Andriy Pasishnyk: An Effective Manager of Ukrainian Corruption. Part 1
Why has the NABU still failed to take action against Ukrtransnafta Deputy Head Andriy Pasishnyk and his high-ranking patrons, while his case has been pending in court for a year and a half? Because the size of the largest bribes pales in comparison to the colossal windfall profits reaped by Ukrainian corrupt officials by embezzling budget funds through banking scams and tender fraud. And the risk of being caught red-handed is orders of magnitude lower than handing over envelopes or briefcases filled with cash. In fact, not a single tender "schemer" has ever been convicted in Ukraine—and it's unlikely that the Pasishnyk case will be the start of that.
This story began on February 3, 2016, when then-Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius resigned due to pressure being exerted on him. According to Abromavicius, this pressure was exerted on him by Andrij Pasishnik and the deputy head of the BPP faction. Igor Kononenko with the aim of appointing Pasishnyk as deputy minister. However, despite the submitted resignation, Abromavicius continued to serve as minister until the resignation of the entire Yatsenyuk government on April 14, 2016 – so his statement was more likely just a political stunt. Nevertheless, his words were not empty words: on February 24, 2016, the NABU opened a criminal case under Article 344-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (interference in the activities of a public official).
Andriy Pasishnyk: An Effective Manager of Ukrainian Corruption. Part 1
However, the case initially faltered due to a lack of sufficient evidence. The only evidence available was statements from the defendant himself. Abromavicius and screenshots of his SMS correspondence with Pasishnik, posted online by MP Serhiy Leshchenko. Another defendant in the case, Igor Kononenko, immediately began denying all charges. Moreover, due to his status as a friend and partner of the president, he is currently "untouchable" in the Ukrainian justice system.
In fact, the case then became a political struggle between the People's Front, which was trying to retain control of the Cabinet, and the presidential Solidarity, which was seeking to install Volodymyr Groysman as Prime Minister. Therefore, after the resignation of the Yatsenyuk government, which included Abromavicius, the People's Front's influence declined so much that the case simply stalled. It was revived only in September 2017, and many acknowledge that this was due to the widespread attack on the team by various political forces. PoroshenkoAnd yet, behind all this policy lies real, truly monstrous corruption. And we're not talking about bribes in the thousands, or even millions, but about multi-billion-dollar schemes and tenders.
Andrey Pasishnik. In the Footsteps of Vasily Alibabaevich
Surprisingly, it's impossible to find a detailed biography of the former deputy head of Naftogaz's board online, let alone his date and place of birth. The reason for this secrecy is anyone's guess. Skelet.Org I had to search open databases for possible variants, which yielded the following result: Andrey Petrovich Pasechnik was born (possibly) on February 12, 1981, in the village of Loshkarevka, Nikopol district, Dnipropetrovsk region. We emphasize: this information is not 100% reliable, as Andrey Petrovich conceals his age and place of birth for some reason, and he "Ukrainized" his surname to Pasishnik.
After graduating from the Chemical Engineering College in Dniprodzerzhynsk, Andriy Pasishnik found a job at Ukrtatnafta while continuing his education at the Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology in Dnipropetrovsk. By 2009, he was already heading the fuel quality control department at the UTN-Vostok gas station chain.
Judging by his career progression, Pasishnik was in good standing with his superiors. According to sources Skelet.Org, he had a certain patron who worked as a manager in the structures of Ukrtatnafta (possibly on the board of the Kremenchug Oil Refinery) and was connected with the UTN-Vostok business, who placed his protégé there.
Let's add a little spice: the company "UTN-Vostok" was created in 2002 by VIKOIL LLC and Vostok LLC, which were backed by the "Donetsk guys." Specifically: Igor Filippenko, Nikolay Gavrilenko, associated with them Andrey Adamovsky, with whom the current "presidential family fixer" Alexander Granovsky started his business, the now deceased Zhigan Taktashev, and the living and healthy Rinat Akhmetov, Tatyana Bakhteeva and her son-in-law, Timur Valitov. Since 2005, the UTN-Vostok chain had been selling fuel from the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, owned by Ukrtatnafta. However, the chain also sold illegal gasoline of unknown origin, which did not meet any state standards—and this "donkey urine" could not have escaped the notice of UTN-Vostok's chief quality controller, Andriy Pasishnyk. In other words, he was part of this scheme, diligently carrying out the orders of his bosses. Corrupt officials and swindlers can only dream of such accommodating managers—apparently, this was the key to Pasishnyk's successful career.
Andrey Pasishnik
But after the oligarch Kolomoisky took over Ukrnafta OJSC (with the help of its chairman, Ihor Palytsia), he also gained control of Ukrtatnafta, which he owned, and began to displace the Tatar-Russian Tatneft. Following this, in 2009, a conflict ensued between Ukrtatnafta and UNT-Vostok, leading to court hearings. In 2010, the gas station chain was sold to TNK-BP and subsequently rebranded as "Formula." At the same time, Pasishnik left his position to become the head of the Ukrainian Committee for the Protection of Consumers of Petroleum Products. One can only guess who could have appointed someone involved in the trade of "home-made" gasoline to this key position! But it becomes clear why Andrey Pasishnik found his next job at the company “WOG” (“Western Oil Group”), which is owned by businessmen To Stepan Ivakhiv, Igor Eremeev, To Sergei Lagur и To Peter DyminskyAfter all, gasoline from WOG stations was often of extremely poor quality—and who was to quell all these scandals if not the head of the Committee for the Protection of Oil Product Consumer Rights?! That's how Andrey Pasishnik became so close to the "WOG Four" that he first obtained a management position at WOG-Retail and Golden Equator, the companies that respectively owned and operated the WOG gas station network, and then became the official assistant to MP Igor Yeremeyev.
Again, Igor Yeremeyev chose an assistant who was literally a specialist, because he came to the Verkhovna Rada for one reason: to gain access to multi-billion-dollar tenders for fuel supplies to state-owned companies and institutions. Between 2011 and 2014 alone, the companies of the Continuum Group (Yeremeyev, Ivakhiv, Lagur, and Dyminsky) received several hundred tenders worth over 17 billion hryvnias ($2,1 billion). It was all these tenders that the effective manager Pasishnyk had to manage!
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Andriy Pasishnyk: An Effective Manager of Ukrainian Corruption. Part 2
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