Stanislav Berezkin
The personality of Ukrainian MP Stanislav Semenovych Berezkin is quite removed from politics. After all, this elected official hasn't authored a single "improvement" for the people in three parliamentary terms. His only achievements as a member of parliament consist of lobbying for his own business interests, embezzling billions of dollars from budget funds and loans, and financial scams with foreign investors. A businessman who made his fortune through embezzlement and fraud, Berezkin easily transferred these thieving "standards" to big-time politics. Despite a number of criminal cases against his family, the political "carcass" Berezkin is at home in any regime, as he always knew who needed to pay and how much for his own immunity.
BEREZKIN'S OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY: COMPLETE AND SMOOTH
Stanislav Semenovich Berezkin was born on May 12, 1959, in the village of Vysoki Bairaki, Kirovohrad District. He completed his higher education in the evening department of the Kirovohrad Institute of Agricultural Engineering. With a degree in mechanical engineering, he began his career as a laboratory assistant at the Kirovohrad Institute of Agricultural Engineering in 1986. As Berezkin himself recounts, he earned his first money as a schoolboy: during summer break, he repaired screws and nuts at a factory, earning 50 rubles. Berezkin spent several years trying to find his footing in business – first, he imported wood from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, then he set up a shampoo bottling line. But things weren't going well. Suddenly, Berezkin hit upon the idea of bottling and reselling oil. He began pursuing this business seriously in 1996. And in 1998, he was elected to the Kirovohrad Regional Council. In 2003, he became a member of the Kirovohrad City Council executive committee and vice president of the regional "Poisk" branch of the Ukrainian Society of Industrialists and Enterprises. In 2011, Berezkin was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, but has been unable to leave it.
Stanislav Berezkin
And everything in this story would seem to make sense, if not for a number of questions. For example, where did Berezkin get the funds for an entire agricultural holding? Who were his patrons in business and politics? Who covered and continues to cover the Kirovohrad thief's back? SKELET-info I figured everything out.
A PARLIAMENTARIAN WITHOUT A STAKE OR A YARD
Just a few years ago, Stanislav Berezkin wasn't shy about boasting about his multi-million dollar income. But as soon as he entered politics, he immediately fell into poverty and lost all his assets.
As ridiculous as it may seem, the billionaire MP lived entirely on his salary of UAH 237,969 per year throughout 2017. Berezkin has $68,726, €2,018, and UAH 777,375 in bank accounts. He also holds $640,000 in cash. Berezkin's valuables include four watches, three icons, one carbine, two other weapons, and a Vertu phone.
The MP owns shares in companies in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. He does not own a home.
The deputy subleased a 2012 Mercedes-Benz GL. Berezkin has a loan outstanding for the purchase of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz S 550, which he gave to his daughter, Victoria.
Last year, the deputy's wife, Iryna Berezkina, received 500,000 hryvnias in inheritance, 225,628 hryvnias in salary, and 82,480 hryvnias in pension. She also took out a 150,000 hryvnia loan from a bank. The deputy's wife has 174,836 hryvnias in her bank account. Iryna Berezkina's cash balance is 146,000 euros.
The deputy's wife leases 16 plots of land. Berezkina owns a 136,40 square meter apartment in Kropyvnytskyi (purchased in 2015 for UAH 1,166,483) and a 247,10 square meter apartment in Kyiv, which she acquired in 2013. It's worth noting that the deputy's property declaration doesn't indicate whether this property was purchased or received as a gift. However, we have learned that the apartment is located at 9a Grushevskoho Street. This is the same controversial high-rise building that has ruined Kyiv's panorama.
Prominent former Party of Regions members own apartments here, and Viktor Yanukovych even owns one. Prices for the most affordable apartments start at $9 million.
Irina Berezkina rents two parking spaces in the capital. However, she only subleases one car—a 2003 Volvo XC 90.
Irina Berezkina also owns a 376,2 sq. m. house in Kropyvnytskyi (purchased in 2003) and a 45,43 sq. m. apartment (purchased for UAH 500 in 2017).
The MP's wife is responsible for several unfinished construction projects in Kropyvnytskyi. These include two garages measuring 81,6 square meters and 10 square meters, a 50 square meter utility room, another 20 square meter utility room, a 76,2 square meter swimming pool, and an 82,8 square meter sports complex.
The poor retired wife declared dozens of handbags from leading global brands, expensive fur coats, watches, gold rings, earrings and necklaces with pearls, diamonds, brilliants and other precious stones, a television, an exercise machine, and even a piano as valuable property.
Irina Berezkina owns corporate rights in Highrock LLC and Highrock Tide LLC, which are engaged in wholesale trade and production of meat and dairy products. The MP's wife also owns a farm. Furthermore, Berezkina is the ultimate beneficiary of all of these enterprises. It's important to note that Berezkina, surprisingly, receives no income from these companies.
Remarkably, despite their considerable deposits and cash in hand, the Berezkins are heavily in debt. Stanislav Berezkin owes banks 300,000 hryvnias and 1,196,440 hryvnias, while his wife owes 225,100 hryvnias.
Incidentally, since Berezkin allegedly doesn't have his own place and, for some reason, doesn't live in his wife's Kyiv apartment, the state compensates him for his accommodation in the capital. Thus, the MP is regularly on the list of penniless parliamentarians who receive budgetary reimbursement for their accommodation during the Verkhovna Rada session.
Incidentally, it has become known that Berezkin is involved in a scandal involving the plundering of protected forests. The MP's villa, which is not included in the declaration, is located on the territory of the Kropyvnytskyi nature reserve. It is noteworthy that the land on which Berezkin's luxurious estate is located belongs to Konstantin Tkachenko, who does not live in Kropyvnytskyi at all.
BUILD HAPPINESS ON SOMEONE ELSE'S MISFORTUNES
If you dig deeper into the history of Stanislav Berezkin's business, it becomes clear that it was not without major financial fraud.
So, in 1996, Stanislav Berezkin built a butter production plant with $1,25 million in EBRD funding. He also convinced Western NIS Enterprise managers to finance the construction of another butter production plant in the Kirovohrad region. Western NIS and Berezkin's company, Sistema SSB (SSB stands for Stanislav Semenovich Berezkin), then founded Sonola, which launched the new plant. Berezkin received 53,9% of the company's shares, while his investor, who invested $4,2 million, received 46,1%. In 1998, Sonola produced its first modern bottle.
Just two years later, Berezkin decided to screw his partners and not repay a $1,25 million loan. In 1998, Berezkin even won a court case, invalidating the loan agreement. The conflict dragged on for nearly 10 years. In 2004, Western NIS filed a lawsuit against the Ukrainian government at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which ultimately convinced Berezkin to settle with the Americans. The loan was repaid in 2007, and Sonola was liquidated. Berezkin retained the plant. It's worth noting that Berezkin had no intention of repaying the loan and likely would not have repaid the Americans if not for his own reputation at the time. Our hero was planning to enter the global market, but the idea failed miserably.
For many, it remains a mystery how this extraordinary Kirovohrad resident managed to become one of the richest people in Ukraine (according to Forbes, in 2014, Berezkin was already 22nd on the list of the richest Ukrainians).
The official version seems extremely unrealistic, and in some places even fairy-tale-like. Rumor has it that Stanislav Berezkin, founder of the Kreativ group, allegedly won his start-up capital for his main business at a casino. In August 2003, he was vacationing with his family in the south of France and unexpectedly ran into an old friend, after which Berezkin triumphantly walked out of the main casino in Monte Carlo with a large win. Stanislav Semenovich himself has voiced this fairy-tale version in interviews. In reality, Berezkin won his first million. made his fortune through financial scams involving foreign loans.
In 2007, Sonola's revenues soared, and Berezkin simultaneously began producing modified fats and margarines. Then a new conflict with his partners erupted. Stanislav Semenovich and his partners couldn't decide who was in charge and disagreed on the plant's future. When Allseeds shareholders suggested Berezkin exit the business, he, by then a member of the Kirovohrad Regional Council, threatened his partners with major problems. It was easier for them to sell their stake than to argue with Berezkin. In the end, they received from Berezkin the same $4 million they had entered the project with, even though Berezkin owed them $7,5 million, including profits.
Two years later, Berezkin founded the agroholding "Creative," which also had its share of problems. But this is not a story of big business, but of big politics.
A STORY OF STOLEN SUCCESS
By the time of liquidation, Sonol's net asset value (13,2 UAH) was less than its authorized capital (17,4 million UAH). Simply put, Berezkin drained the company's assets to avoid sharing them with partners and began building his own agricultural holding with the siphoned funds. For 10 years, the MP plied other people's money and reaped profits, while its owners racked up lawsuits. In fact, the Berezkin family's entire industrial empire was built on such money, obtained through numerous scams.
For example, in October 2009, in Kirovohrad, about a hundred employees of Investagroprom LLC held a picket against Kreativ CJSC. At 10:00 a.m., the protesters lined up in front of the building and began chanting, "Berezkin, give us back our money!" It's well known that Berezkin frequently defrauded not only investors but also employees, failing to pay them. The same situation occurred with suppliers, subcontractors, and other contractors.
After the company began to rapidly expand and build more and more production facilities, an environmental scandal arose around CJSC "Kreativ." Residents of the 101st microdistrict of Kirovohrad and the regional branch of the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" (Freedom) claimed in 2011 that the company's operations were making normal life in the neighborhood impossible.
People complained that "the facilities for processing sunflower husks and other industrial waste operate at night and pose a significant threat to the physical health, as well as the psychological and emotional state of members of the territorial community."
Local residents demanded that the regional and Kirovohrad city administration "create parliamentary and professional commissions to study the impact of the ZVMZh facilities on the health and psychological well-being of Kirovohrad residents, and, until the relevant commissions' findings are published, prohibit the operation of JSC Kreativ (or its individual divisions) at night." However, no results were achieved.
The State Environmental Inspectorate made several attempts to access Kreativ's facilities, but was simply denied access, and all reports of the situation were thoroughly scrubbed from all online media outlets. The matter was then hushed up. It's worth noting that at this time, Berezkin was already a member of parliament and was lobbying for his business interests by any means necessary. In fact, Berezkin never even hid the fact that he entered politics for his own interests, not for the country or the people.
The MP shouldn't forget the privatization of the Kirovohrad district feed mill, carried out by the leadership of Kreativ. As a result of the privatization, the plant's employees received only share books and were unable to withdraw meager amounts, which they are still unable to do today.
After Berezkin entered big politics, Kreativ's income skyrocketed.
Maxim Berezkin with his sister Victoria
In 2011, the holding's profit increased by almost 37% compared to 2010, reaching UAH 4,62 billion, and net profit reached UAH 400 million. The group's capacity more than doubled in 2012, from 426 to 1,07 million tons per year, due to the construction of a new oil extraction plant in Kirovohrad. In 2013, PJSC "Kreativ" earned a net profit of UAH 567,5 million, a 6,8% increase compared to 2012. Its net income increased 1,5 times, reaching UAH 7,13 billion. The owner's political party affiliation allowed the group to expand its business without fear. After Berezkin entered politics, Kreativ became the third-largest sunflower oil producer in Ukraine and, on paper, became the property of the deputy's son, Maksym Berezkin. Later, the deputy's daughter, Viktoria Berezkina, also joined the family business.
But already in 2014, Berezkin began having further squabbles with his creditors. Simply put, the MP, following his usual pattern, decided not to repay the borrowed funds. Thus, the management of the thriving Kreativ abruptly declared the company practically bankrupt. According to their data, the company posted a net loss of UAH 2,214 billion from January to September 2014, compared to UAH 363,9 million in net profit for the same period the previous year. Stanislav Berezkin thus decided to show his creditors that he had no money and no means of repaying it.
The latter, however, didn't believe the sudden bankruptcy story. The Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy received reports that in September 2012, Kreatyv and several international and Ukrainian banks entered into a $300 million credit line agreement. The syndicate participants included Ukrsotsbank (Kyiv), VTB Capital (UK), Erste Group Bank (Austria), Societe Generale (France), ING Bank, Credit Europe Bank, Amsterdam Trade Bank (Netherlands), and Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy). As of August 31, 2014, Kreatyv was in default on its syndicate obligations, and its total debt amounted to $73,95 million.
It's worth noting that the collateral for the credit line included 126 tons of sunflower seeds worth UAH 815,85 million and 37,8 tons of sunflower oil worth UAH 553,77 million, which disappeared without a trace. When creditors came to inspect the collateral, it turned out that Berezkin had cheated them twice. The creditors initiated criminal proceedings for allegedly committing illegal acts with the collateral.
“Being the subject of further investigation, the creditors have reason to believe that Stanislav Semenovich Berezkin, Maxim Stanislavovich Berezkin (son) and Victoria Stanislavovna Berezkina (daughter), who at that time were the beneficiaries (ultimate owners) of the Kreativ group and, possibly, in coordination with the new management and owners, were involved in organizing the above-mentioned criminal acts,” the creditors' appeal states.
According to them, Berezkin, while a member of parliament, exerted influence on investigative bodies, prosecutors, and the judiciary in Kirovohrad, exerting pressure to obstruct an impartial pre-trial investigation. In August 2015, Kreativ announced negotiations with investors regarding restructuring. Some time later, Berezkin announced his resignation as a shareholder, specifying that he owned 80% of the oil extraction business, as well as the production of fats, margarines, and spreads. passed to other owners.
Incidentally, after the alleged sale of "Creative," Berezkin acquired ZISSER GmbH in Germany, which, according to public records, specializes in medical cosmetology. In November 2015, Ukrainian citizen Ruslana Matiko, a relative of the MP, was appointed director of this company.
It's worth noting that Kreativ was partially transferred to a foreign shareholder, and at precisely this time, Berezkin magically acquired shares in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. This suggests that Berezkin simply resold Kreativ to front men and continues to run the company.
But Berezkin's problems with Kreativ did not end there, New dark dealings of the people's deputy began to come to light.
Valeria Romanova, for Skelet.Org
TO BE CONTINUED: A law-abiding deputy: how political figure Stanislav Berezkin robbed the country. Part 2
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