Andrey Pavelko and Leonid Sergienko: The Family Business of Born-Born Scammers. Part 1
A politician handing Ukrainians a soccer ball can be no less dangerous than a stranger offering a child candy. Andriy Pavelko, the current head of the Football Federation of Ukraine and deputy head of the BPP faction in parliament, has repeatedly been the subject of various scandals. Who is this man, who sometimes led opposition branches, sometimes sicced his "titushki" (bosses) on them? And why has his name started cropping up in rumors about a possible new power redistribution in Dnipro?
Leonid Sergienko. Wallpaper from a "scammer."
To better understand Andriy Pavelko, you first need to get to know his father-in-law, Leonid Sergienko. This should be done virtually, as, according to those who have encountered him, face-to-face contact with this man is not only unpleasant but also dangerous: he can easily scam you out of money or real estate. Sergienko's reputation as a "God-given con man" is legendary in Dnipro! And it seems his son-in-law is simply basking in the glow of his father-in-law's infamy. Much of what is now attributed to the evil genius Pavelko was accomplished in collaboration with Sergienko, and some Sergienko accomplished entirely on his own, using his son-in-law as a cover.
Andrey Pavelko and Leonid Sergienko: The Family Business of Born-Born Scammers. Part 1
Leonid Grigorievich Sergienko was born on April 27, 1955, in the village of Nikolaevka, Pokrovsky district, Dnipropetrovsk region. After school, he worked as a lathe operator, then served in the army, then entered Dnipropetrovsk State University, graduating in 1981 with a degree in electronics engineering. Over the next two years, the young specialist's career rapidly advanced: from radio equipment adjuster to deputy shop foreman and senior site engineer. Then came the ultimate low: Sergienko was fired from the factory and found himself working as a simple electrician at a vegetable warehouse. According to his acquaintances, the reason for this was... Skelet.OrgLeonid Sergienko's binge drinking became the turning point. But even at rock bottom, he continued to fall: first, he worked part-time as a television repairman, and then, his shaking hands made him unable to hold a soldering iron. At the vegetable warehouse, he was simply tolerated, since the Soviet system didn't give up on anyone.
It was alcoholism that transformed this once-respectable young man into a greedy and vile con man, unstinting in any way. In 1987, Sergienko, by then a problem for his neighbors as well, drank himself into a stupor and ended up in the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital, known locally as "Igren" (after the train station). Fortunately for Sergienko, he caught the eye of one of the doctors (a woman), and she conscientiously and painstakingly got him back on his feet. Since then, Sergienko has been "almost sober," but while he overcame his alcoholism, he did not rid himself of the depraved nature inherent to alcoholics.
In 1988, Sergienko organized the "Ogonyok" cooperative: he stole vegetables from his base (paying the guard a bottle) and sold them in partnership with a previously convicted drug addict nicknamed "Tubik" (he suffered from tuberculosis), whom he met during treatment. Tubik had an old truck, which they used to transport potatoes and apples from the base. But after a few months, the partners clashed over the profits, and Sergienko went to bow to local "authority" Yuri Frosin. Tubik eventually transferred the truck to Sergienko's name and was thrown out of business, to the sidelines, to die. Meanwhile, Sergienko, having straightened his shoulders, rose to the next level – reselling wallpaper, which he imported from Gomel. While expanding this business, he had already screwed Vladislav Tunkov, the director of the vegetable warehouse, who had tolerated the thieving, drunken electrician for so many years. In 1993, Sergienko tempted him into selling the warehouse (via privatization) to him for commercial warehouses, promising to make Tunkov a partner (45% of the business). When the deal was finalized, Sergienko brought in thugs who "convinced" Tunkov to give up his share. Tunkov ended up in the hospital and then, in fear, fled Dnipropetrovsk.
Leonid Sergienko
This method became the hallmark of his business success. Remembering the lesson he learned in his alcoholic youth, Sergienko understood that stealing and taking from his business partners himself could be dangerous—they could even beat him up, just like they once did for a glass of port. But if he turned to bandits or raiders for help, paying them a fee for their services, success was guaranteed.
Having risen from the depths of poverty, Sergienko's wife and daughters returned, and his relatives no longer turned their backs on him. He persuaded one of them, who lived in Germany, to help him set up a joint venture. The relative found him investors in Germany, who helped with financing and equipment, and in 1995, the Ukrainian-German joint-stock company Dnipromayn (Sergienko held 62% of the shares), a wallpaper manufacturer, was established. But in 2003, Sergienko also cheated the Germans, after which he renamed the company Vinyl LLC.
In 1998, Sergienko, along with Dnipropetrovsk businessman Matsipura and Klimenko, founded the motor transport company Niktrans LLC (which became the second strategic focus of his business). His partners each invested $180 in the venture, including bribing officials who were supposed to ensure Niktrans won tenders. A year later, Sergienko scammed them using his signature scheme: thugs appeared with threats, and Matsipura and Klimenko chose to lose their stake rather than preserve their health.
Leonid Sergienko's subsequent career was tied to politics and power, where he approached with the same brazenness and ingenuity as he once did through the window of a Soviet "wine and vodka" bar. In 2002, he was first elected to the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the PPPU, then switched to Labor Ukraine, and in the 2006 elections, he ran on the Socialist Party list. He failed to secure a seat in 2006, but instead secured the position of Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications and the directorship of the State Department of Automobile Transport. Sources Skelet.Org It was reported that Sergienko paid $600 "into the Socialist Party's coffers" for this. To retain these positions, he defected to Batkivshchyna in late 2007, and when Yulia Volodymyrivna was jailed, he joined Yatsenyuk's Front for Change.
Leonid Sergienko in the Rada
Arseniy Petrovich's services were more expensive: according to sources, Serhiyenko paid $3,85 million for a package of two eligible spots on the 2012 electoral list (#29 and #46) for himself and his son-in-law, Andriy Pavelko, as well as leadership of the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the Front for Change. The position of deputy chairman of the Rada Committee on Tax and Customs Policy also cost him a further $800.
But Sergienko wasn't just buying bandits' services and parliamentary seats, he was also buying church awards. After tipping Father Fyodor, the rector of St. Cyril's Church, "for the church," he received from him the Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, First Class. And it's unlikely the priest didn't know he was presenting the "righteous award" to one of Dnipropetrovsk's most notorious swindlers!
Andrey Pavelko. Alphonse the football player
Now let's move on to the protagonist's biography. Andrey Vasilyevich Pavelko was born on October 7, 1975, in Dnepropetrovsk, to a family of Soviet athletes (his father was a master of sports in fencing). He had no real virtues other than his good looks. However, the medical commission still declared him unfit for military service (how much did that cost his parents?), so instead of joining the army, he went to work: first as a technician at the Dnepropetrovsk Information and Communications Center, and then as a driver at Stroydniproservis, a closed-end company owned and directed by Leonid Sergienko. According to the workers there, the young Pavelko excelled only at flirting with women, of all ages. He was interested not intimate but in business relationships, so he "attached himself" to accountants, HR staff, and secretaries—receiving time off, extra vacation days during the summer, bonuses, and financial assistance in return.
Andrey Pavelko with his family
But his main "catch" was Elena Sergienko, the landlord's daughter, whom he skillfully charmed with her youth and his thick black eyebrows. It's unlikely Sergienko wanted a lowly driver for a son-in-law, but his head-over-heels in love and already pregnant daughter threw a fit, screaming "I want you!" and the father was forced to give in. Moreover, after taking a closer look at his future son-in-law, he noticed his resourcefulness and unscrupulousness—perfect qualities for a potential Ukrainian businessman and politician. And so they married!
Hence the dramatic changes in the biography of young Andriy Pavelko, when in 1996 the former driver magically (thanks to his miracle-working father-in-law) became the director of Stroydniproservis, taking the chair his "daddy" had given him. A year and a half later, he became his father-in-law's deputy director at AOZT DneproMain, a year later director of his LLC Niktrans, and in 2003 deputy director of LLC Vinyl. He also runs his own business: for example, in 2008, in the expropriated building of the former Dnipropetrovsk Philharmonic, Pavelko opened the elite club "Opera," inviting Montserrat Caballe herself to its opening.
Yet, directorships at his father-in-law's enterprises were mere fiction for Andriy Pavelko: a man with no education (he received his first diploma only in 2003) or business skills, he played the role of figurehead for several years until he settled into his new environment. Perhaps Pavelko's first truly independent venture was the Dnipro Main Children's Football School, where he was appointed head by his father-in-law. But there, Pavelko was already making his own decisions (albeit with Sergienko's money) and for the first time showed his ability as a businessman – by ruining and ruining the city's Dnipro-75 Children's and Youth Sports School, from which he had first lured coaches and top players, and then seized some of its assets. He needed talented players not to develop his school, but to sell them to other clubs.
Curiously, all attempts to start an independent, honest business—opening a chain of cafes or pizzerias—ended in failure for Pavelko. Therefore, his father-in-law strongly advised him to stop acting up and squandering the family fortune, and to listen to his wife and her "sugar daddy," playing the role they defined for him. Indeed, Andrey Pavelko isn't known as a major businessman; in their family clan, he's involved in football and politics, while Sergienko is the one making the money. Even companies like Yamato-Ukraine Trading House LLC, Yekaterinoslav Construction and Investment Company LLC, and Planeta Construction and Investment Company LLC, all founded by Pavelko, were actually owned and managed by Sergienko. And not only that: among the co-owners of Safiullin's Ekaterinoslav was the wife of the Chairman of the State Service for Youth and Sports, Ravil Safiullin, who was part of Rinat Akhmetov's circle of friends.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Andrey Pavelko and Leonid Sergienko: The Family Business of Born-Born Scammers. Part 2
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