Oleg Bakhmatyuk: The Billionaire From an Egg. Part 1
The sharp rise in chicken and egg prices in 2017, which further devastated the living standards of low-income Ukrainians, was artificially provoked—that was the conclusion of an investigation by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. And behind this were agro-industrial monopolists, among whom Oleh Bakhmatyuk stands out. But why, after the publication of these findings, did the AMCU impose no sanctions against the "chicken oligarch" and then completely stop mentioning him? Isn't it because the Committee is a structure controlled by Bankova, under whose roof Bakhmatyuk once again found protection and patronage? Just as he found it there under both Yanukovych and Yushchenko...
Oleg Bakhmatyuk. Early life, first "money scam"
Those who have encountered Oleh Bakhmatyuk, so to speak, firsthand, note one important characteristic of his character. When he was pursuing his goal (and his goal is always profit), he simply ignored the cries and outrage of those he was crushing, cheating, fleecing, and literally drowning in the filth of his poultry farms. Only when these cries became so loud that they forced the authorities to react did Bakhmatyuk open his mouth and... complain about vile competitors and the government's pressure on "freedom of business." They say this is precisely what helped him become one of the richest men in Ukraine. Well, "chutzpah" is an invariable quality of many Ukrainian oligarchs! However, our hero owed the beginning of his career as a "successful businessman" far more to family ties.
Oleg Romanovich Bakhmatyuk was born on August 14, 1974, in Ivano-Frankivsk, to a family of ordinary Soviet engineers who worked at a foundry. But a simple life was unacceptable to him, especially since Oleg grew up during the commercial boom of the late 80s and early 90s. What he did during those years remains a personal secret. Skelet.Org All that is known is that he didn't join the army, following in the footsteps of his engineer parents. However, in 1992, he found himself in Chernivtsi, where he enrolled in the Ukrainian Free Institute of Management and Business (now the West Ukrainian University of Economics and Law), one of the first commercial universities specializing in economics. He enrolled because Oleh Bakhmatyuk had never been a student: he spent his time more productively, running a business under the wing of his relative, Valeriy Novikov, a well-known figure in Ivano-Frankivsk.
Some even called Novikov a "crime boss," but that's not true. Born in 1956 in Budapest to a military (or even KGB) family, Novikov had extensive connections and opportunities from his youth, which he capitalized on in the late 80s, starting with the joint venture "Vera i K." According to the "table of ranks" of the time, he was a "criminal merchant," or rather, a businessman involved in business with local organized crime groups. Incidentally, "Uncle Valera" is still alive today; he moved to Kyiv long ago, and together with his fellow countryman Taras Vinogradnik (chairman of the regional judo federation, former adviser to the deputy defense minister, and former head of the regional Samopomich party), he became partners. Anatoly Matvienko (former First Secretary of the Central Committee of the LKSMU). In particular, Olga Matvienko (wife of Anatoly Matvienko), Valery Novikov, and Taras Vinogradnik jointly own the firms MAODOT-I and DOSELI LIMITED. Today, Anatoly Matvienko's family (including his nephew) Sergei Berezenko) is one of Bakhmatyuk’s shadow lobbyists and patrons.
Oleg Bakhmatyuk: The Billionaire From an Egg. Part 1
In 1996, along with his first diploma, Oleh Bakhmatyuk landed a job at the KGD company, where he was placed by Valeriy Novikov. The company belonged to Ivano-Frankivsk businessman Ostap Darmograi and was involved in the regional distribution of gas received from the Itera corporation. Since not everyone could pay for gas in cash at the time, Bakhmatyuk's job was to manage the barter received and complex offsetting schemes. According to unofficial information, he also served as an "overseer" for Valeriy Novikov (and those behind him) at this company. The governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Mykhailo Vyshyvanyuk, himself provided the company's protection from the authorities.
Taras Vineyard
Relations between Bakhmatyuk and Darmograi broke down after the 2002 local elections. Darmograi was running for mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bakhmatyuk for city council. Their campaign was marred by a violation recorded by the electoral commission: having registered an election fund of only 850 hryvnias, they spent tens of thousands on campaigning. Bakhmatyuk won his mandate, while Darmograi lost the election, leading to a heated falling out. Sources Skelet.Org It was reported that Bakhmatyuk not only swindled his boss out of a substantial portion of their election "common fund," but also ran his own business behind his back, to the detriment of KGD. This is entirely plausible, as already in 2002, Bakhmatyuk opened his own firm, Prykarpatska Financial Corporation, and found a new partner in Igor Yeremeyev. Their relationship was so close that Bakhmatyuk was even referred to as Yeremeyev's manager.
Igor Eremeev
It was then that Oleh Bakhmatyuk pulled off his first major financial scam. According to media reports, thanks to his close connections with Maria Lobodina, head of Aval Bank's Ivano-Frankivsk branch, he managed to secure several large loans, ostensibly for the development of agricultural enterprises. Among them was the Avangard poultry farm, purchased by Bakhmatyuk in 2003, which became the foundation of his eponymous holding company, which now strives for a monopoly on chicken egg production. However, Bakhmatyuk had his own understanding of "development" of the poultry industry: he used the loans to acquire other poultry farms, without rushing to reconstruct them. Aval, then owned by the oligarch Alexander Derkach, who was actively investing in agribusiness (and using credit debt to stage corporate raids), enthusiastically entered into the deal, unaware that Oleg Bakhmatyuk was a far more cunning schemer. Ultimately, he never repaid the loan, and Lobodina ended up paying for it all. But then Bakhmatyuk got her a job at his own bank, Financial Initiative, which he opened in 2004—a time when Bakhmatyuk and Yeremeyev were literally raking in money, not with shovels, but with bulldozers.
How to rob a country
One of Bakhmatyuk and Yeremeyev's first joint projects involved a scheme for the fictitious export of gas condensate and similarly fictitious transfers of FC Volyn football players, through which they reimbursed themselves for fictitious VAT, thereby robbing the state of tens of millions. Moreover, sources Skelet.Org It was reported that it was Bakhmatyuk who was involved in these scams, since Yeremeyev had enough profit from his own oil business.
VAT refunds were particularly successful when Viktor Rakhmil became head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration. Bakhmatyuk returned the favor: after the "great purge" of 2005, he appointed Rakhmil as Chairman of the Board of Ivano-Frankivskgas OJSC.
Victor Rakhmil
Bakhmatyuk had previously introduced Yeremeyev to Governor Vyshyvanyuk, and the trio had come up with the brilliant idea of utilizing large budget funds through a gasification program for populated areas of Western Ukraine. Moreover, when Vyshyvanyuk was removed from the governorship after the first Maidan (he was later reappointed by Yanukovych in 2010), the resourceful Bakhmatyuk took this idea to Naftogaz, where he was hired first as head of the investment expert evaluation and corporate financing department, and then as deputy head of the corporation to Oleksiy Ivchenko—the same man whose antics started the first Ukrainian-Russian "gas war." However, behind these antics lay the gas schemes of specific individuals.
Alexey Ivchenko
Thus, in addition to the funds previously received from the regional budget for gasification, in 2005-2006 the state allocated 410 million hryvnias (over $80 million) to the partners, some of which they misappropriated and some of which they simply stole. Specifically, several gas pipelines to villages were built using money illegally collected from their residents, while the state funds simply disappeared. An investigation was initiated, and the case almost reached the Prosecutor General's Office—but it was over. This was facilitated by the political crisis of 2006-2007, during which Bakhmatyuk was dismissed from Naftogaz: everything was blamed on "revenge from the Donetsk people." However, during this time, through direct abuse of office, Oleh Bakhmatyuk also managed to privatize six western Ukrainian regional gas companies, of which he became a co-owner! In particular, CJSC Investment Company Invest-Resource owned: 14,31% of Volyngas shares; 15,008% of Zakarpattagaza shares; 10,602% of Lvivgas shares; 13,1% of Chernihivgas shares; 14,697% of Chernivtsigas shares and 12,729% of Vinnytsiagaz shares. In turn, 91,44% of Invest-Resource shares belonged to Carpathian Oil Company LLC, owned by Oleh Bakhmatyuk. He later sold the regional gas company shares at a great profit. To Dmitry Firtash.
The sale of regional gas company shares to Firtash in 2007-2008 occurred largely because Bakhmatyuk, fired from Naftogaz, fled to Russia, where he hid from Ukrainian justice for several months and needed funds to buy his way out. He was even put on the wanted list at the time, something Bakhmatyuk refuses to recall, and if reminded, he immediately explains it all away as "raids from Donetsk." Whatever the underlying motive, the case stemmed from the illegal alienation of a building in central Kyiv at 7/9 Shchorsa Street (now Yevhen Konovalets Street), which until 2004 had been on the books of the State Administration of Railway Transport. But then the FGU transferred the building to the authorized capital of Ukrtransleasing, whose chairman decided to sell it to L.I.T. Group LLC for a symbolic price. A few days later, the building was transferred to the authorized capital of the company "Modern Technologies and Investments" LLC, founded by Lyubomyr Shershun, Oleg Bakhmatyuk's chief legal officer. That's how things work!
Bakhmatyuk quickly opened the headquarters of Finance and Credit Bank in the building, along with several of his own companies. Luxury apartments appeared for sale in the building. There were two attempts to reclaim the building from the state. First, in 2007, which forced the oligarch to flee the country. However, after the "pro-Ukrainian government" returned to Kyiv, Bakhmatyuk returned as well, the case was closed, and the building remains his property. Then there was a timid attempt by the Prosecutor General's Office in 2012, but Bakhmatyuk didn't even bother waxing his skis. Instead, he hid behind the back of the "united opposition" leader, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and once again loudly shouted about "raider attacks by the Donetsk guys." He also found his way into Viktor Yanukovych's office (where "Sasha the Stomatolog" and "Yura Yenakiyevsky" were also sitting) and managed to negotiate a mutually beneficial truce with them. And, lo and behold, it was from that moment that Bakhmatyuk made a breakthrough in his agro-chicken business!
Moreover, between 2010 and 2014, Bakhmatyuk's enterprises, Ivano-Frankivsk Meat Processing Plant, Ivano-Frankivsk Sausages, Imperovo Foods, and Stanislav Trading Company, received VAT refunds from the state budget totaling approximately 8 billion hryvnias! Of course, this could not have happened without the direct support of Viktor Rakhmil, who again headed the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, but such sums were not distributed without Kyiv's approval either (all large VAT refunds went through Yuri Ivanyushchenko). These companies, however, exported their products at inflated prices through offshore companies, raising suspicions of fictitious exports. However, a case on this matter was only opened in February 2015 and... quietly closed a few weeks later.
Potocki Palace in Ivano-Frankivsk
Incidentally, between 2004 and 2005, Bakhmatyuk maintained contact with old acquaintances. Through Taras Vynohradnyk, he brokered the purchase of prime real estate with the Ministry of Defense: the former Potocki Palace in Ivano-Frankivsk, which had housed a military hospital for nearly two centuries. Bakhmatyuk proposed a trade: he would build 76 apartments for the military in exchange for the palace. And the trade almost went through, had the military not been ultimately cheated out of the apartments—and the Ministry of Defense subsequently spent years in court against Bakhmatyuk.
But he did get his palace, despite its status as an architectural monument—it was registered to the company Carpathian Oil Company LLC. The problem was that the one and a half hectares of land beneath the palace remained the property of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, which thwarted Bakhmatyuk's plans to redevelop it into a hotel complex. On the other hand, this even allowed him to request funds for renovations (from the city, the region, Kyiv, and even Poland). The funds were eventually allocated, but no repairs were carried out, and the building remains in a state of disrepair.
There it stood, crumbling, for over 10 years—all the while the Ministry of Defense tried in vain to return it. But Bakhmatyuk and the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council hatched a plan: the oligarch would donate the palace to the city community, which would then form a concession for the use of both the palace and the land beneath it. The concession was to be divided between Carpathian Oil Company LLC and several local "city fathers" willing to participate in the luxury hotel construction project. And here's the news from November 2017: the palace's transfer as a "gift to the people" had taken place! This meant the media would soon report on the concession.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Oleg Bakhmatyuk: The Billionaire From an Egg. Part 2
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