Employees of the State Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kherson Oblast will soon receive two brand new Renault vehicles, purchased with public funds. The Renault Logan will cost 593,788 hryvnias, while the Renault Duster will cost 382,251 hryvnias.
The tender documentation was disclosed on July 21, and an acceptance notice has already been issued.
We're pleased that the budget Daewoos, for which we bought fuel from Ihor Kolomoisky in May, have been joined by good cars. The only one who could be more pleased is Ukroboronprom head Roman Romanov, who sold the cars to the state security service in his hometown of Kherson.
Not just Ukroboronprom
The little-known Center Kherson LLC won the auction. Its registered address is 54 Berislavske Shosse, while its actual address is 3 km from Mykolaivske Shosse. This address is home to the Renault and BMW Center car dealerships, owned by Roman Romanov, who sold cars before becoming head of the state-owned concern.
Roman Romanov's car dealership
The founders of this enterprise are the private company "Service Plus," Roman Romanov's wife, Lyudmila Nikolaevna, anti-Maidan protester Volodymyr Belyi, and Anchar Serikkanovich Beisibaev, a resident of the suburban Antonovka neighborhood. The latter currently oversees all of the affairs of the head of Ukroboronprom and is not only an investor but also a trusted confidant of Roman Anatolyevich.
The director is Igor Malyshev, who also manages Yug-Service LLC.
Yug-Service, a private enterprise, has the same founders, but Bosch Service Kherson LLC is also added, with the same founders.
Khmelnytskyi "frontline soldiers" lost to Kherson
The only competitor of the head of the Ukroboronprom concern, Roman Romanov, was the Favorit-Auto Trading House LLC from the city of Khmelnytskyi.
The founder of this company is Holding-Invest LLC, and the ultimate beneficial owner is Vasily Dereshuk.
The company's director, Leonid Kharun, is an assistant to Mykhailo Gvozdev, a member of parliament from the BPP. It's worth remembering the member of parliament's name, as he is our main lead. It's also worth remembering that a certain Maria Gvozdeva is a member of the Krasilovsky District Council from the Batkivshchyna All-Ukrainian Union (VO "Batkivshchyna"), and until 2010, she was the mayor of this town. She currently owns a hardware store and two mobile phone stores.
The founders of Holding-Invest are the same Vasyl Dereshuk and Mykola, a member of the Krasiliv City Council and husband of former Mayor Nyla Ostrovska. On March 31, 2015, Petro Poroshenko appointed Nyla Ostrovska as Chairperson of the Krasiliv District State Administration, and she resigned as mayor. Prior to this, in May 2014, she left the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivshchyna," of which she had been a member since 2005. Until the end of 2012, the founders of Holding Invest included Mykola Pavlovsky, a member of the Krasiliv City Council from the "Front of Change," and Yuriy Gaevsky. The director is Leonid Kharun.
A number of companies are linked to Dereshuk and Ostrovsky. They are listed as either directors or founders. The founder of Podillya-Pharm LLC is Dereshuk and Holding Invest, and the director is Lyudmila Gvozdeva. Nikolai Ostrovsky is the owner and director of Kapital-Motors LLC in Rivne, but the phone numbers listed during the company's registration are listed as contact numbers for the Gvozdev family's car dealerships. Meanwhile, at Bud-Service Plus LLC, a construction company in Krasilov, Nikolai Kazimirovich is listed as the director, and the founder is Marina Gvozdeva.
It is obvious that the ultimate owner or co-owner of these companies, and possibly others we have not found, is still a member of parliament, a native of Krasilov, Mikhail Gvozdev.
A photo of Mikhail Gvozdev from his Facebook profile
In the automotive business, Mikhail Gvozdev's most well-known enterprise is Audi Center Khmelnitsky LLC. The company's founders are Holding-Invest LLC and Vasyl Dereshuk. His wife, Lyudmila Gvozdeva, is apparently the director. This company became famous after winning several tenders to supply luxury cars to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and government agencies between 2011 and 2013. For example, Khmelnytskyi Oblast Governor Yadukha drove a luxury Audi purchased from this company.
In a number of publications in the fall of 2014, Mykhailo Gvozdev, the 53rd person on the Petro Poroshenko Bloc's electoral list, was called "Yanukovych's chief of staff," which is more than odd for a member of the then-opposition party, Front for Change. Incidentally, Roman Romanov is a member of the Kherson Regional Council from Front for Change, and in January, he gathered former Party of Regions and UDAR members in his new group, "For Peace and Unity."
As we can see, Mikhail Gvozdev owns a substantial business empire, and the lost tenders in Kherson won't hurt his pocketbook too much. Especially since by losing the bid, he helped his new boss.
Not just party comrades
Mikhail Gvozdev's name is rarely mentioned, even in local media. Aside from the already announced tenders from 2011-2013, there are almost no mentions of him until June 2015. Then, on June 15, Gvozdev's name filled every news feed.
On June 13, President Petro Poroshenko introduced the new head of the Antonov state-owned enterprise to the staff. Mykhailo Gvozdev, a member of parliament from the pro-presidential BPP party, will replace long-time Antonov CEO Dmytro Kiva as acting president.
In early May, it became known that the Antonov state-owned enterprise, by order of the Cabinet of Ministers, had been separated from the Antonov State Concern and transferred to the management of Ukroboronprom. As a result, the competition announced by the Ministry of Economic Development to head the Antonov state enterprise (for which Dmytro Kiva had also applied) was suspended. Ukroboronprom will initiate a new competition for the company's head. However, it appears that the management team has been finalized.
"By personally introducing Gvozdev to the team, Petro Poroshenko clearly demonstrated the new leader's support. This applies to the implementation of the set goals of increasing production and sales, including through government procurement," said Antonov State Enterprise representative Roman Marchenko.
Incidentally, it was not Roman Romanov who appointed Mikhail Gvozdev to the position, albeit temporarily, but Sergei Pinkas, who was acting head of the concern at the time.
State Security Service Tender. Suspicious Price
Having exhausted the reader with dozens of names and company titles, let's return to the procurement itself. We cannot, and, by and large, do not wish to assert that the wives and entourage of the rulers conspired to purchase vehicles for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but one detail stands out.
Having monitored public procurement in the Kherson region for over a year, we've become accustomed to paying attention to every detail. In this case, it's the price.
It's obvious to the naked eye that car prices in Kherson and Khmelnytskyi differ by exactly 4000 hryvnias for the first lot and 5000 for the second. That's right, not a kopeck more.
Automotive industry representatives we contacted for comment only smiled mysteriously and explained that car prices are determined by the dollar exchange rate. Therefore, two unrelated companies couldn't possibly show a price that differed by several thousand but would ultimately match within a single hryvnia.
The publication was created within the framework of the project “Creation and promotion of the state system of control over expenses “Vіdkritii budget”, which is promoted by the community organization “Agency of Community Journalism MIST” for financial support European Commission in Ukraine.
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