After numerous scandals, rallies, and complaints to the prosecutor's office, Vadim Nesterenko, a supposedly non-partisan independent candidate and agrarian from the people, finally won in the 38th district of Novomoskovsk.
Vadim Nesterenko
Fights without rules
Nesterenko and his bosses fought relentlessly for a place in the sun, fighting for their last straw. They stopped at nothing: ballot manipulation, bribery of voters, law enforcement officers, campaign workers, and so on. The first reports of wrongdoing by Vadim Nesterenko emerged in the midst of the election campaign. On October 13, the Novomoskovsk city police department received a report that while campaigning for one of the candidates, coupons were being issued for a 30% discount on groceries, which were then sold from a car. Authorities conducted an investigation into this incident, but the case was hushed up within the Novomoskovsk interdistrict prosecutor's office, despite video recordings of gross violations and witness testimony, which had also been threatened. Someone with strong connections and money, likely stolen from the people, intervened.
Why did Nesterenko fight so hard for this position, and who is behind his victory? How will this supposedly non-partisan and supposedly ownerless farmer behave now?
The Dark Master of the Election Rigger
The newly-appointed deputy's ties to the Party of Regions, and in particular to the notorious former Akhmetovite politician Oleksandr Vilkul, are obvious. Vadym Nesterenko is a former Party of Regions member, formerly deputy chairman of the regional state administration, which was then under Vilkul's control.
The region's top official had been keeping an eye on the dashing schemer for some time. He always needed guys like him. And Nesterenko always had something to brag about. His track record includes numerous agrofirm seizures, corporate raids on grain elevators, bakeries, and so on. Vilkulov's protégé's methods were, to put it mildly, harsh. Many landowners had to deal with the so-called titushki (illegal thugs) after handing over their land to Nesterenko for free. Residents of the village of Znamenovka were even left without water for a month to make them more accommodating when parting with their land.
But all this was happening only in the Novomoskovsk district, where Nesterenko's father-in-law, the former head of the Novomoskovsk district state administration and then a member of the Verkhovna Rada, retained considerable leverage. In 2012, Nesterenko reached a new level: the regional leaders invited the talented schemer to join their team.
In August 2012, Nesterenko became deputy chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council for the executive office and head of the department for socio-economic development of agriculture. His agricultural authority then expanded throughout the region. Within the regional council, he established the "Regional Stabilization Fund," a municipal enterprise whose goal was utterly noble: to stabilize grain prices in the region. The actual scheme, however, was destroying farmers as a class. The regional council, using municipal real estate—hospitals, kindergartens, and other municipal enterprises—as collateral, took out a 50 million hryvnia bank loan to purchase grain. The grain was purchased from regional agricultural enterprises at 1300 hryvnia per ton. But instead of replenishing the stabilization fund, the grain was sold to foreign traders at the market price of 2000 hryvnia per ton. Calculating the fraudster's profit is not difficult. In other words, the region's farmers were robbed of almost 20 million hryvnias. And all of this happened with the tacit consent (read: participation in a share of the loot) of Oleksandr Vilkul. The main regional leader needed such brave men, and that's when their friendship was cemented with cash. Nesterenko finally and irrevocably found his master.
The next scandal involves the activities of City Dispatch Center LLC, which Nesterenko also acquired quite easily. He then successfully won a tender transferring the Dnipropetrovsk route business to the control of Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the regional state administration. According to unofficial reports, minibus owners, in addition to paying for GPS equipment for their vehicles, pay the center 500 hryvnias monthly "for monitoring." Vilkul himself oversaw the process, and Nesterenko, like a puppet, carried out his boss's every command, naturally for his own personal gain.
Under the protection of the owner, it became easier to seize factories. Nesterenko began monopolizing the grain market. The Novomoskovsk enterprise, known by the trade name Bread Factory No. 11, was seized by "titushki" (illegal force) and a hostile takeover from regional council deputy Oleg Mironov. Bread Factory No. 10 (with a daily capacity of 70 tons of grain) and Ukraine's largest flour mill, Dnipromlyn (with a daily capacity of 500 tons of wheat), were then "purchased."
Nesterenko's "correct" work was crowned with success. When his master was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, his humble servant also received a new position. On January 21, 2013, Nesterenko was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. Simultaneously, delegates to the 18th Party of Regions Party Conference unanimously elected Vadym Nesterenko as head of the Novomoskovsk city party organization.
And then the work began to heat up, as they could afford to indulge in anything. They even went so far as to plunder the regional budget. For example, the Gorky Agricultural Firm (Nikolaevka village, Novomoskovsk district), which belongs to Nesterenko, received 4,9 million hryvnias from the state budget for the development of an irrigation system. Naturally, no irrigation system was built. And this money was used to bribe voters in the 38th district this year.
Today, Vadim Nesterenko, according to the traditional legend of the master, is a simple farmer who runs for the Supreme Council to defend the interests of the people. But we all understand that a wolf in sheep's clothing will quickly shed it at the very first session of the Verkhovna Rada and begin lobbying for the master's interests. The shortcomings of the electoral legislation, such as majoritarian elections, must be urgently corrected; otherwise, the legislative branch will never be purged of odious individuals like Nesterenko.
Vadim Kostyuchenko, ANTIKOR
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