Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Igor Kolomoisky
Billions of hryvnias of state aid to the banking sector were siphoned off into the foreign accounts of shady companies.
When, in March of this year, newly appointed Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, triumphantly flashing his glasses, announced a joint large-scale program of the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Bank to rescue domestic banks, which had suffered immensely from the economic and political crises, the population of Ukraine was divided into two categories.
Optimists cried out that Arseniy was a smart man, and his planned refinancing would certainly yield the desired results. "This will allow resources to be channeled into the economy at a rate no higher than 17-18%," Yatsenyuk said, noting that current lending rates, at 35%, were "unacceptable." Pessimists, however, claimed the money would surely be stolen, and the current financial turmoil would be mere trifles in six months. But autumn has arrived (the traditional time for fruit tasting), and, as it turns out, even the most ardent Euromaidan idealists are experiencing indigestion from the government's harvest.
Yatsenyuk
For example, Glavkom journalists decided to find out at their leisure whether the refinancing injection had benefited PrivatBank, which had taken the largest slice of the rescue pie after the state-owned Oschadbank. As a reminder, of the 200 billion hryvnias allocated by the National Bank for this purpose (incidentally, this is the largest amount of funds ever spent on supporting the banking sector by the NBU), the beloved brainchild of Dnipropetrovsk oligarch-governor Ihor Kolomoisky had received over 17,5 billion hryvnias as of November 1, 2014. And in early September, the bank also received a stabilization loan of 1 billion hryvnias from the NBU.
Moreover, according to an analytical report prepared by National Bank Chairperson Valeiya Gontareva and miraculously leaked to the media, PrivatBank is currently on the brink of bankruptcy. Recently, the bank has repeatedly come under fire for late payments, failure to pay interest on time, and fraudulent interest calculations.
And while Kolomoisky's associates justify all the bank's misfortunes by citing a massive outflow of deposit clients and the loss of assets in Crimea and Donbas, Glavkom investigators have uncovered a completely different reason for the depletion of PrivatBank's coffers. Specifically, a scheme by which state refinancing was promptly withdrawn from Ukraine.
As it turns out, immediately after receiving financial assistance, PrivatBank (apparently inspired by the government's example) also decided to try on the laurels of benefactor. And back in the summer, it distributed a sum comparable to the NBU tranches (11,6 billion hryvnias) in loans for various transactions.
Several dozen little-known borrowers, having received tens of millions of dollars from the bank, made 100% prepayment to equally little-known UK suppliers. But these suppliers, in a show of unscrupulous business practices, suddenly failed to deliver the goods on time.
To illustrate this, Glavkom journalists cited the relationship between Faboris and Viitela and their London partner, Trade Point Agro Limited, with whom they signed contracts worth $51,5 million and $52 million, respectively. The British company committed to supplying each company with approximately 25 metric tons of polyethylene terephthalate (a widely used thermoplastic). Privatbank financed both transactions, receiving property rights to the goods as collateral. The funds were transferred to the supplier shortly thereafter, but the plastic never arrived in Ukraine.
Naturally, domestic businessmen, outraged by the foreign lawlessness, immediately turned to court—three dozen identical lawsuits from PrivatBank borrowers, totaling over $1 billion, were published in the Unified Register of Court Decisions. Deceived in their best interests by the wily British, they categorically demanded that the unscrupulous suppliers repay their debts and, separately, terminate their collateral agreements with PrivatBank!
Ultimately, the bank was left holding the bag: having generously handed over a billion dollars, it received in return only property rights to a product that doesn't exist. This means there's no real chance of compensating for the losses incurred.
And it seemed like the perfect time to sympathize with the unfortunate Igor Kolomoisky, who was robbed by the citizens of Foggy Albion just as badly as the Crimean separatists. But then the nosy "Glavcom" unearthed another interesting detail. It turns out that many PrivatBank borrowers, allegedly innocent victims of British "scammers," are somehow connected to the Privat financial and industrial group!
Igor Kolomoisky
For example, five years ago, Real-Standard sold its stake in Ukrnafta, controlled by Ihor Kolomoisky, to Merista (a company listed as an investor in Privatbank). Viglon, Investgroup, Vesta-Company, and Inkeria were involved in the battle for Kyiv's Mir Hotel, which was waged by Privatbank-affiliated entities. And a year ago, Transmoloko and Tekhspetsmontazh, along with Privat Intertrading, were involved in a criminal case against a private company suspected of tax evasion.
Moreover, some of the borrowers share the same founders, the same place of residence, and even the same lawyers. For example, according to the State Enterprise Information Resource Center, the Dnipropetrovsk companies Faboris, Campbell, Tekhspetsmontazh, and Rudnex have common owners from Belize and the Virgin Islands. The offices of Intorno and Orbela are located in adjacent rooms. Solmbridge and Inkeria share offices in Dnipro. The cases of some of the companies on this list are handled in court by the same people: for example, the interests of Faboris, Inkom 2001, Rudnex, Solmbridge, and Rapit are represented by a lawyer with the initials A.I. Lyubchenko.
What's with borrowers? Even unscrupulous suppliers have common ground with Kolomoisky's businesses! The same defendant, Trade Point Agro Limited, which brazenly scammed the gullible companies Faboris and Viitela for thermoplastics, several years ago signed a contract with the Zaporizhzhia Oil and Fat Plant (another property of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration head). According to the documents, the Ukrainians supplied vegetable oil to the Europeans, in exchange for palm oil. The partners resolved monetary disputes through mutual settlements.
Thus, a detailed examination of Igor Kolomoisky's financial woes inevitably leads to the seditious conclusion that they're feeding him quite well. Moreover, this most honest man clearly has no intention of stopping halfway: according to the business press, PrivatBank is persistently seeking another 10 billion hryvnias in refinancing (it must be because its virtual plastic reserves have run out).
And, in all likelihood, he will receive the money for his immediate needs. Yatsenyuk's government and the prime minister personally have always been particularly attentive and sensitive to the wishes and whims of Ukraine's most billionaire patriot, not limiting themselves to banking matters. It's worth remembering that it was Kolomoisky's companies that won tenders to supply fuel and equipment to the Ukrainian army (albeit at exorbitant prices, after all, patriotism isn't cheap). And for just two billion hryvnias in dividends, Yatsenyuk finally transferred control of the state-owned company Ukrnafta to Kolomoisky's people—a company that the de facto ruler of the Dnipropetrovsk region had already milked almost dry (he "raised" half a billion dollars from the "expropriation" of 600 tons of industrial oil alone).
But Igor Valerievich hasn't been spared any gratitude either: he generously financed Yatsenyuk's People's Front during the last parliamentary elections (while also getting his own people elected to the Rada on his lists). Meanwhile, fighters from Kolomoisky-controlled volunteer battalions continue to terrorize election commissions in the east of the country, demanding that the results be adjusted in favor of the "People's Front."
Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Igor Kolomoisky
And since, in addition to their campaign (i.e., past) affairs, these two remarkable men are united by a dislike of Petro Poroshenko, they are simply destined for continued close cooperation. This is the conviction of Oleksandr Okhrimenko, president of the Ukrainian Analytical Center. "What's so great about Yatsenyuk? He speaks menacingly, beautifully, but at the same time, the oligarchs have had, and continue to have, access to the state budget, just as they once did, and continue to do so. What's so great about him? He doesn't violate the general rules of business. You don't pay taxes—wonderful. Peace of mind. You extract foreign currency through shady schemes—everything's fine. They're happy with that," the political scientist believes.
Incidentally, in the draft coalition agreement, the leading "front man" is stubbornly clawing for a place in the economic and energy bloc of the new government. This means that the latest news about the activities of the "Benya and Senya" syndicate promises to be no less exciting in terms of the scale of their accomplishments. As the saying goes: "Load plastic by the barrel."
Special Correspondent
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