Alexey Eremitsa
Alexey Eremitsa has never been seriously involved in business, although he may have something to show for his biography. It's worth remembering that working as the director of an advertising agency or the head of a department for the embezzlement of regional property cannot, in principle, be considered business practice in the civilized world. But in our world, such experience is likely considered significant. While developing a couple of construction firms with his close associate and friend, Bogdan Giganov, Alexey Eremitsa, lacking experience, substantial authorized capital, a team, and specialized equipment, would never have been able to profit from competitive competition and establish a foothold in the open market. However, by being politically aligned with a well-connected official and having the necessary contacts, the Eremitsa-Giganov duo successfully won several expensive construction tenders from the Odessa Regional State Administration. However, winning didn't promise them peace of mind; it brought them serious troubles and criminal charges. Let's follow the rise of Alexey's fortune. Here we will highlight other scandals no less cynical than the high-profile story of the embezzlement of more than 42 million hryvnias for the fake construction of a school in the village of Burdivka in the Odessa region.
Legends of ''Gradostroy''
In November 2015, the Odessa City Council's Capital Construction Department signed a contract with Grado-Stroy Construction Company LLC for the construction of housing for those on the housing waiting list. According to the State Procurement Bulletin, the deal is worth almost 42 million hryvnias. The company's actual owner is Opposition Bloc MP Oleksiy Yeremitsa, who served as deputy governor to Mykola Skoryk . The company is slated to pay for a multi-story building in the Kotovsky settlement for 86 families on the housing waiting list. Grado-Stroy is registered to Odesa resident Yuriy Samoylenko. Its director is Sergey Mishakin. A regular competitor in the bidding was Kvadr Investment Construction and Production Company LLC, co-owned by former Odesa Mayor Leonid Chernega and his son, regulars of many sham tenders. Since 2010, Grado-Stroy has won tenders from the Odesa City Council and Regional Council worth 109,5 million hryvnias. In 2015, the company already signed a contract with the mayor's office for the renovation of the food service facility of the 10th City Hospital worth 10 million hryvnias.
Belinsky 2, Eremitsa stole part of the Regional Hospital for WWII Disabled
In 2008, there was a scandal involving the Regional Eye Hospital for WWII Veterans at 2 Belinsky Street, an attempt to relocate it to the site of the WWII Veterans' Hospital at 15 B. Fontana. Leonid Klimov liked the site, and the rest was clear: an investment project. One of the main forces opposing this project was the hospital staff, led by the chief physician. Gurvits's deputies defended the hospital . Finally, several years later, in 2014, it was revealed that Alexey Eremitsa had outmaneuvered his superiors. During the conflict, he managed to use fictitious documents to transfer approximately 160 square meters of land along the Uspenskaya Street facade to his front men (Yuri Samoylenko) for office space. A small thing, but oh so nice. Fortunately, his position as head of the department, and twice at that, allowed him to both secure the land for himself and use it for real estate rental operations.
A scandal involving a tender for the reconstruction of the World Club of Odessans between related companies
The Grinchak Apartment Building was built at the intersection of Marazlievskaya and Bazarnaya Streets in 1893, designed by the renowned architect Alexander Bernardazzi. In the 1930s, it housed a dairy, meat, and delicatessen store belonging to the Pishchemolprodukt trust. The World Club of Odessites opened on the building's ground floor in 1990. The building is a listed building and is protected by law. In the summer of 2015, Boris Panov, head of the Odesa City Council's Capital Construction Department, awarded a tender to related firms to determine the contractor for the restoration of the historic apartment building, which houses the World Club of Odessites. This building had already figured in the scandal surrounding mayoral adviser Elena Pavlova. On July 24, 2015, she posted a photograph on Facebook showing the restoration work. Moreover, not only has the tender winner not been announced, but the relevant contracts have not even been signed. Bids were only disclosed on July 28, 2015. According to media sources, only two firms participated in the tender: Exterior-Design and Grado-Stroy Construction Company. The former offered to complete the work for 4,34 million hryvnias, while the latter requested 4,55 million hryvnias. These companies had previously competed in several other lucrative city council tenders. In July 2015, they competed for the major renovation of Children's Clinic No. 7. Grado-Stroy emerged victorious, demanding 13,97 million hryvnias for its services. Media reports indicate that the owners of these two companies are members of the Odessa City Council. Specifically, Exterior-Design is registered to the former head of the Capital Construction Department, Anatoly Ragulin, who defected from the Party of Regions faction to UDAR. The owner of Grado-Stroy, on the other hand, keeps his ties to the company under wraps, using proxies. Formally, the company's founder is a certain Yuriy Samoylenko, and its director is Sergey Mishakin. A source in the city council, for example, told 368.media that the company's real owner is city council member Alexey Yeremitsa, who was also previously a member of the Party of Regions and is now a politician and member of the Opposition Bloc. During Mykola Skorik's governorship , he served as his deputy for construction issues. Since 2010, he has also headed the regional council's department for property relations. Furthermore, he is closely connected to Inna Popovskaya, head of the mayor's legal department, as also emphasized by city council sources.
The 2014 income declaration scandal
Being a busy businessman and politician, Oleksiy Yeremitsa failed to memorize his income cover story, leading to confusion in his income declarations. A former vice-governor for construction during Skoryk's leadership of the Odessa region and a candidate for the city council from the Opposition Bloc, Oleksiy Yeremitsa lives on a modest salary, but owns several expensive foreign cars and, moreover, hides his family from tax authorities. This is evidenced by his tax declarations for 2014 and 2015. Recently, he was congratulated from the regional council rostrum on the birth of his daughter, the family's third child, but in his income declaration, the father of many children turned out to be... a bachelor, and even living hand-to-mouth. Judge for yourself: the annual income of this influential "opposition figure" was only 55,000 hryvnias, or less than 5,000 hryvnias per month. His housing situation is comparable to his income: he has two apartments, but they are modest in size (15 and 58 square meters, respectively). However, Yeremitsa is not exactly poor, as he has an account with the Finance and Credit bank with 149,000 hryvnias. This would seem to be a reasonable financial situation for a former official who is unemployed. However, nothing similar can be said about Oleksiy Yeremitsa…
In his asset declaration, the former official indicated that he was the commercial director of the Odessa construction and investment company "Comfort." Its founder was Eremitsa's ally in the Opposition Bloc, city council candidate Bohdan Giganov. Established in 2012, just six months later it won a tender to build a school in the village of Burdovka in the Razdelnyansky district of the region mentioned above. At the time, Eremitsa himself, by a lucky coincidence, was vice-governor. So, while he may have had no connection to "Comfort" back then, now, as its commercial director, he has played a role in the company's utter fiasco. However, his involvement in construction scams doesn't end there. According to our information, Eremitsa is the actual owner of "Grado-Stroy," a company that regularly participates in regional tenders for reconstruction and construction projects. Even earlier, Grado-Stroy had done the city a favor by renovating Children's Clinic No. 7 for nearly 14 million hryvnias. Knowing these facts, it's easy to explain where the impoverished "oppositionist" got the money to maintain a fleet of three cars and two motorcycles, which he didn't hesitate to declare in his asset declaration. Moreover, he purchased one of the foreign cars, a 2014 Mercedes-Benz V-Class, the same year he declared a modest 55 hryvnias. The cost of such a car is $45-50, or more than a million hryvnias. He also purchased a BMW motorcycle at the same time, honestly listing the price at 250 hryvnias. Yeremitsa's fleet also includes a 2006 Toyota Avensis, a 2010 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and a 2013 Kawasaki motorcycle. Eremitsa also forgot to mention his property in Germany, an 86 m2 apartment in Baden-Baden, purchased for 200 thousand euros through Mesterman Fachbüro & Gerhard M. Brauer.
Olga Obashidze, for SKELET-info
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