The co-owners of RosUkrEnergo are deliberately destroying the business assets they took control of during Yanukovych's rule.
On September 12, the Sumy Oblast Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case against officials of the state-owned enterprise Sumykhimprom. "The regional prosecutor's office has initiated criminal proceedings against officials of PJSC Sumykhimprom under Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for selling finished products to other legal entities at prices below cost, in order to obtain improper benefits," the agency's press service reported.
The Prosecutor's Office requested that the Ministry of Industrial Policy and the State Property Fund conduct an investigation into the damage to state interests caused by the company's sales and purchases of products. Furthermore, based on the regional prosecutor's office's request, the Ministry of Justice instructed the Main Justice Department of Sumy Oblast to prepare a report on the presence or absence of evidence of fraudulent bankruptcy and concealment of persistent financial insolvency at PJSC Sumykhimprom.
As a reminder, the State Property Fund of Ukraine previously appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Justice regarding the intentional bankruptcy of PJSC Sumykhimprom. According to the Fund's press service, the Prosecutor General's Office was provided with evidence that may indicate significant economic damage to the plant and elements of a criminal offense. The letter to the Ministry of Justice requests that they prepare conclusions regarding the presence of evidence of bankruptcy and illegal actions during the bankruptcy process.
Furthermore, on August 28, members of the public working group on resolving problematic issues in Ukraine's titanium industry released information about a criminal bankruptcy scheme involving the Sumykhimprom energy and chemical complex in a statement addressed to Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine Dmytro Parfenenko, Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema, Minister of Justice Petro Petrenko, and Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov.
"Intending to take over this unique enterprise, the Firtash-Levochkin group first established operational control over it by appointing I. Lazakovich, who had previously served as deputy chairman of the board of directors of Crimean Titan CJSC (part of Group DF, affiliated with Firtash), to the position of chairman of the board in 2010," the statement said.
As noted in the document, in less than two years of Lazakovich's management, Sumykhimprom was artificially bankrupted—the majority of the debt was concentrated in companies within Group DF. "Using the large volume of artificially created liabilities, they (Levochkin and Firtash – Ed.) formed a Sumykhimprom creditors' committee, initiated the company's reorganization, and appointed I. Lazakovich as the reorganization manager, who drove Sumykhimprom to bankruptcy," stated members of the public working group.
The consequence, according to the letter's authors, was that the state, which owned almost 100% of Sumykhimprom's shares, was completely removed from the company's management and lost influence over the reorganization process. "Most likely, this is an orchestrated attempt to drive the company into bankruptcy in the interests of the D. Firtash-S. Levochkin group," the statement asserted.
Meanwhile, experts note the similarities between the bankruptcy of Sumykhimprom and the situation surrounding Ukraine's largest developer, Kyivmiskbud, which is also directly linked to Firtash's main business partner.
As a reminder, in April of this year, MP Mykhailo Apostol sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate the activities of an "organized group consisting of Sergey Levochkin (former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine), Aleksandr Kravets (former head of the State Administration of Affairs), N.V. Porayko (head of the supervisory board of PJSC Kyivgostroy Holding Company), and I.N. Kushnir (chairman of the board and president of PJSC Kyivgostroy Holding Company, 80% of whose shares are owned by the Kyiv City Council)." According to the MP, this group seized property from PJSC Kyivgostroy Holding Company on an especially large scale. Following reshuffles within the Office of the President of Ukraine, the process of removing real estate and funds from the balance sheets of Kyivgostroy and its subsidiaries was intensified.
In response to a request for information on law enforcement agencies' response to the deputy's appeal, the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office reported that it is currently overseeing several criminal proceedings involving Kyivmiskbud Holding Company.
Specifically, the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office entered information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations regarding the acquisition of enterprises and municipal property, including Kyivmiskbud, by a Kyiv company and other legal entities controlled by a group of former Kyiv City Council members, in collusion with Kyiv City State Administration officials, at reduced prices. The preliminary legal classification is under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv has been entrusted with the pre-trial investigation.
The Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kyiv is also conducting a pre-trial investigation into the embezzlement of funds by officials of PJSC "Kyivmiskbud Holding Company," committed in collusion with a private enterprise, under the criminal offenses stipulated by Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 4 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In addition, the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office investigated criminal cases against a Kyiv City Council member, Kyiv City State Administration officials, and other individuals who, acting in collusion and using fictitious enterprises, illegally privatized over 52 million shares of Kyivmiskbud Holding Company PJSC, owned by the Kyiv City Community. This criminal case, initiated on charges under Part 2 of Article 233, Part 2 of Article 364, and Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, has been sent to court with the indictment.
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