The holiday season is just around the corner, but instead of actively preparing for the 2016 summer season, Ukraine's largest resort, Zatoka, is struggling with a plague from the 1990s. And it's becoming increasingly clear that modern European conditions and archaic business practices such as racketeering, extortion, and criminal schemes cannot coexist in the same territory. The question is, who will prevail?
How the embankment divided the past and future of Zatoka
In 2014, the development company "Privilege," led by CEO Alexander Pogorely, who brought in Estonian investor Marcel Vihman, presented a resort improvement project: the creation of Europe's longest promenade, a modern water park, and the development of tourist infrastructure. This project was well received by both the village council and the public.
In March 2015, a village council session granted permission to develop a land allocation plan for three plots in three districts of Zatoka. Detailed project development then began. The contractor was Litus Maris LLC, representing the investor. The project included not only the construction of the embankment, but primarily the improvement of the entire resort. During the process, the investor's representatives had to collaborate with local authorities, specifically with the village mayor, Vasily Zvyagintsev, currently in pretrial detention, and Bohdan Shevchuk, head of the main land commission and currently on the run. Shevchuk foisted "his" land surveyor, Viktor Ishchenko, on the investor company. Thus, Shevchuk and his accomplices already gained influence over the project at this stage, which they subsequently took advantage of. Incidentally, it was through Ishchenko that the criminal group's land fraud schemes were and continue to be conducted.
Meanwhile, the first kilometer of the embankment was built, the area was landscaped, beach cleanups were carried out, a lifeguard tower system was installed for the first time at the resort, and garbage was removed promptly. Tourists were provided with the most comfortable conditions possible: an animation team was on hand, concerts featuring Ukrainian show business stars were held, and large-scale music and sports festivals were held. Zatoka began to acquire an attractive tourist image, and in 2015, a record number of vacationers arrived at the resort. Mikheil Saakashvili, the Estonian ambassador, and investor Marcel Vihman personally attended the embankment opening. The 2015 summer season was more than successful for Zatoka.
Preparing for a hostile takeover
Two days before the elections, on October 23, 2015, the village council session voted to sign an agreement with Litus Maris LLC for the construction of the embankment and obliged the village head, Zvyagintsev, to sign the agreement by December 31 of that year.
From this moment on, the active phase of criminal activity in opposing the signing of the agreement begins.
On the same day, Shevchuk, having access to all documents as head of the land commission, faked the theft of documents related to the embankment. A draft resolution and the meeting minutes disappeared from the village council. Subsequently, land surveyor Ishchenko faked the theft of documents related to the embankment, which he had in his possession. It's worth noting that this same Viktor Ishchenko was detained by law enforcement on October 27. During a search, blank sheets of paper with a "wet" seal of the village council were found on him, further proving the criminal activity of this group.
Village mayor Zvyagintsev, under the influence of a criminal group consisting of Donkoglov, Shevchuk, Bokiy, and Mikhalev, has been avoiding signing the embankment agreement with Litus Maris representatives. The process is dragging on.
And the further it went, the more typical the organized crime group's actions became. Bohdan Shevchuk directly contacted the investor's representative and offered to "resolve issues" with him, as the "current government," threatening to "act at his own discretion" regarding the embankment. The investor's representative was forced to urgently fly to Odessa, and on December 21st, a meeting with Zvyagintsev took place. At this meeting, the investor's representatives learned for the first time that all documents related to the embankment had been stolen on October 23rd.
In addition to the theft of documents, Zvyagintsev refused to sign the agreement due to third-party lawsuits, prohibiting the village council from signing a lease agreement with the investor for the embankment land. What's more, at the meeting on December 21.12, Zvyagintsev stated that lawsuits had been filed, although at that time, only one lawsuit had been filed. Therefore, to have known about future lawsuits, Zvyagintsev must have been aware of them. This further proves the criminal intent behind his actions.
More about the lawsuits
All three lawsuits were filed on trumped-up grounds by completely unrelated individuals, such as the organizations Khmelnitsk-Trans and Zelene Gospodarstvo, claiming that the embankment's construction was interfering with their activities. The second lawsuit was filed by a group of individuals, including Ms. N.S. Baranova, registered at 18/1 Primorskaya Street in Odessa, in the "Shokolad" café, owned, oddly enough, by Bohdan Shevchuk, and N.O. Zvyagintseva (the same name or a relative of the village mayor, Zvyagintsev)—interesting coincidences, aren't they?
The third lawsuit was filed by a certain O.V. Lavrentyev. Incidentally, this same Mr. Lavrentyev is now attempting to seize the Zori Tiraspol base using the same scheme that already hijacked the Lvov, Topaz, and Geolog bases. This clearly demonstrates a criminal conspiracy to prevent the conclusion of the contract and further construction of the embankment. Incidentally, the village council representatives failed to appear at any court hearing on these matters, and the judges issued unlawful rulings in advance, which, incidentally, they later overturned, realizing their illegality.
Court: Foreign Investment vs. Local Fraud
Following all the actions of the criminal group "Litus Maris," he filed a lawsuit in the commercial court to compel the Zatoka Village Council to sign a land lease agreement for the embankment. Now, representatives of the village council are trying in every way to buy time and delay the proceedings. To this end, the village council's lawyer, Kolomiets, stated at the court hearing that the village council's decisions were forged, that the meeting never took place, and that she doesn't know which documents were stolen. However, all these accusations are personally refuted by Zvyagintsev, who stated at a meeting on December 21, 2015, that the village council's decisions exist, that he personally signed them, and that they were simply... stolen.
An interesting fact. There's an extract from the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URDR) about the theft of documents, according to which the documents were stolen between September 14th and October 22nd (scanned copies of the documents). But the session made its decisions on October 23rd. This means the documents were stolen before they were adopted at the session. You'll agree, even for a science fiction film, this is too much. It's clear that this entire theft case is completely fabricated.
Currently, the investor, Litus Maris, has won the court hearing in the Odessa Regional Commercial Court, but the village council, as expected, filed an appeal, further delaying the proceedings. On April 13, the Commercial Court of Appeals held a hearing on this case, and, completely unexpectedly, the court decided to suspend proceedings. This decision plays into the hands of those who are trying their best to prevent the investor from developing Zatoka.
What is the goal of the organized crime group?
By deliberately delaying the process to block further construction and operation of the embankment, the organized crime group members are trying to do everything they can to discourage the investor from pursuing the project. They will then, using the old scheme, seize the embankment and the land beneath it, divide it up, and sell it to private owners, as was the case with the 66 UkrStroyInvest plots, for which Zvyagintsev and Tsarenko are under arrest, and Shevchuk is in hiding, as well as with many other recreation centers.
Final World
Thus, the activities of the criminal group consisting of Donkoglov, Shevchuk, Bokiy, and Mikhalev threaten not only the investor but also the tourist appeal of Zatoka, as well as the development and well-being of the resort. Criminal cases have been initiated against these individuals through legal efforts, which are under the personal supervision of the regional prosecutor, and we hope they will be brought to trial.
The investor does not intend to give up and will defend his legal rights in court. The judicial system, in turn, is simply obligated to resolve this dispute and have a decisive say in it; otherwise, a negative outcome could result in the loss of millions of dollars in investment that the Ukrainian economy could receive. At stake here is not just the Estonian investor's issue, but the opportunity and security of all European investors to operate and develop our country. The outcome of this process will determine the entire investment climate in Ukraine.
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