The buyer of Boyko's rigs, a former official under investigation, and Ivanyushchenko's partner. Who else could become a member of parliament in a single-member constituency?
According to the latest opinion polls, six political forces are running for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the snap elections. But far more interesting is which candidates will become MPs by winning single-member constituencies. In the last parliamentary elections, prominent businessmen and former officials won seats in single-member constituencies. Hubs has compiled a list of candidates implicated in corruption scandals who are now running for parliament.
Sergei Klyuyev
Brother of the former head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Andrey Klyuev Serhiy is running for parliament in District No. 46, based in Artemovsk. He faces virtually no competition, but he has a key asset that could help him win the election. The city is home to assets controlled by the brothers—a non-ferrous metal processing plant, the Vistek machine-building plant, and others. Their employees are Klyuev's primary electoral base.
Since 2010, the Klyuevs' companies have received multimillion-dollar loans from the state-owned Ukreximbank, as well as financial assistance from special funds to repay these loans. With active government support, the Klyuevs' company, Activ Solar, has become a monopoly in solar energy production.
According to UNIAN, an investigation has been launched in Austria into money laundering by Sergei Klyuev's brother, Andrey.
Member of Parliament Serhiy served as deputy chairman of the National Joint Stock Company from 2010 to 2012. Together with his younger brother, Oleksandr, then deputy chairman of Chornomornaftogaz, they executed the most scandalous state purchase of the Yanukovych era. It was their signatures that appear on the documents for the purchase of drilling platforms for gas production on the Black Sea shelf. As a reminder, the first platform was purchased through a shell company for $150 million above the manufacturer's asking price.
Hubs' sources in the oil and gas market say this is precisely why he decided in 2012 to trade his comfortable chair at NAK for the Verkhovna Rada boardroom, in order to gain immunity. He ran for office.
His position was inherited by his brother, who, after the change of power in February 2014, could not be dismissed for a long time. The official reason was sick leave, which lasted more than four months. During this time, the official managed to hold a lavish wedding in a Paris suburb.
Running in the 92nd district in the Kyiv region
Evgeniy Bakulin
The former head of the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NAC) is running for parliament in a district in Severodonetsk, which was liberated by the Ukrainian army. Six months ago, he was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement as part of an investigation into corruption in the gas industry. A few days after his arrest, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stated that the damages in three criminal cases alone were estimated at $4 billion and promised the public an open trial. In April, he was released on bail of 10 million hryvnias and immediately left for Israel for medical treatment.
In September, Hubs unexpectedly learned from its industry sources that the Prosecutor General's Office had closed the case against Bakulin, but after a public outcry, the Prosecutor General's Office hastened to reopen it. The former head of the National Antimonopoly Committee (NAC) needs political immunity—parliamentary immunity will help him avoid future criminal prosecutions.
Sergey Bliznyuk
The son of Anatoly Bliznyuk, the former governor of the Donetsk region, is running in single-member constituency No. 48 in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. Bliznyuk's father is a longtime associate of Yanukovych and a member of his team.
Thanks to their close ties to the former president, enterprises controlled by the Bliznyuk clan received multi-million-dollar state subsidies from the state treasury. For example, according to media reports, in 2010, the Kramatorsk-based Energomashspetsstal plant, whose shareholders included companies close to the Bliznyuks, received 172 million hryvnias in aid.
Igor Shkyria
In the Party of Regions Shkirya He was part of a group of MPs personally aligned with Viktor Yanukovych. He headed the Horlivka city branch of the Party of Regions and served as an advisor to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Currently, on the Central Election Commission website, he is listed as a non-partisan candidate.
Horlivka media are calling Shkirya a raider, accusing him of seizing land in the village of Gaspra, where the MP's Marat sanatorium is located.
Igor is running in the 52nd district, with its center in the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Donetsk region.
Oleg Nedava
Nedavu, who is running in District No. 53 in Yenakiieve, is considered Yuriy Ivanyushchenko's right-hand man. According to Luhansk media, the candidate was involved in schemes to bankrupt state-owned mines in the Luhansk region, then privatize them for next to nothing.
According to Ekonomicheskaya Pravda, Nedava was connected to Rodovid Bank, the money used to save it from financial collapse was embezzled.
Oles Dovhy
A member of Chernovetsky's "young team" and a trusted confidant of the former Kyiv mayor has announced his candidacy in the Kirovohrad region.
According to Lb.ua editor-in-chief Sonya Koshkina, Dovgyi reached an agreement with the authorities to ensure he would not have any serious competitors in the district.
"Oles Dovhyi's man, Vadim Bondar, became the BPP candidate for District 102. Dovhyi personally selected his 'backup.' He selected him carefully, ensuring there was no way to establish their connection," Koshkina writes. According to her, another requirement for the competitor was his invisibility. "Today, the goal has been 100% achieved," the editor-in-chief of Lb.ua concludes.
Alexander Suprunenko
The elder brother of the ex-son-in-law of the former mayor of Kyiv, Leonid Chernovetskyi Vyacheslava Suprunenko was an intermediary between the Party of Regions and the mayor's family.
At the Kyiv City State Administration, he oversaw property-related matters. His younger brother, Vyacheslav, who is on the international wanted list, was responsible for land.
The brothers are accused of raiding public utilities.
Anton Yatsenko
A defector MP who ran for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc in 2007 switched to the Party of Regions in 2011.
Yatsenko is said to be the leader of a "tender mafia" and the organizer of kickback schemes in government tenders. According to Ekonomicheskaya Pravda, he is one of the founders of the Tender Chamber, whose actual function was to collect a 10% cut from tenders.
Sergey Ivalov
As head of the Central Election Commission, he organized mass fraud during the 2004 presidential election. Specifically, he is believed to have been involved in installing a transit server that distorted the actual voting data.
Furthermore, Kivalov was one of the authors of the law "On the Fundamentals of State Language Policy," which effectively equated Russian with the official language. The document sparked a public standoff and exacerbated tensions over the language issue. From July 3 to August 12, a "language Maidan" took place in Kyiv, protesting the law.
The attempt to repeal the controversial law has become a favorite topic for manipulation by Russian media outlets about the oppression of the Russian language.
Ekaterina Shapoval, Hubs
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