Anton Yanchuk
The transformation of specialized anti-corruption agencies into new instruments of corruption was one of the main "achievements" of the outgoing regime. A striking example of this is the short but scandal-ridden history of the Asset Search and Management Agency (ARMA), headed by Anton Yanchuk. Many call this agency "legal raiders," but what has raised the most outrage is not the "expropriation" of property and enterprises, but their transfer to dubious firms.
ARMA's most vigorous activity occurred in the summer of 2019, as if the outgoing government had rushed to line its pockets with everything it could. However, a new Rada and a new Cabinet of Ministers have already taken office, a new Prosecutor General has been elected, and Anton Yanchuk continues to sit as ARMA's director, managing his schemes. Meanwhile, Ukrainians' hopes that the new government will punish the corrupt officials of the old regime are fading with each passing day.
Collective farm lawyers
Anton Vladimirovich Yanchuk was born on July 11, 1984, in Kyiv, into a family of hereditary Soviet lawyers. His grandfather, Vasyl Zinovievich Yanchuk (1925-2006), studied at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv after World War II, where he then remained for graduate school and, in 1954, defended his dissertation on "Material Liability of the Parties under an MTS Agreement with a Collective Farm." In today's Ukraine, after years of "decommunization" and the portrayal of the Soviet past exclusively as an "empire of evil and terror," the combination of the words "collective farm" and "lawyer" seems like a ridiculous joke to many. But, contrary to Vyatrovich's tales, Soviet lawyer Vasyl Yanchuk made his career specifically on collective farm law. And this is no joke either: Vasyl Zinovievich, having become a professor at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv,... Shevchenko actually taught a course on collective farm law there and also authored the textbook "Soviet Collective Farm Law." In the 90s, he quickly refocused and began publishing on land and agricultural law.
Vasily Yanchuk
His son, Vladimir Vasilievich Yanchuk (1956-1999), then rose to prominence in this newly developed collective farm field, following in his father's footsteps. In 1979, Vladimir Vasilievich graduated from the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, where his father taught, and defended his PhD thesis at Odessa University on the topic of "The Legal Regime of Arable Land." He also began specializing in collective farm law, and later in agricultural law. In 1994, Vladimir Yanchuk became an associate professor in the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv.
Vladimir Yanchuk
In short, we have before us yet another example of how the parents of many post-Maidan "decommunizers" who hysterically screamed "farewell to the Radyansky Union!" were Soviet officials, lawyers, professors, party bigwigs, and diplomatic workers.
One of the books by Vladimir Yanchuk (library card)
Thus, Anton Yanchuk's life and career were predetermined from the moment of his birth. Although his father died very early (when Anton was only 15), the support of his grandfather and the extensive connections of the Yanchuk family allowed him to graduate from the same law school at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv (2007), defend his PhD there (2010), and find a good job. While there are no more collective farms in Ukraine, land law and legal services in real estate and property management have become extremely in demand.
Anton Yanchuk, a lawyer by birth, got his first job at the law firm Gramatsky & Partners, whose owner, Ernest Gramatsky, studied and defended his PhD thesis at the same Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv's Faculty of Law in the 90s. The situation is fairly straightforward: Anton Vladimirovich was placed with good friends. Incidentally, Gramatsky isn't just involved in legal services: since 2006, he has owned Kolizey Construction Center LLC. His law firm is also considered one of the leading firms in corporate bankruptcy. Considering the number of high-profile bankruptcies of construction companies in Kyiv that have occurred (and will continue to occur), this suggests that Gramatsky has a specific scheme that goes far beyond simple legal services.
Welcome to the "family"!
It seemed like Anton Yanchuk's only option was to work at a firm run by graduates of his father's and grandfather's law schools—as they say, all insiders! However, for some reason, in July 2008, he transferred to the law firm MLGroup (EDRPOU 34189188). Unlike Gramatsky's firm, the firm had been somewhat shady from the very beginning, changing its name and formal founders, and listing fake legal addresses. MLGroup was owned by Pavel Petrenko, a native of Chernivtsi, who moved to Kyiv in 2001.
Pavel Petrenko
The only “dignity” of Pavel Petrenko is that he studied in the same school with Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Bourbaki brothersAnd not only studied with them, but also became friends with them, even though Petrenko was several years younger. This predetermined his future: Yatsenyuk's mother, who taught at Chernivtsi University, helped Pavlik graduate from law school. His childhood friend Senya, meanwhile, helped him move to Kyiv and land a job in the legal department of Oschadbank, which Petrenko soon headed. Yet, in 2005, when paths to the highest government positions opened up for his patron, Yatsenyuk, Petrenko for some reason went into business – even though many predicted lucrative positions in ministries or major state-owned companies for him. However, this was in line with the then-emerging strategy of the "Chernivtsi" clan. While Yanetsyuk was settling into power, and Oleksiy Burbak followed him like a silent shadow, Maksym Burbak in Chernivtsi and Pavlo Petrenko in Kyiv were laying the clan's economic foundation by pursuing business ventures.
MLGroup was just one of Petrenko's firms. It was perhaps intended to serve as his "front" to define his image as the owner of a law firm. However, from the very beginning, MLGroup was associated with other, non-law firms, and its activities were not entirely transparent or understandable. Petrenko founded the firm together with Alexander Ageyev, who at the time was the owner of the transport company Zammler Ukraine CJSC (EDRPOU 35007717). In the spring of 2008, before Yanchuk joined MLGroup, the following changes took place: according to Skelet.OrgAgeyev shared his shares in Zammler Ukraine with his director, Viktor Shevchenko, and also, we quote the press, "with a number of individuals who had joint ventures with Mr. Shevchenko in Kyiv and the surrounding region in the fields of development and warehouse real estate," including Pavlo Petrenko and Oleg Rachov. They were reportedly building a customs and logistics complex in Bila Tserkva and also providing brokerage services for customs clearance of goods. We emphasize "brokerage," meaning they simply charged a fee for their services. Furthermore, the transport company "Zammler Ukraine" didn't even have its own fleet of vehicles.
That same spring of 2008, they established the company "Zammler MLS" (EDRPOU 35785007) in Bila Tserkva, whose name is uncannily similar to Petrenko's company, "MLGroup." In 2018, the company was re-registered in Kharkiv—changing legal addresses is common for Ageyev and Petrenko's companies. In total, Ageyev owns a dozen companies, including those in which Pavlo Petrenko transferred his stake to reliable hands after becoming Minister of Justice in the Yatsenyuk government.
In fact, if you delve into the community of Moscow law firms working with businesses, you'll see that each one not only specializes in a particular activity but is also closely connected to it. At a minimum, they serve the interests of specific businessmen. But often, these lawyers are themselves participants in this business—like Pavel Petrenko and his MLGroup.
So, in 2008, Anton Yanchuk didn't simply switch to another law firm. Gramatsky's firm, founded by former students of his father and grandfather, was his "family," and he could only have left it to join another firm where he'd become part of a different "family" for a very compelling reason. What was that? The connection between Gramatsky and Petrenko (or Ageyev) hasn't yet been discovered, but it must be there. It's just that the "Chernivtsi gang" are very good at hiding the secrets of their schemes. Ukrainians are still baffled by how Maksimum Burbak, who headed the Ministry of Infrastructure for less than a year (February-December 2014), managed to install so many of his people and create so many corruption schemes during that time that the "Chernivtsi gang" then profited from ports, roads, airports, and Ukrzaliznytsia for another four years!
Yanchuk worked at MLGroup for five years, until July 2013—longer than anywhere else! During this time, he became so close to Pavel Petrenko that he became like a brother—and to do that, he had to earn his trust in the darkest of dealings! Thus, through Petrenko, Yanchuk became, if not a full member, then at least a highly trusted member of the Chernovitsky clan. It was only a short time before the clan came to power, but in the summer of 2013, Yanchuk, for some reason, temporarily transferred to work for the law firm Arzinger, founded by Timur Bondarev and Sergey Shklyar. The firm, in particular, specialized in legal assistance for the Russian company Rosneft. Moreover, Arzinger was still working for Rosneft as late as 2014, in particular, in the case of "Kurchenko oil". It is also known that both before and after the second Maidan, Arzinger defended the interests of Sergei Kurchenko and Klyuev brothers.
That Arzinger was closely connected to the Chernivtsi gang, and especially to Petrenko, was eloquently demonstrated by the personnel appointments of the new post-Maidan government. On February 27, 2014, Yatsenyuk appointed his childhood friend Pavlo Petrenko as Minister of Justice of Ukraine, securing the post for five years, so that Petrenko remained in it under Groysman. In May of that year, Petrenko appointed Yanchuk as his assistant, and a month later, as his deputy for European integration. In March 2015, Petrenko appointed Serhiy Shklyar, who had served as Arzinger's director for twelve years, as his deputy for executive service. And in October 2014, Arzinger founder Timur Bondarev was appointed head of the Ukrainian office of Transparency International—an international non-governmental organization created and supported by global financiers (including Soros) to fight corruption. In reality, this organization uses the fight against corruption as a pretext to achieve the interests of its founders and clients in various countries around the world (but in the United States, its powers are limited to that of an "observer").
Vitaly Kasko
And another interesting alumnus of "Arzinger" — Vitaly Kasko! He headed the criminal law department in this office, and then in May 2014, he and Yanchuk were called into government service and given the post of Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine! Kasko held this position until February 2016, first alongside Yarema, then with ShokinIncidentally, Kasko has been repeatedly accused of stalling the return of Kurchenko and Yanukovych's assets to Ukraine—and why would a former Arzinger lawyer do that? And all would have been well, as they say, had the new "green" government not appointed Kasko as Prosecutor General Ryaboshapka's first deputy on September 5, 2019. As you can see, they're returning.
Asset Watchers
A curious fact: in his 2013 declaration, Anton Yanchuk reported an annual income of 18,700 hryvnias, or 1,500 hryvnias per month. Was the leading lawyer at MLGroup and Arzinger really earning minimum wage? Unlikely! This meant that the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Justice for European Integration was brazenly lying to everyone—the new government, law enforcement, his constituents, and those who "stood on the Maidan." And so, with a lie, Yanchuk's career in public service began.
Considering that no European integration actually took place in Ukraine (only a frenzied imitation), one could only guess what Anton Yanchuk, the Deputy Minister of Justice responsible for it, was actually doing. However, it is known that he recruited his wife, Oleksandra Yanchuk (née Khokhlova), to assist him, appointing her as the chief specialist in the Department of European Integration and Legal Cooperation with International Organizations. After Yanchuk left the Ministry of Justice, his wife continued working there (or pretending to).
However, a clear connection between this ministry and the Arzinger law firm was evident from all sides. For example, when Yatsenyuk's Cabinet ordered a reduction in "green tariffs" in 2014, which would have hurt the Klyuevs' business, their lawyers at Arzinger sharply criticized the decision, and the Ministry of Justice later ruled the Cabinet's order illegal. Meanwhile, Yatsenyuk himself showed no offense at Petrenko, so the meaning of this action remained unclear to the uninitiated.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Anton Yanchuk: The Chernivtsi gang's last stash. Part 2
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