The scandalous First Deputy Prosecutor General, Mykola Gerasimyuk, is demonstratively "squeezing out" enterprises under the nose of President Petro Poroshenko.
Nikolai Gerasimyuk
Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema recently stated that the system had purge all corrupt officials and those involved in political repression within the first days of his appointment. However, as practice shows, even after the law on the cleansing of power came into effect, Mr. Yarema has deliberately increased the presence of such people in his own circle. A striking example is the scandalous First Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Herasymyuk. In the nine months since the end of the Revolution of Dignity, this Yanukovych-era official not only returned to the system but also rapidly advanced through the ranks.
From Vinnitsa region, obviously
Mykola Herasymyuk has held his current position since June 24, 2014. Prior to that, since March 25, he served as Kyiv city prosecutor, and during Viktor Yanukovych's tenure, he was deputy head of the State Executive Service. Mykola Herasymyuk, who served as deputy head of the State Executive Service last year, earned 180 hryvnias in 2014, including 137 hryvnias in salary (11,4 hryvnias per month). Herasymyuk owns a 149-square-meter apartment and a 20-square-meter garage. He drives a BMW X5, which he bought for an unknown amount of money given his salary. He currently oversees high-profile criminal investigations within the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) into former ministers and former Ukrainian leaders.
He became known to the general public thanks to the spring protests by Right Sector and Self-Defense representatives against the appointment of a "regional-family" figure to the capital's prosecutor's office. According to Maidan activists, it was he who fabricated and implemented decrees banning gatherings in the country's central square and generated cases against participants in the standoff on Hrushevsky Street. Radical members of the public descended on the capital's prosecutor's office and attempted to break down the doors. Then, Acting Prosecutor General Makhnitsky temporarily (ostensibly for an investigation) suspended several of Herasymyuk's subordinates from their positions, but not Herasymyuk himself. Furthermore, he had no connection to the falsification of criminal cases against Maidan activists, as he was not working in the prosecutor's office during the events. The demands vanished into oblivion, and within a few months, Mykola Volodymyrovych had already taken up a comfortable position on Reznitskaya Street.
Levochkin's next project?
Sources in the upper echelons of the Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) clearly hint that Vitaliy Yarema, a native of Haisyn in the Vinnytsia region, had virtually no influence on the appointment of Herasymyuk. The initiative allegedly came directly from President Petro Poroshenko. According to another version, previously reported by several media outlets, Mykola Herasymyuk represents the interests of, if not members of Viktor Yanukovych's "family," then at least the supposed "Boyko-Firtash-Levochkin" group within the law enforcement hierarchy. A third, less plausible version suggests that Herasymyuk may owe his position to a group of mid-level "investors" who periodically resolve their problems through structures headed at one time or another by our hero.
Nikolai Vladimirovich's deeds speak louder for his "pedigree." One of the most recent major scandals is the accusation against Gerasimyuk and his (according to media reports) "business partner," the current Kyiv prosecutor, Serhiy Yuldashev (a protégé of Vitaliy Belous, longtime deputy prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka), of a hostile takeover of one of the largest agricultural holdings, Agrain. Documents on this matter were published in late October. The price tag was $30 million and 130 hectares of land. The pretext for the hostile takeover was a criminal case on charges of encroachment on territorial integrity. Unfortunately, in Ukraine today, this pretext, like the accusations of financing separatists, is aimed solely at eliminating business competitors rather than promoting national unity. It was proposed to "resolve the issue" through Volodymyr Pekhov, now a former member of parliament from the Zhytomyr region (he lost a single-mandate constituency). Legal support for the "project" is provided by the company "Konnov and Sozanovsky", which was once very close to Sergei Levochkin, mentioned at the beginning of the text.
Divide and Conquer
As part of his work at the Prosecutor General's Office, Gerasimyuk assumed general oversight and represented the state's interests in court, including those related to the tragic events on the Maidan in December and February. Furthermore, according to some sources, the First Deputy Prosecutor General's powers have significantly expanded compared to what they were previously. The main goal of this change is to channel all financial flows from/for abuses of prosecutorial power into a single person, who would, in turn, be trusted by the Prosecutor General himself and who would be able to systematize these flows.
Another stain on Gerasimyuk's biography is the monopolization of the market for services involving the sale and appraisal of seized property. Until late November 2013, when revolution was already brewing in the country, Ukraine had a competitive, albeit opaque, market for the sale of seized property. The State Enforcement Service undoubtedly played the leading role.
Mykola Gerasimyuk, as deputy head of this service, was supposed to sign documents in the absence of the head. As with any agency, this situation was artificially created when something dubious had to be signed. An example of this is GISU Order No. 113/2 of November 28, 2013, according to which the private enterprise "Specialized Enterprise "Justice" and Ukrspetstorg Group LLC were excluded from the list of specialized trading organizations with which state enforcement agencies may enter into contracts for the sale of seized property. The signature on the document is Gerasimyuk's. He also conducted the "examination." Only private enterprise "Nyva V.Sh." remains on the market, and some media outlets attribute its ownership to MP Volodymyr Prodivus.
This trio hadn't previously been known for gaining access to anyone else's confiscated gold mine. Now, Niva V.Sh. could set exorbitant prices and coax information about competitors from insiders.
Nikolai Gerasimyuk, it turns out, pulled a similar tactic with the market for appraising seized property. Its "flagship" company, Markon LLC, became the sole appraiser of the assets sold. The schemes couldn't be dismantled until April or May. Then their author was appointed to high-ranking positions in the prosecutor's office, which is precisely the office tasked with investigating such high-profile crimes. Essentially, a rather effective system for extracting "excess" money from the confiscated property market and channeling it in the desired direction was developed to serve the "family's" interests. After all, only companies close to the government also participated in the auctions organized by Niva.
With a machine gun at the ready
Among Nikolai Vladimirovich's other, more minor "sins" is his direct calls for police to shoot to kill in the event of a massive, direct threat to their lives. "There's no time for reflection or sentimentality. If the law 'On the Police' provides for the right to use weapons and special equipment, the police must use them without hesitation. This is the position of both the acting Prosecutor General and myself," the press service of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office quoted him as saying at the time. It's not hard to guess why this had to be said, and what Gerasimyuk's true goals are. Dreams of controlling the entire power vertical, especially in a climate of legal and political chaos, are the ideal income model for an official of his rank. The fact that he tries every possible way to circumvent his lustration prospects does nothing to improve his public standing.
Moreover, it's possible that Gerasimyuk came up with the brilliant idea to hold a closed-door meeting of the GPU board in Kramatorsk. The idea was that for just one day in the city, people could obtain ATO participant ID cards. Such ID cards are exempt from lustration.
The fact that prosecutors fear lustration almost as much as judges is confirmed by a document currently circulating online. It's a long list of all the prosecutors who should be targeted. But they weren't. Gerasimyuk is still in the lead. For how long?
Igor Lisovoy
The material was submitted to the SEND A SKELETON section.
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