A well-known money laundering specialist is running for the post of mayor of the capital.
While scrolling through their news feed, CRiMA observers discovered the results of a poll that made us smile. It turns out that a certain Serhiy Dumchev, the head of the "Rukh za Reformy" (Reform Movement) organization with a ridiculous rhinoceros emblem, will become Kyiv's next mayor. That is, if Vitali Klitschko wins in the second round.
But the rest of the public is perplexed. Here, lawyer Oleksiy Doroshenko, in his column on Espresso.TV, expresses surprise: a sociological company that appeared out of nowhere has already managed to rank a Kyiv mayoral candidate and his political force third among all parties. I became curious about this Serhiy Dumchev, who so actively criticizes everyone in power in his leaflets. I wanted to understand his level of competence and read his biography to assess his life's journey.
But as it turns out, this is impossible. It's impossible to learn anything about the candidate from the leaflets themselves or from the press, which is actively reporting on his plans. He has no biography. He's a standard guy from nowhere.
The author of the column, as a potential voter, has questions that he would like to receive answers to:
1. Why doesn't this person list their positive experience in community or business activities in their company? If they're a businessman, they should list how many jobs they've created and how much tax they've paid recently.
2. If this person is so wealthy that he was able to buy a significant portion of the billboards in Kyiv, what is his income level and is it reflected in his declaration?
Sergey Dumchev
The ORD website reports that the organization, whose existence no one knew about before the elections, is spending $3 million a month on election campaign expenses.
It turns out that this spontaneously formed opposition force has already spent over $10 million on billboards, printed materials, campaign staff, and more, setting an all-time record for local election spending. But where do these simple idealists get such enormous funds? Many believe the answer lies in the personality of Sergei Dumchev, the leader of the "Rukh for Reforms."
This man positions himself as a banker and "simply a concerned Kyiv resident," and billboards about his evolution from ape to mayor make Darwin squirm in his grave. Without going into too much detail about his reforms, Sergei Dumchev promises the capital's residents mountains of gold, which, in his opinion, only requires two things: "remove the unnecessary" and "punish the guilty."
Such primitive populism might be expected from a political neophyte, but Dumchev himself is far from new to politics. Especially if you recall the "Party of Regions" era. A former member of the "Party of Regions," or as it was also called, Tihipko's "Strong Ukraine," Serhiy Dumchev held the honorary position of one of the "cashiers" of the Donetsk group. The "Kyiv reformer's" shell banks, such as "Premium" and "Classic," hardly engaged in routine banking, instead building a system of cashing out shadow capital in the capital that was familiar to the Party of Regions.
It's worth noting that after the ignominious flight of Yanukovych and company, the nimble "cashier" retained his skills, continuing to use fictitious banks and companies for complex financial schemes.
Ordinary people are unlikely to have ever encountered the financial institutions controlled by Dumchev, but parliamentary circles know exactly who to contact if they desperately need to transfer honestly taken budget funds to offshore accounts. It's unclear whether these or any other professional qualities help the leader of the "Rukh za Reformy" (Movement for Reforms) make influential friends, but Sergei Dumchev is quite good at it. The Kyiv "reformer" is particularly close to disgraced former Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema, rumored to be his godfather. During Yarema's tenure as Prosecutor General, Dumchev was even nicknamed "the keeper of the prosecutor's coffers" behind his back. However, neither Dumchev nor Yarema like to talk about this.
…to be continued
In topic: Dumchev. The Era of Political Déjà Vu in Kyiv
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