Law enforcement agencies have become interested in the long-standing "friendship" between the Odessa Regional Council and the commercial bank "Imexbank" of People's Deputy Leonid Klimov, through which the latter, as we have already reported, has defrauded both the state and its own depositors.
As sources in the regional prosecutor's office told Dumskaya, the subject of the investigation was individual decisions of the regional assembly taken between 2006 and 2010, when the deputy corps was headed by the former chairman of the bank's board and assistant to Klimov, now a fiery opposition figure. Nikolay Skorik.
Klimov's daughter, Darya Kryzhanovskaya, is a member of the Opposition Bloc, like Skorik.
Skoryk, as a reminder, became chairman of the regional council in May 2006 and held the position until November 2010. Rumor has it that, to appoint his protégé, Leonid Klimov even entered into conflict with Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the then-opposition Party of Regions, who envisioned Grigory Pedchenko, the future Chief of the General Staff, as the council chairman. But Leonid Klimov couldn't pass up the opportunity to install his own man in the chairman's chair and went against the future president before it became a trend. He used his control over the faction to secure the vote he needed at the session. Reportedly, after this, the MP didn't answer calls from Yanukovych, surprised by such arbitrary action, for three days.
The new head of the board focused primarily on defending the interests of his native commercial institution and its affiliates. In a short period of time, the bank became an absolute monopoly in servicing government employees and utility companies. Furthermore, it became a major recipient of funds from the regional budget.
Here are just a few corruption cases reported in the media and for which, according to our information, criminal proceedings will soon be opened.
In 2010, as part of preparations for Euro 2012, the Odesa Regional Council decided to support Leonid Klimov, who was using his "last resources" to build a new stadium and hotels in Shevchenko Park. Deputies voted to acquire a 3,6% stake in Chornomorets FC JSC for 20 million hryvnias. Nearly five years later, the shares have generated no profit (in fact, the stake has been diluted and now amounts to a tiny fraction of a percent), and the property that the regional council could have claimed to compensate for losses has recently been placed under collateral.
The Odesa Regional Council, under the leadership of Mykola Leonidovych, transferred another 20 million hryvnias to a private pension fund affiliated with Imex. This was presented as a noble cause—they said it was necessary to provide for the distinguished members of the council staff in their old age! However, by a strange coincidence, the money was transferred not to the individual accounts of the employees, each with varying lengths of service, academic degrees, etc., but simply as a lump sum to a single account. According to our information, this account has yet to be located.
There's no need to even mention such trivial details as the sale of attractive properties, preferential rent, contracts and tenders, and the voluntary/mandatory transfer of regional public sector employees, businesses and institutions, farmers, and ordinary utility workers to Imexbank cards—it's all routine. In short, Nikolai Skorik worked tirelessly for the benefit of his financial group, right up until his transfer to the Crimean Cabinet of Ministers.
Law enforcement is also interested in other questionable initiatives of the former council chairman. For example, in 2007, the region purchased imported Ferruccio Lamborghini gas boilers for the Ukrainian Theater and Philharmonic. Each one cost the budget over a million hryvnias (domestic equivalents are five times cheaper). Gas has still not been connected to these boiler houses.
The program to create an automated vehicle inspection system was also of no use. Several months before the mandatory vehicle inspection was abolished, 3 million hryvnias were allocated for its implementation.
It's worth noting that Nikolai Skorik has still maintained contact with Imexbank and its owner. Leonid Klimov's daughter, regional council member Darya Kryzhanovskaya, is a member of the Opposition Bloc parliamentary group, whose parliamentary representative includes Skorik.
Author - Victor Bosnyak, The Duma
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