Igor Kotvitsky
The current Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov (Read more about it in the article Arsen Avakov: The criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs), a close business partner emerged back in the distant 90s. His name is Igor Kotvitsky. Ukrainian media have long dubbed him Arsen Borysovych's "wallet man." He is currently a member of parliament, handling law enforcement matters. In his spare time, judging by recent events, he helps his partner transfer financial assets abroad. He recently became embroiled in a scandal involving the transfer of $40 million from Ukraine to Panama. So how did Avakov's future "money bag" get his start?
Self-made man
Igor Aleksandrovich was born in 1970 in Kharkiv. Immediately after finishing school, he served in the Soviet army. Returning to his hometown, he worked for a year as a ventilation system installer. His career began to blossom with his joining the firm "Investor" in 1993. After three years as a secretary, he was promoted to Deputy President for General Affairs. It's worth noting that the founder and president of this firm was current Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov; he and Igor Kotvitsky were already linked by fate and a shared business. While pursuing his career, he earned a degree in economics from the Institute of Business and Management. In 2010, he joined the board of directors of "Basis" Bank, also founded by Avakov. After eight years at "Investor," he became its vice president. Arsen Borisovich himself served as the company's chairman until 2013, and after his departure for politics, his wife, Inna, took over the position. According to the Infrastructure Development Agency, Igor Kotvitsky owns 9,5% of the company's shares, Inna Avakova owns 42%, and her son, Alexander, owns almost 2%.
Inna and Arsen Avakov
Ihor Kotvitsky entered politics during the Orange Revolution in 2004. As a Maidan activist, he headed the All-Ukrainian Association "For Yushchenko" in Kharkiv. He also worked on charity work and even served as deputy head of the People's Salvation Committee. In 2006, Ihor Kotvitsky became a member of the Kharkiv City Council. At the same time, he was appointed a member of the environmental commission. In 2010, he was again elected to the Kharkiv City Council as a member of parliament representing the Batkivshchyna party. In 2014, he became a member of parliament of Ukraine representing the People's Front party.
Suicide note
On October 31, 2012, Alexander Motylevsky, a colleague of Igor Kotvitsky and Arsen Avakov at the firm "Investor," committed suicide. In his suicide note, he mentioned them in a very unflattering light, indirectly accusing them and several other individuals of "inhumane" behavior and numerous frame-ups by his own colleagues:
"I can't wrap my head around what Arsen Borisovich Avakov has done. God be his judge. How could he have let down so many of his employees and not resolved their issues?! His cowardice and greed for money, alas, exceed his nobility and sense of responsibility. Igor Aleksandrovich Kotvitsky is the same. 'I resolved my issues, and the rest of the people are just biomass.' In my approach, I rely on a quote from Dolores Ibárruri, which I remembered from childhood: 'It's better to die standing than to live on your knees!'" Motylevsky wrote about his colleagues.
The full text of the suicide note of the former head of Investor JSC, Alexander Motylevsky:
In the summer of 2015, Ihor Kotvitsky "unexpectedly" emerged as the richest member of parliament in Ukraine. Why "unexpectedly"? Because when he filed his income tax return in March 2014, he had only 63 million hryvnias in his accounts, but by August 2015, he had added another 907 million.
Pay attention to the dates:
When asked by journalists where the new money came from, he blamed it all on an "accounting error." He claimed the money had been sitting in the accounts for a long time, and didn't just appear out of nowhere. Frankly, this is hard to believe. Especially considering the fact that in the spring of 2015, a couple of months before the new declaration was published, Igor Alexandrovich pulled off a "brilliant" scam involving transferring money to Panama.
NBU fraud and money transfers to offshore accounts in Panama
In mid-spring 2015, a representative of the Dutch company TIWAY FSU BV approached the National Bank. He wanted to repay a previously received loan, which the company had issued to the Crimean enterprise Crimea Petroleum Company. He came to the NBU together with Igor Kotvitsky. The management at the top ordered them to do everything possible to resolve their issues, as they were accustomed to doing—pleasing the "servants of the people."
After examining the documents Kotvitsky brought to the NBU, its employees developed serious suspicions about the legality of the transaction the politician intended to carry out. It turned out that Krym Petroleum had received a loan from TIWAY FSU BV back in 2009. After the occupation of Crimea, the company was re-registered in Ukraine and resumed operations that spring. Due to the forced eviction of all employees and the seizure of NBU buildings in Crimea, no documentation was obtained, and Krym Petroleum was required to fulfill its obligations to foreign creditors. The loan amount the company was supposed to repay was $41 million. The bank employees' doubts were further heightened when it was discovered that several clauses in the new loan agreement had been amended. First, the new borrower, instead of the Crimean company, was Igor Kotvitsky himself. Secondly, the creditor was also changed; it became the Panamanian offshore company Kingston group SA. Essentially, transferring money to Panama, in banking terms, means that information about these financial resources will henceforth be hidden “from prying eyes” forever.
By a "lucky coincidence," Igor Kotvitsky contacted the company "Saenko-Kharenko," which is partly owned by Leonid Antonenko, head of the Registration and Licensing Department at the National Bank. Antonenko is also the personal "assistant" of the First Deputy Governor of the NBU, Oleksandr Pysaruk.
Alexander Pisaruk
Interestingly, Antonenko and his committee were responsible for approving and re-registering the loan from a representative of a Dutch company. Furthermore, Antonenko's company prepared the transfer documents and also secured a change in the servicing bank, changing it to the state-owned Oschadbank. Indeed, such transactions can be carried out without unnecessary red tape through state-owned banks. The scammers managed to pull it off very quickly: on July 15, 2015, the re-registration documents arrived at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), and the very next day (July 16.07), they were registered, and Kotvitskyi had a certificate confirming that he was now the borrower of the $41 million loan, and that the loan was to be repaid not to the Dutch TIWAY FSU BV, but to the Panamanian offshore company Kingston group SA.
After this, only one obstacle remained in Kotvitsky's path: the Financial Monitoring Department, which is responsible for overseeing money transfers abroad. However, Igor Oleksandrovich wasn't particularly worried, since the director of this department was Igor Bereza, a protégé of Pisaruk's. This figure was known in banking circles as a spineless and unmotivated enforcer, willing to do whatever management asked of him. This is precisely what happened with the money transfer to Panama: despite his active inaction, more than $41 million "flew" to a shell company. Observing this entire situation, one wonders where our notorious head of the NBU, Valeria Gontareva, is looking.Read more about it in the article Valeria Gontareva. The Glitter and Machinations of the Queen of Coins), and how the man who runs Ukraine's banking system fails to notice the machinations under his own nose.
Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info
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