Dmitry Barinov
In our country, the flood of lustration sometimes brings to the surface such odious figures of power that even the "legitimately alive" could never dream of. Meet Dmitry Anatolyevich Barinov—a man and a ship cut up for scrap metal.
Dmitry Barinov, a young specialist born in 1966, worked modestly at the Black Sea Shipping Company from 1989 to 1994. There's probably no need to recount the sad fate of the Black Sea Shipping Company. It's worth noting that at the beginning of 1993, the shipping company had 227 vessels, but 160 of them were scattered across various offshore zones. The first ship arrests began around that time.
After ChMP was converted into a joint-stock company, things worsened: interest rates on loans rose, and Blasko-ChMP's income was safely hidden in offshore banks. As a result, a criminal case was opened against the company's director, Pavel Kudyukin, and in January 1994, the Verkhovna Rada launched an investigation into ChMP, establishing a parliamentary investigative commission.
Whether it's a coincidence or not, it was in 1994 that Barinov decided he was ready to start his own business, and a short time later, he became the head of Insakharprom-K LLC, one of the largest sugar companies in our country. Interestingly, Insakharprom-K's listed owner was Inzernoprodukt CJSC. The CJSC was owned by Dmitry Barinov himself, Odessa City Council member Yuri Presnov, and businessman Alexander Korobchinsky.
The latter was killed in central Odessa late in the evening of January 5, 2011, in the Palais Royal Square near his home. Twelve 9mm bullets were fired into the victim's body. It is worth noting that the late businessman Korobchinsky was once an elected member of the Odessa City Council and headed the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine. At various times, he was also the subject of four criminal cases.
In 2009, Insakharprom-K began experiencing serious problems, specifically the company's inability (or unwillingness?) to fulfill its bond obligations. The result was bankruptcy. Barinov's trail then surfaced at F&M Agency Ukraine, where in 2011 he worked as logistics director with a salary of 15 hryvnias per month.
It should be noted that the parent company, F&M Agency Ltd, is registered in the British Virgin Islands, its president is a local beggar, its head office is located in London, and its bank account is in a Latvian bank. However, all employees are citizens of our country. However, the company is remembered in Ukrainians not for this, but for its brazen raids on domestic vessels.
Ironically, the official record of Insakharprom-K's demise dates back to July 2014. Barinov, however, had already assumed his duties as director of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDS) in June 2014. And on September 15, 2014, he was officially confirmed in his position by order of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Such are the twists and turns of fate.
But let's go back a bit, to when Barinov's sugar business was still thriving. In 2007, our hero gave an interview to Dengi magazine, in which he was introduced as "a successful businessman, an exemplary family man, and simply a pleasant conversationalist with a good sense of humor" (Oh, wow!).
Despite such a flattering assessment from the Dengi journalist, it seemed as if Dmitry Anatolyevich himself initiated this conversation to show off his luxurious lifestyle. Judge for yourself: Barinov, by his own admission, doesn't count his money, enjoys attending football matches around the world (Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, etc.), vacations abroad four times a year (his favorite destination is the expensive UAE), flies business class, and respects VIP access at airports.
He built himself a large two-story (540 sq. m) apartment near the Vorontsov Palace in the heart of Odessa. He has an Audi A8 long, his wife has a Lexus JX, and his daughter got an Audi A4 for her 18th birthday. He used to prefer classic clothes—Broni, Zileri, Kiton. "Now I prefer clingy ones from D&G and Richmond—I'm probably looking younger."
Dmitry Anatolyevich has one problem: he once convinced himself he didn't like black caviar "because it's so expensive." "And even now," Barinov continues his gourmet confession, "even though we have the opportunity, when we buy caviar, the kids eat it, but I can't bring myself to. Although there's no problem, you can buy it and eat it."
Anyway, if you haven't yet become disgusted by the narcissism of this nouveau riche, here is the full text of the interview (https://www.dengi.ua/…/27811_Dmitrij_Barinov_Chem_legche_ras…).
We're interested in a different question. How could someone with such demands be appointed director of a state-owned enterprise after his private company went bankrupt and he likely lost the windfall that allowed him to maintain his usual lifestyle? What result did the Ministry of Infrastructure expect?
Barinov had already been removed from his position as head of the shipping company. In mid-February, the relevant ministry, following reports from law enforcement agencies of abuses at the company, launched an investigation into the activities of the UDP.
During this period, Barinov was placed on forced leave. However, several members of parliament and the authorities of Izmail (where the enterprise is located) interceded on his behalf. Dmitry Anatolyevich's resignation allegedly provokes social tension in the city. However, it appears that Barinov's tenure as head of the UDP is precisely what is causing this tension. But more on that later.
On March 27, Barinov returned to his post, the audit was completed, although no one had ever seen the government audit report on the company's financial and economic activities.
In an interview (https://368.media/2015/02/barinov-udp/), Barinov said that the Ministry of Infrastructure asked him to resign. But he spent an hour convincing them that he was an extremely effective manager.
I don't know what arguments he used, but I think the government didn't believe the propaganda-style stories spread by the Dunaets newspaper, which is controlled by the UDP leadership and Barinov personally. It's hard to believe newspaper fairy tales, so Dmitry Anatolyevich must have had other compelling documents stashed away in his suitcase. I wonder what they were?
Incidentally, Barinov ran, fortunately unsuccessfully, in the 2014 parliamentary elections, extensively and illegally exploiting the newspaper's resources. In response, he was investigated by the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
So, "Dunaets" writes: "PJSC "Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company" has crossed the million mark. By May 15, the volume of cargo transportation by the UPD fleet, the newspaper reports, amounted to 1 million 045 thousand cargoes. And this despite the fact that this year the shipping company's fleet has not transported a single ton of pellets from the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. Previously, this cargo flow was one of the main ones. The company's financial result for the first quarter amounted to 8,9 million UAH, for the period from January 1 to April 30 of this year - 18,4 million UAH. In January-March, modernization and repairs of the fleet were carried out in the amount of 7,2 million UAH. In the four months of this year, the company transferred 16% more taxes to budgets of all levels than in 2014. Payments to the local budget for January-April of this year. amounted to 5 million 512 thousand UAH, which is 71% more than for the same period last year."
Please note that they only compare the figures for 2014 and 2015. That is, they go from "worse" to "poor." For some reason, the loss of the contract with the Austrian company Voestalpine, which since 1995 allowed for the transportation of 1,5 to 1.7 million tons of iron ore, year-round, is being cited as a factor. The entire development strategy for the Danube Railway Transport System (UDP) was built around the Austrian contract: economics, renewal and standardization of tonnage, traction, and the possibility of developing new shipping routes.
So what do we have now? The replacement of the Austrian route with the current Bulgarian route has already led to a reduction in transportation volumes from 130-140 tons to 10-15 tons per month. Meanwhile, coal is being supplied to Bulgaria's thermal power plants, which is purely seasonal! The contract with Voestalpine expired on December 31, 2014, and no one from the UDP has even attempted to renew it.
Now about UDP's fabulous profits. Since the company conducts foreign economic activity, settlements are made in foreign currencies. But for some reason, UDP's financial results are presented in hryvnia. Clearly, profits in the national currency increased slightly more than twofold. Meanwhile, the hryvnia depreciated against the dollar and euro by three to four times at different points in 2014-2015! So, where are the fabulous profits? UDP's stunning success was achieved solely thanks to devaluation!
The report makes no mention of the company's credit obligations. As of January 1, 2015, they amounted to approximately 20 million hryvnias in financial assistance from the ports of Kherson, Yuzhny, and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The UPA owes approximately $1 million for seafarers' per diems, approximately $0,5 million for fuel, and so on.
The UDP's naval fleet has already been completely destroyed—cut up for scrap and sold for next to nothing. Not a single new barge or self-propelled vessel has been built to replace it, as the money has gone to an unknown destination. Or rather, to only Barinov and the known one.
Due to a complete lack of oversight on the part of the shipping company's management, the Tatarbunary motor vessel was arrested in Turkey in July 2014 and remains moored in Istanbul. The charterer has failed to pay the freight for the period of arrest, and the debt now exceeds $100,000, directly attributable to Barinov, who signed the payment deferment documents. The vessel is expected to be auctioned off as early as June unless the UDP posts a deposit of over $1.2 million. Why haven't Dunaets readers been informed of these achievements?
Barinov's employment contract runs until September 2017. And if the government doesn't intervene and at least fire him from his position as head of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company, then for the remaining two years, the new chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company will have nothing left to manage.
In the next part of the story, we'll tell how Barinov wants to make UDP look like Amazon, while inexplicably cutting 30% of the shipping company's workforce. And how he's raising employee salaries by paltry percentages at the expense of indiscriminately dismissing Izmail residents.
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