250. Of course, a 20% discount was stipulated, but it didn't save the situation. Meanwhile, "Lady Yu" was removed from the market. She removed the trader RosUkrEnergo (50% of the shares are held by Gazprom and Centragas Holding AG; the latter's owners are Dmitry Firtash and Ivan Fursin – read about them in the articles "DMITRY FIRTASH. THE STORY OF A TERNOPIL BILLIONAIRE" and "Ivan Fursin: How Levochkin's Friends Milked and Are Milking Ukraine "), depriving the company of 11 billion cubic meters of gas stored in Naftogaz's underground gas storage facilities. In fact, without the participation of Naftogaz Chairman of the Board Oleh Dubina, his advisor Andriy Kobolev, and First Deputy Ihor Didenko, this deal would not have been possible. It was their signatures that "gifted" Ukraine the highest gas price in Europe. Kobolev and Didenko provided blank sheets of paper with the signatures of Naftogaz officials, on which Gazprom representatives wrote their terms. Moreover, it was Andriy Vladimirovich who calculated the financial benefits of the deal.
In fact, Kobolev was always more of a financial advisor to Didenko than to Dubiny himself. But the two men managed to remain in the shadows.
Dubina claimed he was pressured by both Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko. They allegedly forbade him from signing a contract with Russia, where gas was priced at $235. Thus, Tymoshenko bore the brunt. True, Didenko also came under fire: under Yanukovych in 2011, he was sentenced to three years, with a suspended sentence of the same amount. Kobolev, however, escaped unscathed.
To summarize: young "specialists," Andrey Kobolev and Yuriy Vitrenko, lacking sufficient work experience, served intermittently for eight years, both separately and together, as advisors to the NAK's management. It's worth noting that Vitrenko left Naftogaz in 2004, immediately after the Orange Revolution, and then returned in 2006, only to resign a year later. Kobolev, meanwhile, remained with the corporation until 2010—a total of eight years.
Andrey Kobolev and Yuriy Vitrenko. The Twix of Corporate Moguls
In 2010, the "sweet couple," unemployed Kobolev and Vitrenko, entered the world of corporate finance with AYA Securities LLC. Just three years later, the private company became infamous for its attempt to extort 3 billion hryvnias from creditors of the state-owned company Ugol Ukrainy! We'll tell the story of this failed deal from afar.
Let's return to 2005, when Kobolev and Vitrenko were working for the benefit of Naftogaz. At the time, the state corporation was actively collaborating with a firm called KPSM-Consulting. It was headed by a certain Vadim Ivanov from Moscow. The firm specialized in pipeline diagnostics and pipeline exploration. What kind of work it did remains to be seen. If we decipher the acronym "KPSM," we get "combined porous mesh metal." It is used in filters for purifying liquids and gases from mechanical impurities.
So, the "sweet couple" of specialists from NAK decided to team up with Vadim Ivanov. First, they renamed KPSM-Consulting to AYA Capital. To ensure no one found the connection, they made its founder a Cyprus offshore company, Nestras Holding, which shared the same address as Leonid Yurushev's offshore company, Bonnlack Finance Limited ( read more: Leonid Yurushev: The Secret "Sponsor" of Arseniy Yatsenyuk ). The next step was the owners "cloning" AYA Capital and, in 2006, creating AYA Securities, which they registered at the same address. AYA Securities did not become an offshore company; Yuriy Vitrenko was registered as its sole owner. He contributed 7,1 million hryvnia to the authorized capital. All the other participants in the “operation” were content with little: Vadim Ivanov became a “signatory,” and Andrey Kobolev became the managing director and advisor.
When Kobolev was fired from Naftogaz in 2010, he fully immersed himself in his business at AYA Securities. From then on, Andrey Kobolev and Yuriy Vitrenko worked together. But! Vitrenko was always in charge.
In 2013, AYA Securities and the "sweet couple" made headlines across Ukraine. They became embroiled in a scandal involving the state-owned company Ugol Ukrainy.
During those years, Ugol Ukrainy received most of its loans from state-owned banks, particularly Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, and Alfa-Bank. These financial institutions injected approximately 2 billion hryvnias into the state-owned company. They issued the loans without collateral, backed by state guarantees. Naturally, the bankers assumed they would be repaid. However, in 2011, Ugol Ukrainy stopped paying its bills, owing the banks 1,3 billion hryvnias. After two years of legal battles, the state-owned company's current accounts were frozen. The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry announced the liquidation of Ugol Ukrainy. The company's lawyers filed a lawsuit requesting a 20-year loan restructuring. At the same time, AYA Securities approached the banks with an offer to buy Ugol Ukrainy's debts for 30% of their face value.
Andrey Kobolev. An unnoticed "veteran" of the gas pipeline.
This is a brilliant scheme for converting a state-owned enterprise's debt into private profits. Kobolev is unrivaled in such schemes. However, this scheme always requires a high-ranking official to sign the liquidation order. This official was former Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Eduard Stavytsky. He, of course, was entitled to a kickback. The deal was likely financed by a bank close to President Yanukovych's family.
However, the deal never took place. Maidan was to blame. Kobolev and Vitrenko quickly disavowed the Ugol Ukrainy scheme.
It's worth noting that Ukrainian companies owed NAK approximately 27 billion hryvnias in 2014. Of course, they had to pay for Russian gas somehow. The best way to do this was to squeeze money out of the companies.
Andrey Kobolev. "The Old Face" of the NAC
In 2014, Andriy Kobolev joined the "honest" government – the "kamikaze government" of Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Yulia Tymoshenko, which was desperately losing its sphere of influence.
As soon as Yatsenyuk's government was formed, there was talk of Igor Didenko, the former deputy chairman of the state monopoly, becoming the head of Naftogaz. Yulia Tymoshenko personally lobbied for his candidacy for the position due to his past achievements. However, Yatsenyuk didn't want to risk compromising himself in this way and turned to Didenko for advice. He recommended Andriy Kobolev. He's young and hasn't had much of a public profile. In any case, the general public doesn't know him. However, Kobolev himself said he took the NAK leadership chair after several interviews with Yatsenyuk. And the idea to head NAK, according to Skelet.Org , was suggested to him by former Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pivovarsky ( read about him in the article " Andriy Pivovarsky. Minister of Infrastructure Collapse ").
When Andriy Kobolev became Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz, the word "diversification," a new one for ordinary Ukrainians, became commonplace. It signified an expansion of the range of purchased and manufactured products and a reorientation of procurement and sales markets. In Ukrainian reality, this marked the beginning of new gas supplies. To reduce dependence on Russia's Gazprom and the price of the "Tymoshenko contract," the government of Arseniy Yatsenyuk began actively pursuing the so-called reverse gas supply scheme from Europe. Ukraine, represented by Naftogaz, purchased part of the gas from Gazprom, and part from major European companies.
But Yatsenyuk and his protégé Kobolev decided to profit from this beneficial (they weren't going to buy gas from the "aggressor," were they?) and innovative (previously, Ukraine was completely dependent on Russia) deal. They signed contracts using blatantly corrupt schemes.
Among all the European gas suppliers, TrailStone unexpectedly stood out. The company supplied large volumes of gas at a clearly inflated price. But this was kept quiet, as the issue was the average price, which was "standard." It was precisely this price that was publicized.
Yulia Tymoshenko suddenly became alarmed. She claimed that TrailStone was artificially created by the Yatsenyuk government. It was headed by Ukrainian citizen Pavel Levin, who has direct ties to the Naftogaz management. Kobolev returned the favor, explaining that the founder of TrailStone has been operating in the gas market for 15 years.
Andrey Kobolev. An unnoticed "veteran" of the gas pipeline.
This was a blatant lie. According to official data, the "real" TrailStone was registered only in 2013, not "15 years ago," as the head of the National Joint Stock Company claimed. It was founded by former executives of Deutsche Bank AG together with Riverstone Holdings LLC. The latter is a major American company specializing in energy. But the truth is, it is Berlin-based TrailStone GmbH that is cooperating with Ukraine. It is impossible to find this entity's identity in the German legal entity register—all information is classified. It is known that its main shareholders include residents of the Cayman Islands. Moreover, the German trading company only received accreditation on the Austrian Gas Exchange in 2014.
Two days after TrailStone's listing on the exchange, Kobolev announced that two foreign players would begin supplying gas to Ukraine. Given Ukraine's bureaucratic landscape, this is a true miracle. But there's no mention of the actual purchase price. The deals weren't covered by public procurement law, so the monopolist didn't publish their monthly volumes or prices.
And the most interesting fact: TrailStone never traded gas. The company learned of its "purpose" when Yuriy Vitrenko joined NAK as an advisor to the head of Naftogaz. In other words, the man who had always supervised Kobolev suddenly became his subordinate. It turned out that Vitrenko had met the future director of TrailStone during an internship at Merrill Lynch in London in 2006. After taking his position at NAK, the advisor decided to pull off a corruption scheme. And then it all happened as usual: Vitrenko comes up with the idea, Kobolev signs it.
In 2015, Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced that Ukraine would purchase more gas from TrailStone. However, he omitted the fact that the price was the second highest among all gas suppliers—$388 per thousand cubic meters. As a result, TrailStone became the third-largest supplier to Naftogaz.
Another European trading company that supplies gas to Ukraine is London-based Noble CFL. It has clear ties to Ukrainian officials.
Noble CFL is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Noble Group, a company specializing in agriculture. Noble Group has been operating in Ukraine since 2008. From 2008 to 2013, Noble's Ukrainian representative office was headed by Ivan Miroshnichenko, a member of parliament from the Samopomich party.
Ivan Miroshnichenko
In 2015, Noble became a reverse-flow gas supplier for Naftogaz. In February of that year, Ukraine purchased gas from the company at a record price of $402 per thousand cubic meters.
Andrey Kobolev, NJSC and Ukrnafta
Undoubtedly, Andriy Kobolev feels privileged due to the support of high-ranking officials. In 2015, he even set conditions for Ihor Kolomoisky himself. This was just after President Petro Poroshenko dismissed him as head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration. Andriy Petrovich openly stated that Naftogaz was planning to cut off gas supplies to the Kremenchuk Thermal Power Plant in Poltava Oblast, which is owned by Kolomoisky and Konstantin Grigorishin's companies ( more about him: Konstantin Grigorishin: Distinguished Oligarch of Ukraine and Russia ). A telephone conversation ensued. Kolomoisky threatened Kobolev with seizure of the thermal power plant.
The next scandal between Kobolev and Kolomoisky erupted over Ukrnafta. On May 26, 2015, a specially adopted amended Law "On Joint-Stock Companies" by the Verkhovna Rada came into force. It was passed with the aim of helping Naftogaz replace Ukrnafta's management and return it to state control. As a reminder, 50%+1 of Ukrnafta's shares are owned by the National Joint-Stock Company, and 43% by companies affiliated with Ihor Kolomoisky's Privat Group.
Andriy Kobolev, Chairman of the Board of Ukrnafta, Mark Rollins, and Igor Kolomoisky, July 2015
Rollins Reference: Who are you with, Mr. Rollins?
Despite the state holding a controlling stake, the company is completely controlled by Kolomoisky's management. However, the NAK's leadership behaved strangely. After the law was passed, they failed to remove Ukrnafta's management, headed by Pieter Van Hecke, appointed an acting director, and failed to block the siphoning of funds from the company.
Through his actions, Kobolev allowed Kolomoisky to withdraw approximately 12 billion hryvnias from Ukrnafta from May to September 2015.
Based on this fact, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against the head of Naftogaz, Andrey Kobolev.
Andrey Kobolev. Cars, security and bonus
In 2014, Kobolev declared 769,5 hryvnias in income, including 763,2 hryvnias in salary. According to his declaration, the head of Naftogaz's assets include a rented apartment, a plot of land, two cars, and a jet ski. However, as Skelet.Org discovered , Andriy Vladimirovich concealed a luxurious house. The cottage, with a total area of 300 square meters, is located practically on the shores of the Kyiv Sea, a 20-minute drive from Kyiv. The cost of such a luxury residence is over $1 million. In reality, to purchase such a property, Kobolev would have had to save his salary for over 30 years.
The estate costs the official 100 hryvnias per year. This includes security and gardening. The complex also includes yacht moorings and a helipad.
Kobolev made no apologies for his house. The scandal was gradually hushed up.
Having settled into life at NAK, Andriy Kobolev decided to make working conditions more comfortable. Otherwise, it's impossible to explain the decision of the head of Naftogaz to purchase a premium armored Mercedes Benz S600 Guard vehicle worth approximately UAH 5,1 million. The information was posted on the Prozorro public procurement website.
The news of the purchase caused a stir, prompting NAK to make excuses. Allegedly, Kobolev needed the car to protect himself from risks associated with the Stockholm Arbitration Court case against Gazprom.
There's just one caveat: there's speculation that the tender was tailored to a specific vehicle. That is, Kobolev first selected the car, and then the terms for its purchase were drawn up. Since armored vehicles are rare, it turns out there really is a car Andrei Vladimirovich had his eye on. Presumably, the Mercedes—Kobolev's dream—was on display at the Premiumauto dealership in Kyiv.
Supposedly Kobolev wanted to buy this car.
The tender was cancelled at the last minute, apparently to avoid attracting attention.
Andriy Kobolev's business was clearly on the rise in 2015, as evidenced by his income declaration. The head of the Naftogaz company earned 6,105,900 hryvnias in 2015. Of the over 6 million hryvnias earned, according to his declaration, 1,105,500 hryvnias came from salary. Kobolev earned another 1,400 hryvnias from dividends and interest. The remaining 5 million hryvnias of his income stemmed from investment banking services he provided at his previous employer before joining Naftogaz. His assets include a rental house (287,6 m²) and a garage (42 m²), as well as a plot of land (1204 m²) and a residential building (274 m²).
Kobolev owns a Porsche Cayenne S (2007) and a Mercedes-Benz GL550 (2008) and a Bombardier Sea-Doo RXP 255 jet ski (2006).
At the end of 2016, it was announced that Naftogaz NAK had announced a new tender. The company's CEO needed personal security in 2017. The plan was to establish two security posts, each with two personnel, to be staffed daily from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The guards must be no older than 40 years old and have three years of experience. They must also be fully armed: the service provider is required to provide the guards with service firearms, rubber batons, stun guns, gas canisters, and, if necessary, automatic weapons. The expected cost of the procurement was UAH 827,000. However, there is a discrepancy. According to the law, these services can only be provided by National Police security personnel, not by private entities.
At the end of 2016, Yulia Tymoshenko announced that Andriy Kobolev and the board members would each receive a 13 million hryvnia bonus for the previous year. Andriy Volodymyrovych did not comment on her statement.
Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Org
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