For two weeks straight, the media has focused on the "moral decay" of Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema and his inner circle. "Yaremophiles" clash with "Yaremophobes" in hysterical cries, the frequency of social media rants is off the charts, and paid-for propaganda and "authoritative opinions" are pouring out of every nook and cranny. Where did this "celebration of life" come from, based on the bones of the feudal lord Danilenko and the young Valery Yarema, which in just four months has practically soared into the limelight of the career hierarchy?
The corporate event's sponsors were traditionally named on both sides of the public conflict spectrum—the "family," Levochkin, the traditional Kolomoisky, even Yatsenyuk, and further down the list of the Prosecutor General's Office's "friends and enemies." It would seem nothing new, the topic slowly but surely fading into oblivion, and then, just when everyone thought we'd hit rock bottom, there came a persistent knock from below...
A representative of the so-called "cash-out market" spoke to "Prosecutor's Truth." What he said fundamentally changes the understanding of the reasons and nature of the persecution of the Prosecutor General: while everyone else is reveling in the "Leninism," the head of the tax service, Bilous, and Prosecutor General Yarema are locked in a battle for the cash conversion market.
tax gambit
To understand the dispute between Bilous and Yarema, let's take a brief detour into the history of the "early Yanukovych" era. Back then, in the annals of the nascent "Family," Vitaly Zakharchenko pitched an idea to Sasha the Stomatolog and defended his dissertation under Professor Bati on the topic of "How to Curb Economic Crime by Putting Yourself at the Head of the Cash-Out Pyramid."
We're talking about the so-called "certified platforms" created by the Family's "cashiers" and "managers." Their conversion centers were granted monopoly rights and the green light to operate, while other "market participants" (even established ones who pioneered the obnalization of the country's cash-out industry) were mercilessly pressured. At the same time, the "price of the service" was increased: while before the end of 2010, the intermediary fee for monthly transactions exceeding 10 million hryvnias would have been 6%, the "Batya i Zakhar" cooperative nearly doubled their prices. According to a source in the cash-out industry who spoke to Prokurorskaya Pravda, the "family" cash-out business was costing businesses between 9% and 12%, and competitors were being burned with a hot iron.
The now-fugitive Vitaly Zakharchenko oversaw the operation of the conversion centers and the obnashchenka market as a whole. Indeed, the business prospered so much under the hands of this now world-famous native of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, that even when he moved from his position as chief tax collector to the top post of chief of police, he retained oversight of the obnashchenka. He was assisted as best he could by his loyal "converter dog," Sergei Mishchenko, who "walked" the walks of life in the civil service for Zakharchenko. He apparently proved so in-demand as a specialist that Mishchenko himself was hired a month ago by the Euromaidan-era head of the Fiscal Service, Igor Bilous. The reason: after the flight of Yanukovych and company, the market went out of control, and so-called "partisans" and gray converters began popping up like mushrooms after rain. It reached the point of complete surrealism: while sales volumes were rising, revenues from the state budget's "conversion item"—VAT—were plummeting. The economy was finally retreating into the shadows, and the money from that shadow was slipping past the new government's coffers. Bilous tried his best to gain control of the cash-out market, but it was no use: he was only snatching up mere crumbs, lacking experience "in the field," and that's not something they teach in those vaunted MBA courses.
That's why he decided to apply all of Mishchenko's talents and skills to this task as director of the fiscal service's Coordination and Monitoring Department. The "apechnost" was extremely outraged by the appointment of a "regime lackey," but after receiving the order to "shut up," they switched to other topics. Having calmed down, Mishchenko was already preparing to cash in on the Bilous-Yatsenyuk team's coffers, when it turned out that another financier, backed by an equally serious player, was already operating in the cash-out market.
Another of Yarema's godfathers is in the arena
First, let's talk about the "financier" himself, who, incidentally, intends to become a member of parliament in the new parliament on Serhiy Tihipko's "Strong Ukraine" list. Meet number 20 on the electoral list – Serhiy Dumchev, a non-public figure known only in very narrow circles. He is the owner of Premium Bank and the "unofficial owner" of Classic Bank in Dnipropetrovsk. According to a source for Prosecutor's Truth, both financial institutions were certified "envelopes," and quite large ones, during the Zakharchenko-Mishchenko alliance.
And now, a real insider tip: Dumchev turns out to be not only a "friend" of Prosecutor General Yarema, but also his godfather (just like Danilenko—honestly—where do they even find such godfathers?). And it was this banker, following his heart and under Yarema's patronage, who has been building a cash-out system for the past three months, only with protection from the prosecutor's office! So, while the tax office spent six months thinking the market was just a "guerrilla operation," the building on Reznitskaya decided to take over the liquid business.
There are two facts that confirm this:
— Several tax officials involved in the cash-out scheme and the operation of conversion centers have been arrested by prosecutors in the past two months. The charges are the same everywhere: Article 368 (bribe).
— Traditional platforms offering cash-out services, like ads on finance.ua, kievcash.at.ua, and freeboard.com.ua, are actively promoting "fresh, dumping" cash-out offers (just 7% for cash-outs of one million hryvnias or more!). A tempting offer from the prosecutor's office, don't you think? Especially considering that cashing out from the tax office costs twice as much...
It took two weeks for Bilous's newly appointed money-changers and doc Mishchenko to "figure out" the prosecutor's cash-out scheme. After that, Yarema's leak began. Bilous's patron and "master," Yatsenyuk, personally volunteered to provide the entourage, as well as the incriminating evidence against the Prosecutor General. Few questions remain:
— With whose permission did Ukraine's chief fiscal officer decide to "resurrect" the conversion center operating systems of the "Mishchenko-Zakharchenko" era?
— How many more cronies with entrepreneurial acumen does Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema have in his ranks?
— Is the two-fold difference in the "cost" of cash-outs between tax officials and prosecutors due to the fact that there's more theft on Lviv Square than on Reznitskaya Square?
Prosecutor's Truth
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