Andrey Belousov
Lobbying the interests of certain financial groups is, unfortunately, nothing new in Ukrainian politics or among government officials. Mayors of Ukrainian cities are no strangers to such behavior.
However, they went even further. For example, in the city of Kamenskoye in the Dnipropetrovsk region, municipal property of commercial interest was transferred, with the help of mayor Andriy Belousov, to individuals affiliated with him. This is precisely how some local tsars understood the potential of decentralization.
It's worth noting that we're not simply talking about premises for a store or shopping mall. Kamenskoye Mayor Andrei Belousov has managed to transfer assets such as the city's boiler houses and heating mains into private ownership. And not just privately, but, one might say, his own, albeit through front men.
A bit of history
Observant residents of Kamenskoye have long noticed how the "heating decentralization" project, once actively promoted by Mayor Andriy Belousov, has recently been phased out. It seems like just yesterday, special heating centers were opening across the city, and millions of hryvnias were being allocated for schemes to purchase electric panels. The mayor himself actively campaigned for this transition and against central heating. And now—bam!—silence. Why?
The explanation for this was found quite quickly and simply.
While facilities like the left-bank boiler house, for example, were owned by the community, and its proceeds went into the budget rather than into the pockets of the mayor and his relatives, the Kamenskoye authorities actively destroyed the central heating system, calling it unprofitable. However, everything changed quickly when they found an opportunity to hand over the boiler house practically for free to their own godfather.
And then, magically, heating rates skyrocket, and residents are simply banned from installing autonomous heating systems. To substantiate this claim, let's trace the entire process of this major crime in figures and facts.
Chronology of a major crime
The chronology of events in recent years perfectly illustrates the true motives and scale of what is happening in Kamenskoye under the patronage of the local authorities, writes Antikor.
July 2019. By its decision (No. 195 of July 24, 2019, "On Approval of the Procedure for Establishing Individual Heating in Houses and Premises on the Right-Bank Part of Kamyanskyi Metropolitan District"), the Kamyanskyi City Council Executive Committee effectively prohibits residents of the entire left bank of our city from installing autonomous heating systems. (They do, of course, install them for a bribe, but the majority of Kamyanskyi residents are left out in the cold.) Thus, residents are tied to the monopoly providing centralized heating (at that time, it was Teploseti).
Then events begin to develop in a most curious way.
February 2020 – The Kamensk City Council made a controversial decision to transfer several municipal boiler houses to a concession (read: to private hands). These facilities are located at 2 Industrialnaya Street (the left-bank boiler house), 26 Koleusovskaya Street, 22-A Dalnyaya Street, and 32-A Altayskaya Street.
Control over these critical urban infrastructure facilities is being transferred to the private enterprise Kamyanska Teplogeneryucha Kompaniya LLC. Thus, residents of the left bank, who were prohibited from installing autonomous heating systems, are becoming dependent on a private monopoly.
The ultimate beneficial owner (beneficiary) of Kamyanska Teplogeneryucha Kompaniya LLC (35840036) is Valentina Gavrilovna Ivanova, who also owns such companies as TRADE INVEST HOLDING LLC, Dialyz Medik LLC, and numerous other firms that profit from the Kamyanske budget and its residents. Valentina Gavrilovna Ivanova is also the mother of Oleksandr Ivanov, the godfather of Mayor Andriy Belousov.
January 2021: Kamenskoye Mayor Andriy Belousov and his tame executive committee (mostly represented by members of the mayor's Bdzhola party) raise district heating rates across the city, making them among the highest in Ukraine.
But Belousov, of course, blames the president for this.
Decentralization has given local authorities, including mayors, considerable powers and new financial resources, but, as we see, local authorities have interpreted these new opportunities differently. Hopefully, the competent authorities will finally pay attention to the situation in Kamenskoye.
Author of the article:
Ruslan Yakushev
In topic: Who is conducting official investigations in Kamenskoye, or modern-day "werewolves" in uniform?
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