All the current government's statements regarding the fight against corruption, crime, the lustration law, and so on are merely a smokescreen to cover up the same criminal schemes that have been in place for the past 23 years of Ukraine's independence. Nothing has changed.
Recently, media reports surfaced about the return to Ukraine of Kurchenko, the "Family's wallet." His return is explained simply: he "made a deal." It appears the raider brothers made a deal as well.
We should start with an article written back in 2010. It covers only a small portion of the "service record" of brothers Dmitry and Leonid Kryuchkov—https://vybory.org/articles/1562.html. It's worth studying to understand the "breed" of people we're talking about.
So, let's begin. Having successfully implemented his methods of "entering and squeezing" construction companies (JSC "Rivne NPP Construction Management," JSC "Khmelnytsky NPP Construction Management," etc.), pulling off a series of real estate scams, and bankrupting several banks, the younger Kryuchkov (Leonid) emerges (and I mean emerges, because with such a biography, you can only emerge) as Deputy General Director of the State-Owned Company Ukrspetsexport.
For reference: Ukrspetsexport State Corporation is the largest authorized exporter and importer of military and special-purpose goods. In the current state of our country, the only thing missing is bandits and swindlers in leadership positions at strategic enterprises to bring about the final collapse of the domestic defense industry. Apparently, the "great schemer" L. Kryuchkov simply wanted to try his hand at something new. Although, "swindling" defense agencies is nothing new for the brothers. Excerpt from the article https://vybory.org/articles/1562.html:
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2000–2002 – Dmitry Kryuchkov He works as an assistant consultant to the administrative staff of the State Enterprise Scientific and Production Association Lybid. The Scientific and Production Association Lybid is a state-owned enterprise that operates the State Agency for the Management of State Material Reserves (i.e., the State Reserve). As a result of Kryuchkov's work, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine opened a criminal case against several officials of the State Reserve and Lybid for abuse of office.
It was through these embezzlements of state funds that the Kryuchkovs earned their first money in 2002 – 40 million UAH. "According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in March 2005, the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened criminal case No. 24-222 for the appropriation of someone else's property on an especially large scale through abuse of office and official forgery of documents by officials of the State Reserve Committee, the Ukrresursy company, and the Industrial and Financial Association Inter-Energo. As a result of their actions, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine suffered damages in the amount of approximately 40 million hryvnias. According to the investigation, in 2002, by order of the Verkhovna Rada, the State Reserve Committee loaned 24,000 tons of aviation fuel to the defense department. However, the ministry failed to pay, and the State Reserve Committee transferred the rights to demand payment of the debt to the Ukrresursy company, which then illegally transferred them to Inter-Energo CJSC. The joint-stock company, through the court, recovered compensation for the fuel from the Ministry of Defense in the amount of 36,8 million UAH, after which it disappeared along with the money, which was never returned to either the State Reserve Committee or the budget.
In this regard, a case was opened on July 5th against Inter-Energo Chairman Dmitry Kryuchkov, who at the time held the position of Deputy Chairman of the State Administration in the Rivne Oblast, and closed on July 20th. However, on July 22nd, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a case against Mykola Pesotsky, the former Chairman of the State Reserve Committee (dismissed in February of this year). Apparently, Kryuchkov "turned in" Pesotsky, portraying himself as the victim of a cunning, high-ranking schemer. Pesotsky and Kryuchkov were summoned to the Prosecutor General's Office on September 6th. At the Prosecutor General's Office, Kryuchkov was questioned as a witness, and Pesotsky was charged and detained. The case against Pesotsky was opened under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power or official position), which carries a penalty of imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years. With confiscation.
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Naturally, if you have certain officials and people in uniform in your corner, the chances of getting caught are reduced to practically zero.
However, Leonid Kryuchkov only lasted two weeks as Deputy General Director of Ukrspetsexport State Corporation. Apparently, he found the title of "deputy" humiliating, and he wanted to be in charge of something. And so it happened.
Having chosen one of the subsidiaries of the same Ukrspetsexport Group of Companies—the State Self-Accounting Foreign Trade and Investment Firm Ukrinmash—he "self-appoints" himself to the position of deputy director. Why "self-appoint"? Because such a trivial matter as the absence of a vacancy for deputy director on the company's staffing table doesn't bother L. Kryuchkov at all. In order not to waste time, L. Kryuchkov, without any legal basis, breaks into the director's office, who was on sick leave at the time, and "proclaims" himself acting director. Although the duties during the sick leave were assigned to someone else entirely, this wasn't enough for L. Kryuchkov to assert himself. To satisfy his ambitions, L. Kryuchkov prepares a new staffing table, replacing the position of "Director" with that of "General Director." L. Kryuchkov, feeling completely free and free from any objections from the management of the State Concern Ukroboronprom (the Concern, represented by its director, is the governing body of the State Concern Ukrinmash), continues to implement his ideas regarding the "restructuring of the State Concern Ukrinmash." As stated earlier, L. Kryuchkov has little interest in formalities, and, already feeling like the "General Director," he begins appointing individuals no less odious than himself, without any authority, to positions that de jure do not exist. Basically, it's all according to the Kryuchkov brothers' "textbook" - "How to Squeeze a Business." Only this time, they chose a particularly specific "business." More on that later.
The lack of attention paid by the leadership of the State Concern Ukroboronprom to the biography and blatantly illegal corporate raiding actions of L. Kryuchkov suggests that the leadership either encourages and supports such actions, or is under pressure from L. Kryuchkov's "patrons" from outside and turns a blind eye. It's hard to believe that someone holding such a high and responsible position as General Director of the State Concern Ukroboronprom, entrusted to him by the President of Ukraine, is thus pushing outright criminals and fraudsters into leadership positions at strategic defense industry enterprises. But it's also hard to believe that the head of the concern could succumb to any pressure from L. Kryuchkov's accomplices, given that the General Director of the State Concern Ukroboronprom reports directly to the President of Ukraine.
So what merits does a man with a long-standing reputation as a swindler and raider achieve in entering the military-technical sphere at a time when the country, more than ever, needs professional management, especially in matters of defense? People died on the Maidan and continue to die today, defending Ukraine's sovereignty, while criminal elements like the Kryuchkov brothers, who should only be of interest to the "competent authorities" for their past, continue to enjoy complete impunity and continue to commit open lawlessness.
Guy Fawkes, especially for ORD
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