Minister of Agrarian Policy Oleksiy Pavlenko
"The minister decided to hand over Artemsol to the BPP deputies." How do supervisors work at state-owned enterprises?
State-owned companies continue to be cash cows for various political forces, while so-called "technocrats" in practice prove to be even more sophisticated corrupt officials.
Odessa Port Plant, Energoatom, Centrenergo, and the Agrarian Fund—over the past six months, each of these state-owned companies has found itself at the center of scandals, typically involving the interests of key figures in one political party or another.
But the picture would be incomplete without adding another object that has been frequently mentioned in the media recently – the State Enterprise “Artemsol”.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has taken an interest in the situation surrounding the company. Following recent searches and court rulings, detectives are examining Artemsol's documentation and mobile phone conversations between the company's management and its traders.
Radio Liberty recently published an investigation alleging that a state-owned enterprise is selling almost all of its industrial salt at a reduced price to a little-known company called Costanza, which is linked to BPP MP Oleh Nedava, a former aide to the controversial Party of Regions member Yuriy Ivanyushchenko.
"Ekonomicheskaya Pravda" spoke with Denis Fomenko, a former manager of the state salt monopoly, who described in detail how Artemsol's management "served" the interests of the political elite.
There's a full package here: the minister's "overseers," multi-layered corruption schemes, political "protection," and much more.
That is, everything that is unlikely to be reflected in the government report.
Immediately after the conversation with Denis Fomenko, Ukrainska Pravda spoke with some of the defendants in the “case.”
All of them predictably denied their involvement in overseeing the enterprise or making any recommendations to the management of the state enterprise.
– Tell us how you ended up at Artemsol?
Before all these events that began in 2014, I lived and worked in Donetsk. The comrades who came from the "DPR" asked me point blank: "Either you're with us or against us."
Naturally, I didn't want to work with them; we had different views on life. I needed to leave with my family... Where? To Kyiv? Right away—it's expensive, and there's no need.
I moved to Artemovsk. They had just kicked me out of Artemsol at that time. Klyuevs, in April 2014.
At that time, Minister Igor Shvaika appointed Oleksandr Panchenko to head the enterprise. I understand he was one of those who organized the Maidan protests in Kramatorsk.
They worked there for a month and a half. As I was later told, they weren't up to the job. It's one thing to hold a flag on the Maidan, and quite another to run a business.
I was offered the position of commercial director by the newly appointed CEO, Alexander Stepanenko, who was appointed by Minister Shvaika in early June 2014. The contract was signed in September 2014 for three years.
– Were you acquainted with Stepanenko?
"I'd seen him before; he was in the Party of Regions. At the time, I was deputy chairman of the city's Young Regions organization. Donetsk isn't as big as it seems. They offered me a position, and I accepted."
Minister Shvaika immediately summoned us and said task number one was to clean up everything "Klyuyevskoye"—firms, companies, people. We started with that.
As Svoboda knows, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy was awarded the quota. Arseniy Petrovich and the Front of Change were probably not particularly pleased with this. An unspoken order was issued to crack down on Artemsol, and the crackdown began back in 2014.
- How so? The police?
"Yes, the police. The ultimate goal was to jail the general director. Stepanenko himself is a local resident, the former mayor of Soledar. He's been involved with Artemsol practically his entire life. He worked at the state-owned enterprise for about 38 years."
But it's no secret to you that most of the Donetsk region is pro-Russian. As are, in fact, most of the Artemsol employees. I'd say the ratio is still 50/50. And Stepanenko was also pro-Russian.
During the occupation of Artemovsk, Stepanenko supported the units created on the Artemsol base. I had some unpleasant conversations with him. I said, "Alexander Nikolaevich, I left this behind and came back, and it turns out I'm back to the same thing. Let's put a stop to this." And he said, "Denis, you don't understand. Russia will be coming soon, and so on."
Just a month later, on July 17, the Kharkiv Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case against Stepanenko. They began summoning him for questioning.
He had to leave.
Before this order, he appointed me acting general director. He recruits and verbally gives instructions—who to sign with and who not to sign with. I say, "Alexander Nikolaevich, this won't work." Can you imagine? He gives verbal instructions, and then I'm held accountable. That's not right.
– So you have reached the stage of changing the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers?
– Yes, on December 2, 2014, Minister Pavlenko arrived.
The situation with Ukrspirt and the fugitive Mikhail Labutin has alarmed me. I think to myself: they're fighting here, they're looking for this guy, they're taking someone away in the trunk. Why do I need this—at 33 years old? That's not why I came here.
I went to the ministry. So, I went straight to Minister Pavlenko. He said, "There are no complaints against you. There are complaints against your director. Where is the director?"
I say, "I'd like to see the director myself." "Go ahead, talk to your comrades, if you can find common ground with them..."
– With what “comrades”? With the minister’s staff adviser?
– Yes, with (Alexander) Liev (former Minister of Tourism and Resorts of Crimea – UP)
– Many of our interlocutors also frequently name Luhansk businessman Igor Liski as someone who has a certain degree of influence over some state-owned enterprises in the agricultural sector.
"What is corruption? Yes, there is corruption at Artemsol. Do you want someone to come and say, 'Yes, I took,' and someone else to say, 'Yes, I gave?' That won't happen."
Now, as for Liska.
The minister hasn't summoned me once in six months. He hasn't spoken to me directly. All of them—Liev, Pavlenko, Vladimir Kudinov (Director of the Department of State Property Management, EP)—are true virtuosos. They speak very quietly and very subtly. Everything is so clear that you can't find fault.
Liski can be called an "overseer of the ministry," or a "businessman at the ministry." Whatever you prefer.
Why would he be called a "supervisor"? How does he influence the company's operations? How does his role differ from that of Liev, for example?
– He can tell me, for example, what Liev cannot say.
– Because Liev is a civil servant?
"Advisor, civil servant—it doesn't matter. But Liski is someone who has no connection to government service. You can talk about him like you would about anyone else."
We understand that besides Artemsol, there are other companies there, too. The same Agrarian Fund, the same Ukrspirt. Someone supplies something somewhere, someone sells something else. They bring in and take out licenses, nuts, honey. Someone has to oversee this. We need to find the right people – a commercial manager, a general manager.
Igor Liski, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Effective Investments
"I have no complaints against Fomenko. The only thing is that I had a personal conflict with him. I tried to buy salt from him for export – he told me all sorts of things. And when he was removed, he decided it was because of me."
"How can I influence anyone if I'm not a member of parliament, not part of the parliamentary majority, not a friend of the president, and I didn't serve with him? How can I? I have no leverage over either Pavlenok or Liev."
"I don't own a single agricultural enterprise. I can talk about my vision, but I can't give anyone any... Moreover, I can't influence anyone or invite anyone. I couldn't even imagine myself like this.".
How are decisions made in the ministry, and what is the role of the people you mentioned specifically in Artemsol's work? How have you interacted with them?
"I've only had one meeting with the minister in my entire career. If I'm not mistaken, it was on December 15, 2014. I went to the ministry myself and then talked to the guys. I explained to them what I'd been doing when I arrived, and they understood I was a nobody, not a member of any party, group, or clan."
– What questions did the minister ask you?
"He asked, 'Are you familiar with the situation at Artemsol?' 'I know.' 'Where did you work? What was your education?' It was a typical interview. Then he said, 'Keep talking to the guys, and if they say you're okay, you'll keep working there.'
- How did it happen?
"You won't believe it, it was in a cafe. We were just sitting at a small table together. They quickly figured out the situation—I'm young, I have nowhere to go, and I'm acting—they hung me up and made me the CEO."
They say, "Do you know what task number one is? Fire the general director who holds the contract—Stepanenko." The minister says, "Do you understand that he's facing a criminal case for separatism? Do you agree that he should be fired?" "Yes." "Shall we do it?" "We will." "Let's go."
– When did the “schemes” described by Radio Liberty journalists appear?
"There are dealers in every region. These dealers never had a direct contract with us. Even they worked with intermediaries. I came in, crossed out all this 'happiness,' and gave these dealers contracts with the factory. Utility companies and regional road authorities signed contracts directly—22 regional road authorities signed contracts directly. That's all."
Now, where's the corruption? You understand that Artemsol won't deliver salt to every kiosk. There are 22 countries around the world. We're talking about Ukraine. Artemsol is a large-scale wholesaler; it's a manufacturer. We still need dealers – in stores.
– Were these Klyuev dealers?
"Some of them have been in business for 10 years, some for 15, some for two, some for three. What's the supervisors' job? To wipe out one of the dealers and install their own, or buy them out, or become a founding member—in other words, somehow bring them under their control."
You've heard of the company "Constanza," which is featured in the investigation, right? They took the bulk of the dealers' inventory, roughly speaking, and gave it all to them. What did the guys want? Why exactly did they fire me?
I will give you four such blatant examples.
The first scheme was a deposit at Radical Bank. They tried to persuade me to switch to this bank. There's nothing criminal about it, really; I have the right to choose. But, forgive me, I'm a sane person. I'm responsible for a company that employs 3 people. It's the city's mainstay. There are people here who would cut me to shreds. I couldn't say no. I said, "Well, we'll look into it."
– What amounts are we talking about?
"Artemsol's annual turnover is up to 1,5 billion hryvnias. That's 100-120 million hryvnias a month. I have a finance department, I have a decent CFO. I come from Kyiv and say, 'Tetiana Alexandrovna, can you imagine?' She says, 'Denis, this is a disaster.' What are we going to do about it? We're starting to go in circles."
We never deposited any money into Radical Bank, but my colleagues from other companies, like the Agrarian Fund PJSC or the Seed Fund of Ukraine SE, did. I asked them, "Guys, why?" They said, "We couldn't do otherwise..."
As EP previously reported, Radical Bank was declared insolvent. PJSC Agrarian Fund has approximately 330 million hryvnias stuck in the bank.
– How do they put pressure on you? What is the mechanism?
"Hello, Denis? There's a guy on the line for you, the head of one of the banks." The guy calls: "Hello, my name is Andrey, I'm from Radikal Bank, I'd like to talk to you." I start talking to him, even though I already know I don't need him. How long will it take to review the documents? A week or two. I ignore him.
He tells them I don't want to work. He's being prevaricating, making excuses—I'm either leaving or not back yet. So, a minus. Next option.
– So, there is no direct order from the ministry?
"Yes, no letter, nothing. Let's move on—the second scheme. An LLC is created, any kind. A contract is signed with this LLC for the sale of salt, our product, in Ukraine. A two-month grace period is granted."
"Artemsol" ships, and then the LLC goes bankrupt and doesn't pay anything. Who knows that the LLC went bankrupt? Should I go and report it if I signed it? I won't. I'll be the first one to get sued.
I was offered the same approach to setting up an LLC. They called me again: "A man named Sergey will come to see you." Sergey arrives, brings a package of documents, the charter, and says, "Here." I ask, "What is this?" "It's a company." "Which one?" "It will be selling salt." I ask, "Why?" I already understand, so I ask, "Where is your office, where is your warehouse, what is your working capital?" I start to get smart. He leaves, and then the phone rings again: "How is that possible?"
The third scheme is through the same LLC. We work with 22 countries. So, while they used to go directly to Georgia, now they want to go through an LLC. Why? The 20% VAT is refunded to this "shell" company. It seems legal, but it's possible without it.
The fourth episode is the biggest act of corruption that has taken place.
Let's take the 22 countries where we supply salt. On January 26, 2015, they took over the Russian market. There's still industrial salt left, but there's no profit from it. They took 40% of our supply from here. We can't supply to the occupied regions—another 20% loss.
Europe doesn't eat our salt. Europe practically doesn't have a winter—they don't salt their roads. Romania, Georgia, Turkey—they all have their own producers. Nevertheless, we used to sell more to Georgia, for example.
Why aren't we selling anymore? The railway tariff doubled, and a bunch of shell companies popped up. Then someone comes to Georgia and says, "Want to work with Artemsol? $15 a ton, and let's go."
And his friend says, "Your prices have already gone up, the railway tariff has doubled, and you're still telling me $15 per ton. What about the dollar exchange rate?" And his price becomes unbearable. It's easier for him to buy Iranian salt, Turkish salt, or any other kind, because Artemsol is unprofitable.
After some time, it turns out that Romania, Hungary and Georgia are already taking half as much salt.
NABU arrives, looks at documents and contracts. Apparently, all the dealers are the same, no one new. How can we prove the existence of the "scheme"? Record the extortion? It won't help.
I went to Governor Zhebrivsky about this twice.
- And what about him?
"He smokes. I say, 'Pavel Ivanovich, this is the situation, these are the people. Let's do something.' He sits there without a trace of sadness and says, 'Denis, well, you're still not going to make it. I actually want to put my own man there.' And I formally write a letter to the minister recommending such a person. I say, 'Pavel Ivanovich, you won't succeed. Because it's a completely different story there.'"
- How did you get fired?
– Liev calls me one day. “Denis, hi. Where are you now?” “Oh, at Ukrzaliznytsia.” “Will you stop by?” “Yes.” I stop by. I see: they’ll fire Fomenko and appoint Zhuravlev (Andrey Zhuravlev, acting director of Artemsol from June 2015 to October 26, 2015 – UP).
"What?" I ask. "The minister's decision. He's a normal guy, here's his phone number, go and talk to him."
I drive from Kyiv to Kryvyi Rih in my car, pick up Zhuravlev, arrive at Artemsol, and introduce him to the team. This requires two days – to tour and introduce him to all the factories.
Literally on the second day, the man starts avoiding me. I say, "I'm tired of working; I haven't been on vacation yet. I'm going on vacation." He signs me off on vacation, and the next day the guys call me and say, "They've called my entire team and told us to submit severance pay. They say, 'Sign all your severance pay or you'll all be facing criminal charges.'"
I call him: "Andrey Yuryevich, what the hell is this?" "Such an order." "From whom?" "From the ministry."
We refuse to issue dismissal orders. What are they doing? They're changing the company's organizational structure and thus laying off everyone. You can't just fire someone; you can only notify them of changes to the staffing structure, the company's organizational structure, and this must be approved by the ministry.
– Did you start calling Liev, Liski, and Kudinov after that?
"Yes. They avoided specifics until I happened to run into Liev—across from the ministry. I saw Liev heading out to lunch. I said, 'Sasha, hello, can I talk to you?' 'Yes, please, there's a cafe.'"
I say, "Sasha, what happened? Why is this? We were working normally, meeting all our targets. Arseniy Petrovich sicced the Control and Audit Office on us, 140 audit reports—and not a single one of them mentions the name 'Fomenko.' He sits there and says, 'You understand, everything's fine. But your financial activities are of no interest.' "Who?" "Us. We tried to communicate, but you don't understand the situation." "So what?" "The minister decided to hand over Artemsol to the BPP deputies."
Alexander Liev, Advisor to the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food
"I could never, and would never, discuss any financial matters with Fomenko. The fact is that he tried to cling on and wasn't happy about being asked to leave his post. But he was, in fact, at the company as a bystander."
He previously managed a car wash in Artemovsk and was the administrative director of Artemsol under the previous director. We weren't interested in him financially or otherwise, and no one else is.
No one from the BPP ever spoke to me about Artemsol. As for Fomenok's dismissal, there were plenty of reasons.
We don't have any quotas. Pavlenko hasn't allowed a single quota principle. There are no quotas for deputy ministers, departments, or state-owned enterprises. I've never even seen any BPP deputies at a ministerial reception."
"Liski and I are friends. He heads the Aspen Ukraine Coordinating Council, and that's where both Oleksiy Mykhailovych and I met him. The minister may meet with Liski a maximum of five or six times a year, but I emphasize again that this has no bearing on our work activities."
- And he names names?
"He's naming names. Tretyakova (Aleksandr Tretyakova, a member of the BPP, EP), Nedava (Oleg Nedava, BPP, EP), and some Valera, who I later realized was Ishchenko (former Udar member Valeriy Ishchenko, a friend of Artur Palatny, EP). "What do you mean, 'given away?'" "Well, you see the confusion in the country, you understand that the minister is from Samopomich, so we'll give him future preferences and support in the next Cabinet of Ministers..."
That is, they already understood this in the summer. "So, Sasha, what does this have to do with me?" He says, "You have nothing to do with it. I'm not against it, go negotiate with them and work. I'm not against it." And that's it. Then I tried to contact Samopomich—Ivan Miroshnichenko, Oleh Berezyuk, because the minister was appointed under their quota. I communicated with them through aides. They said, "We'll figure it out, we'll see, whatever." Eventually, I reached out to NABU.
Oleksandr Tretyakov, People's Deputy of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc
"Probably because I have a long-standing relationship with the president. And now it's fashionable to target everything around the president. I have no connection to Artemsol's management or sales.
You can check: the only company I've ever been indirectly involved with is ATEK-95 (formerly one of the largest oil traders, EP). There's no other company affiliated with me in any way. I've never even dealt in salt."
– Did you speak with Miroshnichenko personally?
"No. He didn't want to. But it's a small world. People who communicate with Miroshnichenko gave me his phone number in case he called me."
I was told he'd been informed of possible corruption at Artemsol and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. But at the time, in November 2015, he didn't believe it. These same people told me to go to NABU and file a complaint.
Then they called me in: “Well, tell me, where is the corruption?” I said: “I haven’t been at the company for six months. I don’t know.”
Basically, all the corruption that occurs in an enterprise is in people’s heads, in global processes, and not on paper and in signatures.
– Are you familiar with the current director, Vladimir Dolya?
"I spoke with Dolya; we're acquainted. I asked, 'Can I come back? They treated me unfairly, after all.' But he said the 'comrades' wouldn't approve me. Honestly, I never got to the minister; I didn't see what he was doing, where he was, or why. I never got an answer to why I was fired."
– Why was Andrey Zhuravlev, who replaced you, replaced by Dolya so quickly?
"My guess is that over the course of four months (June-September), Artemsol collapsed so dramatically that the minister apparently decided to make a show of reforms and fired Zhuravlev. Two competitions were underway during that time. In the first competition, they told me, 'Don't participate, or we'll put you in jail.'" This was Liev's recommendation.
It turns out that on June 10, 2015, the SBU opened a case against Artemsol officials for financing separatism. Literally on the eve of my dismissal. They basically put me on hold. They said, "If you participate in the competition, we'll put you in jail." But I declined the competition. And I did participate in the second competition. To this day, no one has summoned me to the SBU for questioning regarding the case.
Vladimir Dolya, Director of the State Enterprise "Artemsol"
“The persons indicated in your request (Igor Liski, Alexander Liev, Oleg Nedava, Alexander Tretyakov, Valery Ishchenko, EP) were not and are not part of my circle of contacts, I have not received any recommendations from them regarding the work of the State Enterprise Artemsol.
On issues that arise in the company's operations, I communicate with the directors of the departments of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, most often with the director of the department of state property management (Vladimir Kudinov, who served as Alexei Pavlenko's advisor at the beginning of his ministerial career, EP).
"The NABU is currently conducting an investigation into the activities of the Artemsol State Enterprise in 2014-2015, which will provide answers to questions about abuses at the enterprise."
– You didn’t understand that you really couldn’t win anymore?
– Honestly, I understood. Just for show. But the competition didn't take place.
Did they tell you what happened at the company after you left? How did this company, Costanza, mentioned in the Radio Liberty investigation, come into being?
"They told me, and I still keep in touch with some of them. Maybe they're trying to reach Kyiv through me."
Essentially, Costanza is the same company they wanted to start when I was there. But that name never came up in my presence. I brought the packages of documents they gave me in Kyiv to my desk and didn't even look at them. I immediately understood what they were.
Who do you think the minister was working for in this situation? Samopomich, perhaps Miroshnichenko, or was it the personal initiative of these overseers?
"I don't know which came first—the chicken or the egg. First, they thought badly of the minister, I mean Samopomich, and then he screwed up, or vice versa. But I know for sure that they found out about Artemsol, about the corruption within. They weren't happy with him associating with BPP deputies. They began to suspect he was trying to defect to another party. That's probably what led to his resignation."
- So, he acted on his own?
"I think so. Then he became an independent player. And now he's trying to do it on his own. You can see that they've started to bond over common interests. Then they all suddenly left, then they all came back."
– What does NABU tell you?
"We last visited Sytnyk's deputy. He offered to tell me where exactly the firms were. I told them, 'Guys, you earn 40 hryvnias a month, and you want to crack the Artemsol case in this office, right there on the spot? That's not going to happen. You need to go there. Live there for a month, two, three, look at documents, talk to people, staff, city residents, activists, leftists, rightists, and the disgruntled. And then you'll understand what it's all about.' Why do I think that? Because everyone can verify that my tenure was successful, and my tenure has been verified by the Donetsk Oblast Control and Audit Office."
– Was Shvaika also involved in some schemes at Artemsol?
"Under Shvaika, I worked as commercial director for three months and executive director for three months. I don't know the relationship between Shvaika and Stepanenko, I don't know who negotiated with whom and how."
When Artemovsk was liberated, the railway lines were bombed, and Artemsol was idle for three weeks. Klitschko called me then and said that Kyiv couldn't live without salt. We were holding a press conference with Shvaika; we needed to reassure the people that the plant would soon be up and running. It was purely a matter of business communication.
– You're naming the names of deputies. Aren't you afraid of lawsuits from them?
- Claims about what Liev told me, what he named those names?
- Liev will say that he sees you for the first time.
"Liev can say whatever he wants. You know, then corruption basically doesn't exist here; it's all made up. Then, with us, everything is legal and transparent. I haven't met these deputies, I can't even imagine what they look like. If I met with Liev, then I know where and when, and I know what he told me. And I'm ready to stand by my words."
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!