According to informed observers, Vladimir Skorobogach and Vitaly Khomutynnik met in 2012 through Khomutynnik's godfather, Artur Pruzovsky. They all bonded over imported meat. Pruzovsky was known as an organizer of illegal goods smuggled through the Odesa customs office. Skorobogach, in turn, likely offered his partners access to the Kharkiv customs office and a significant market in the east of the country. By 2014, their friendship had been cemented by the massive flow of Brazilian meat through the southern port, even as our officials already listed the foreign supplier as a potential source of infectious diseases.
Big business required a strong protection racket, and Skorobahach pushed through the appointment of retired police colonel Valentin Fesyunin, who had headed the security service at his companies, to the position of head of the Kharkiv Regional Department of Revenue and Duties. Fesyunin's appointment was also lobbied for by other former Party of Regions members, including those from Kyiv. Paradoxically, after Euromaidan, Skorobahach's position as the overseer of contraband flows and tax loopholes in the Kharkiv region only strengthened. A decisive role in this was played by MP V. Khomutynnik, for whom his Kharkiv partner, according to many, became his "right hand."
Skorobogach didn't limit himself to lobbying his people with the tax and customs authorities; he began establishing new operating rules for other importers. For a while, he even imagined his own omnipotence: he boasted of his inaccessibility to the prosecutor's office and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and his disdainful attitude toward the Kyiv leadership of the customs and fiscal service.
Colonel Fesyunin attempted to quickly reassemble the team of his colleagues from his time at the Kharkiv tax administration in the early 2000s. At the time, he was in charge of one of the most corrupt units in the tax service – the department for combating fictitious businesses and illegal VAT refunds. According to Kharkiv entrepreneurs, the tax authorities at the time were tightly and profitably protecting the conversion centers. In 2014, they attempted to reestablish these schemes, while simultaneously continuing to extort money from businessmen and persecuting small competitors in the cigarette, taxi, and prostitution markets.
At the time, Skorobogach wasn't distracted by the petty affairs of his former security chief, continuing his large cattle import business. But the permissive holiday soon ended: in January 2015, his former security guard was removed from his post.
Too many players were vying for the position of Kharkiv Oblast's chief tax collector. Some major businessmen (who are also activists, volunteers, and philanthropists) reacted with hostility to Colonel Fesyunin's appointment. The tax community had envisioned Mikhail Gagarkin as their reformer, but in the summer of 2014, Skorobogach and his patrons suddenly joined in…
After Fesyunin's appointment, there was talk in Kharkiv that the government was blatantly ignoring anti-corruption initiatives by public organizations. A well-known activist like Yuriy Sapronov (the one with the hockey stick) wrote that he was "not against V. Fesyunin, as I don't know him," but that "principles have been violated, and the opinions of civil society have not been taken into account."
Sapronov was supported by another former developer, and in 2014 by civil activist Dmitry Kutovoy: down with behind-the-scenes appointments, in favor of transparency and a “new way of life.”
Pressure from concerned citizens, coupled with periodic scandals surrounding the "old-new" Ministry of Taxes and Duties, played a role – Fesyunin resigned after six months in office. M. Gagarkin was ultimately appointed as the region's chief tax collector. The political events of late 2014 likely had an even greater influence on Skorobogach's temporary retreat. After the early Verkhovna Rada elections, a coalition of five "pro-European" parties emerged in parliament, which at the time had the power to both form the Cabinet and pass legislation. The group of deputies led by V. Khomutynnik lost its indispensability. Therefore, other predators displaced the friends of the Brazilian cows and our customs officers from some positions. Temporarily. As soon as the grand Maidan coalition began to crumble, the presidential allies needed new allies from among the old "Regionals." For Khomutynnik, Skorobogach, and their partners, the era of "Renaissance" was approaching.
On the topic: Vitaly Khomutynnik. How Ukraine's richest MP made his fortune.
Oleg Boykoskorobogach
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