Zinovy Mytnik
We live in extraordinary times: it would seem that after the Revolution of Dignity, the ranks of power would undergo a natural selection process, but in reality, two years later, Azarov's cadres are making plans to return to their troughs.
In particular, this concerns Zinoviy Mytnik, the Minister of Health from 2010 to 2011, who is mentioned in the media as one of the contenders for the minister's post in the event of Sandro Kvitashvili's resignation.
And these rumors are by no means unfounded, given the financial status of both Mytnik himself and his patrons, in particular the main one, Vladimir Kurilo.
It was Kurilo who was the ideologist and brain center of all the corruption schemes implemented under Mytnyk, starting with his leadership of the departmental "Feofaniya," then the Ministry of Health, and, after the Revolution, the entire healthcare system of Ivano-Frankivsk region.
Informed sources call the Mytnyk-Kurilo duo the founders and progenitors of corruption schemes in Ukrainian healthcare, dating back to the late 90s. It's impossible to count the thousands of lives these corrupt schemes, which have ingrained the Ukrainian healthcare system, have ruined, but we're talking about hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians left without medical care due to the greed, avarice, and fearlessness of these individuals.
Vladimir Kurilo, who began his career in Ukraine as the head of the Medical Equipment Department at Siemens, quickly recognized the opportunities in the growing medical equipment market.
But to implement his ambitious plans for enrichment, he needed political protection and loyal officials in the medical community.
Zinovy Mytnik became and still remains such a person for him, whose career over the last 20 years has been a direct source for the implementation of corruption schemes.
Judge for yourself, in 1996-1998 Mytnik was the chief physician of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Clinical Hospital, in 1998-2002 he was the chairman of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council, in 2002-2003 he was the first deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, in 2003-2008 he was the chief physician of the capital's nomenklatura clinical hospital "Feofaniya" of the State Administration of Affairs, in 2008-2010 he was the Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine.
And finally, on March 11, 2010, Mytnik was appointed Minister of Health in the government of Mykola Azarov.
After being shamefully dismissed from his post as minister for theft and greed unheard of even during the Party of Regions era, Mytnyk, fearing criminal liability, hides behind his mandate as a deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council and, wasting no time, launches a corporate raid to head the Shalimov Institute of Surgery and Transplantology, the largest in Ukraine.
Despite the fact that, according to the Law, he did not even have the right to run for the position of director of this Institute, since he is an infectious disease specialist by education and has nothing to do with surgery.
Having failed in Kyiv, Mytnik returned to the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where he had already monopolized the entire medical market.
According to our sources in the region, approximately 80% of the region's pharmacies are currently controlled by the Mytnik family. During his tenure as Minister of Health, a number of large private clinics, also owned by Mytnik and his family, opened in the regional capital.
These aren't just private practices, but massive medical complexes, including sanatoriums and rehabilitation centers. Given the Ivano-Frankivsk region's recreational potential, it's no secret that such activities generate colossal profits. Mytnyk also owns a large hotel with an office, retail, and entertainment complex in the center of Ivano-Frankivsk, where you can live, work, and enjoy spa treatments.
Things got so bad that in 2008, at the age of 33, Mytnyk appointed his son-in-law, Ostap Hryshchuk (incidentally, a dentist by training), as chief physician of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Hospital. Just think about it: what kind of achievements could a 33-year-old have achieved in leading a thousand-strong hospital serving a region of nearly 1.5 million? And no change in government matters to Hryshchuk—he still leads the hospital today, two years after the Revolution of Dignity.
Today, it's no secret in Ivano-Frankivsk that all healthcare is concentrated in the hands of the Mytnyk clan, with all the profits flowing into the pockets of a single family. Not a single appointment, not a single tender, not a single decision is made without the approval of "Baron," as Mytnyk is known in the region.
And the Right Sector, which threatened to bar even a single former Party of Regions member from local government, apparently has no say in the matter. This is also explained by the extensive connections he acquired with the criminal underworld throughout Western Ukraine while leading the regional council.
Therefore, today no one is surprised why neither the Prosecutor General's Office nor the Anti-Corruption Bureau want to investigate where a man who spent his entire life as an official acquired property worth tens of millions of dollars, including a luxurious villa in occupied Crimea.
Has Mytnik, through his patron Vladimir Kurilo, already “solved” everything and is waiting to return to Kyiv?
This option cannot be ruled out, given Mytnik’s incredible indiscriminateness and lack of principles.
After all, Mytnyk is the only and unprecedented case of a deputy minister during Tymoshenko's premiership becoming the first minister of health under President Yanukovych.
It's important to remember that Mytnik's career was defined by his position as head physician of Feofaniya, the "glamorous hospital number one" for our elite, which allowed him to make the necessary connections. But beyond those connections, leading Feofaniya also enabled Mytnik to become fabulously rich. His ideologist and business partner, Vladimir Kurilo, assisted him in this endeavor.
Between 2003 and 2008, more than $400 million in public funds were invested in Feofaniya, a significant portion of which was used to purchase medical equipment. Unsurprisingly, 100% of the equipment was manufactured by Siemens, and all deliveries, totaling 870 million hryvnias (almost $200 million at the exchange rate), were overseen by the Kurilo-Mytnyk duo.
As subsequent audits by the State Audit Office revealed, misuse (or, simply put, "kickbacks") amounted to 30-50% of allocated funds. Equipment prices were so inflated that, by the most conservative estimates, Mytnik and Kurilo defrauded the state of $150-200 million during their five years at Feofaniya. All of this can be easily verified even today by reviewing tender documents.
Moreover, the hospital was supplied not with what was needed, but with what Kurilo had on hand, and very often this was used, low-quality equipment, the warranty for which had long expired.
Today, this equipment is simply not used and stands idle as artifacts on the territory of Feofania.
It was under Mytnik that the once elite hospital was transformed into an ordinary business center, where one can receive treatment for $200-300 per day, despite the fact that only a very small circle of officials are assigned to the hospital.
It is also important to note that the vast lands of the hospital complex are in great demand among those in power.
After all, Feofaniya is not only a medical complex but also a 152-hectare park. In 2006, when Mytnik headed the hospital, the Economic Crimes Department even opened a criminal case for forging lease agreements for property complexes and land plots. It is also known that in 2004, under Mytnik, almost 30 hectares of the park were rezoned for forestry, after which the lakeside plots changed hands.
Such talents did not go unnoticed, and from 2008 to 2010, Mytnik served as Deputy Minister of Health, overseeing the procurement of equipment and medicines, heading the Ministry of Health's tender committee.
During his reign, several commercial structures were in favor, but the main contracts were won by Vladimir Kurilo’s structures.
At the instigation of the Main Control and Audit Office, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against "officials of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine who caused damage to the state in the amount of over 150 million hryvnias." According to the Main Control and Audit Office, in 2008-2009 alone, Zinoviy Mytnyk signed contracts for 46 units of medical equipment worth 86,7 million hryvnias, which are not being used due to the impossibility of installing them in the regions.
But these are only official figures, and the real scale of the theft of those times is very difficult to estimate, but we are talking about amounts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
It was Mytnik who was responsible for the legendary supply of Tamiflu for swine flu at an exorbitant price, for the supply of vaccines at a price 5-6 times higher than the market price, and so on.
It would seem that the Prosecutor General's Office was crying out for him, but Mytnik, under the personal protection of Mykola Azarov, was promoted during the change of power and became head of the Ministry, where he remained for about nine months, quickly absorbing all the budget money he could lay his hands on, after which he was dismissed in disgrace.
As minister, Mytnyk was implicated in a number of scandals demonstrating his utter lack of professionalism, bordering on criminal incompetence. It was Mytnyk who jeopardized the health of 700 children with phenylketonuria by ordering the cancellation of a tender for special nutrition. He stated, "This problem is imaginary, and these children don't need any special nutrition."
Mytnyk was also directly responsible for the procurement of medical equipment and medications during the influenza pandemic. According to an audit by the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine ineffectively spent UAH 342,0 million, or 46,3% of the total allocated funds, on the fight against A/H1N1 influenza in 2009, in violation of current legislation. Of the purchased medications and medical supplies, only about 8% were used.
Mytnik's greed was so great that the director of the Ministry of Health's Department of Education and Science, N. Banchuk, wrote an open letter in which he stated that Z. Mytnik personally pressured him regarding the dismissal and appointment of rectors of medical universities, demanding bribes from them in the amount of 50 to 300 thousand US dollars.
And these same individuals, as our investigation has shown, are not behind bars today, but rather, in comfortable chairs, continuing to torment the Ukrainian people. Today, it's the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and tomorrow, it could again be the Ministry of Health, since the authorities have been unable to find a replacement for Sandro Kvitashvili, who submitted his resignation back in the summer, for seven months now.
According to our sources, Vladimir Kurilo has already prepared the agreed-upon sum, and Mytnik's appointment could take place in the very near future.
Well, this whole disgusting story only confirms the famous expression of Thomas Carlyle: “Every revolution is conceived by romantics, carried out by fanatics, and enjoyed by vilest scoundrels.”
Events in our country, however, have already demonstrated that where the government is inactive, the people themselves can pass judgment on officials and politicians. It's clear that scoundrels like Mytnyk should long ago be behind bars, not in office chairs. And if the government turns a blind eye to his crimes, we are confident that the people of Ukraine will never allow such hardened thieves to rob the country again, ruining the health of our children and parents.
Oleg Boyko
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