Sergey Arbuzov
According to eyewitnesses, former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov was spotted leaving the Intercontinental Hotel. Former members of the Party of Regions (Party of Regions) often meet at this hotel. According to eyewitness Serhiy Yurchenko, he doesn't know with whom Arbuzov was meeting or why he was there, but he noted that the Intercontinental is a regular meeting place for former Party of Regions members. The eyewitness also posted a photo on his Facebook page, according to Pravda, showing a man resembling Arbuzov leaving the hotel. Is Serhiy Arbuzov a liar? And a con artist?
Biography
Sergey Gennadyevich Arbuzov was born on March 24, 1976, in Donetsk, Ukraine. Education: Higher education in economics. He graduated from Donetsk State University in 1997 (majoring in Finance and Credit). He holds a PhD in economics.
Career: While still a third-year student at Donetsk State University, Sergey Arbuzov had already been working (since 1995) at the Donetsk branch of PrivatBank (his exact position is unknown, but it's worth noting that his mother, Valentina, was the head of the branch at the time). In 2000, he was promoted to director of PrivatBank's Kostiantynivka branch in Donetsk Oblast. Three years later, Arbuzov transferred to Bank Donetskchina, which was later renamed UkrBusinessBank.
From 2003 to May 2010, S. Arbuzov served as Chairman of the Board at this financial institution. In 2010, Arbuzov transferred to another bank, Ukreximbank, again as Chairman of the Board. However, his tenure there was short-lived. On September 1 of that year, he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine, and a few months later, on December 23, 2010, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of the NBU.
Family
Of all of Sergey Arbuzov's relatives, only his mother, Valentina Ivanovna Arbuzova, a long-time banker, is publicly available. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, Valentina Arbuzova is the Chairperson of the Board of the All-Ukrainian Development Bank (VBR).
Prior to this, Valentina was the director of PrivatBank's regional office in Donetsk. In 2013, Focus magazine ranked Valentina Arbuzova among the top ten most influential women in Ukraine, holding a respectable eighth place. It's worth noting that she hadn't made it to the top of this or any similar national rankings in 2012 or earlier.
Hobbies
Little is known about Arbuzov's hobbies and passions. Arbuzov is very religious. So much so that he even officially renounced his Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). However, the website "Argument" cites entirely different reasons for his renunciation: Citizen S. Arbuzov is the only bank employee in Ukraine who has successfully waived his TIN (Tax Identification Number) in court. Allegedly for religious reasons. He also allegedly uses his passport exclusively as his identification code. However, Arbuzov has not provided the media with the relevant court ruling.
In fact, as Argument sources with extensive experience working in the State Tax Administration system explained, in this simple act, Mr. Arbuzov effectively "erased" himself from the unified register of individual taxpayers. And for many years—until 2010—he simply "dropped" from the tax inspectorate's radar. No such taxpayer as Sergei Gennadievich Arbuzov, born on March 24, 1976, simply existed. And in late 2010, when the story of his missing personal identification number surfaced and the question of assigning him the highest civil servant rank—first—arose, S. Arbuzov was finally issued a tax identification number: 2784200230. This effectively confirms that religion has nothing to do with it.
Political ambitions
Arbuzov left the NBU at the end of 2012 (specifically, on December 24) for a ministerial post. By decree of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Arbuzov was appointed First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine in Mykola Azarov's government. Arbuzov's responsibilities (and interests) included agricultural policy, economic development of Ukraine, social policy, finance, revenues, and fees.
He is also responsible for ensuring the implementation of the 2010-2014 economic reform program "A Prosperous Society, a Competitive Economy, and an Effective State" and the 2013 National Action Plan for the implementation of the aforementioned program in the areas of "Privatization and Management of State Property." Concurrently, by presidential decree, Arbuzov was appointed Ukraine's representative to the CIS Economic Council, replacing Valeriy Khoroshkovsky.
Reviews about the policy
An interesting fact about Serhiy Arbuzov's biography concerns the 2006 local elections, in which he ran as the sixth candidate on the list of then-President Viktor Yushchenko's "Our Ukraine" party for the Donetsk Regional Council. However, the party failed to clear the 3% threshold. It remains unclear when and whether Arbuzov left "Our Ukraine." Arbuzov's status in the Party of Regions is also unclear. Although his biography is posted on the party's official website, no direct reference to his membership could be found. Arbuzov is a member of the "Family" group, which includes people close to Viktor Yanukovych. It is believed that Serhiy Arbuzov is a close friend of Oleksandr Yanukovych and owes his career advancement to him.
Psychological picture
People who know Sergey Gennadievich personally also say he loves himself very much and is always keen to stroke his ego. This explains the occasional problems with his PR people: they'll send recommendations to the media on how to cover Arbuzov's activities, or offer $1000 to each blogger for positive posts about the client. Many attributed this to the need for accelerated promotion of a figure who, according to some reports, is destined for the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine. However, it's possible that all this is secondary, and Sergey Gennadievich simply enjoys reading about how great he is. He also enjoys having his photos on all sorts of surfaces, from cups to billboards.
Kompromat
Compromising evidence against his political strength
Financiers expect Serhiy Arbuzov to continue expanding the Donetsk diaspora within the NBU's central office. Donetsk financiers continue to undermine the NBU's top managers. On September 1, the First Deputy Governor of the NBU, Anatoly Shapovalov, who oversaw the regulator's foreign exchange and monetary policy, was replaced by Serhiy Arbuzov, a former UkrBusinessBank executive controlled by the President's eldest son, Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Last week, the newcomer not only managed to sit in the chair of first deputy chairman but also served as acting governor of the central bank. Mr. Arbuzov is expected to remain in office for a short time and will head the NBU as early as early 2011. Shapovalov faces severance pay. The resignation of Anatoly Shapovalov, who served as first deputy governor of the National Bank for the past six years, came as a surprise not only to the financial community but also to Shapovalov himself. Over the past few months, he had been actively negotiating with those in power and, according to rumors, was even vying for the NBU governor's post after his resignation. Vladimir Stelmakh, whose term of office expired back in December 2009. However, last Wednesday, Vladimir Stelmakh convened an extraordinary meeting of the central bank’s board and announced the appointment of 34-year-old Sergei Arbuzov as his right-hand man.
After this, Mr. Shapovalov resigned and left the building at 9 Instytutska Street. Rumor has it that Anatoly Shapovalov's consolation prize was Prime Minister Mykola Azarov's promise to close the criminal case opened against him during Yulia Tymoshenko's government—for alleged abuses in the processing of NBU refinancing for banks in 2008-2009. Shapovalov even managed to endure several interrogations by security officials, during which he had to explain why he financed banks with state funds under various conditions. Mykola Azarov wasn't the only lobbyist for Serhiy Arbuzov's candidacy for the NBU; he was also actively promoted by the head of the State Tax Administration, Oleksandr Papaika, who worked with the newly appointed national banker from 2003-2010. At Donetsk's UkrBusinessBank (formerly Bank Donetskchina), as well as the President's eldest son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, UkrBusinessBank still services accounts for the Yanukovych family's hunting grounds, Sukholucha, as well as the president's controversial residence, Mezhyhirya. Serhiy Arbuzov's mother is also closely connected to the Yanukovych family.
Since May 2009, Valentina Arbuzova has chaired the board of the All-Ukrainian Development Bank, whose sole shareholder is Donsnabtara LLC, 95% of which is directly owned by Oleksandr Yanukovych. Incidentally, it was his mother who shaped Serhiy Gennadievich into a banker. She was well-regarded in the Donetsk financial community: in the 80s, she held senior positions at Sberbank of the USSR, and in the 90s, she was director of the Donetsk regional office of PrivatBank. It was this bank that became the launching pad for the new national banker's financial career, after which Valentina Ivanovna placed her son at UkrBusinessBank. Banking in the Arbuzov family progressed only through the maternal line. The father of the first deputy governor of the NBU succeeded in entrepreneurship. Gennady Arbuzov is the co-founder of two companies in the mining capital: Dent-Service LLC, which operates in the dental equipment market, and Privattur LLC, which is involved in real estate rentals.
Over nearly seven years at UkrBusinessBank, Serhiy Arbuzov rose from manager to majority shareholder: while in January 2010 he owned 2,29% of the financial institution's shares, in February he received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee to purchase more than 50% of its securities. He maintained his connection with the bank even after his appointment to Ukreximbank three months earlier: first as a member, and then as head of the supervisory board of the state financial institution. It was from there that the financier transitioned to the NBU. The young banker also tried his hand at politics, although this track record now seems rather odd. Immediately after Viktor Yushchenko founded the Our Ukraine party in 2005, Serhiy Arbuzov became a member and, in 2006, ran on the Our Ukraine party list as candidate number 6 in the Donetsk Regional Council elections. However, he was never destined to win a parliamentary seat, as the party failed to overcome the 3% threshold. There are currently various explanations for the political orientation of the newly minted National Bank official. According to one theory, upon joining the unpopular party in Donetsk, Serhiy Arbuzov was tasked with intelligence gathering: to become a sort of planted agent and fight the enemy of the Party of Regions from within.
According to another, more realistic theory, Serhiy Gennadievich needed his Our Ukraine party card only to safeguard the family business after Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the 2005 presidential election. Donetsk Diaspora: For Kyiv's financial elite, Serhiy Arbuzov is a dark horse. Bankers are unsure what to expect from the new right-hand woman of the National Bank governor, who automatically becomes acting governor of the NBU and runs the central bank during any absences of Volodymyr Stelmakh. What no one doubts today is that with the appointment of Serhiy Gennadievich, the country's main bank will become even more subservient to the prime minister and the Presidential Administration than before. Arbuzov is now tipped for a stellar career at Instytutska Street, 9. It is expected that he will remain under Volodymyr Stelmakh's thumb until the end of this year and will be getting up to speed. However, Serhiy Gennadievich is expected to be promoted to Chairman of the Central Bank as early as early 2011. Immediately after taking office as President, Viktor Yanukovych stated that he did not intend to initiate Mr. Stelmakh's resignation before the end of 2010, and, according to the Party of Regions, he would keep his word.
It's possible that even before his promotion, Serhiy Arbuzov will recruit assistants from Donetsk, and the National Bank is expecting a reshuffle in its top management. This is especially true given that one of the central bank's key positions—director of the monetary department, currently headed by Natalia Grebennik—may soon become vacant: according to rumors, she will soon be asked to retire. As a reminder, the first newcomer from Donetsk joined the National Bank's central office on July 17, when Igor Sorkin, head of the supervisory department of the NBU's Donetsk territorial administration, was appointed deputy governor of the NBU, overseeing banking supervision. (He replaced Vasyl Pasichnik, who, after his dismissal, was appointed director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.) It is said that Mr. Arbuzov lobbied for his appointment to Kyiv.
Material status
First Deputy Governor of the National Bank and candidate for the post of NBU Governor Serhiy Arbuzov declared UAH 150,572 million in income in 2009. Last year, Arbuzov received UAH 150,0 million in dividends, interest, and royalties, while his salary amounted to UAH 475 and his income from entrepreneurial and independent professional activities amounted to UAH 96. Arbuzov's family members received UAH 79 in salaries over the year. According to Ukrainian News, Arbuzov owns a 619-square-meter residential building in Donetsk, as well as a Mercedes Benz S450L 4M (4664 cubic meters) and a BMW Z8 (4941 cubic meters). Arbuzov's family members also own a 76-square-meter apartment, land plots, a summer house, and an Infiniti EX35 (3498 cubic meters). In addition, Arbuzov owns securities worth UAH 3,079 million. He also holds UAH 48,5 in bank accounts.
Politrada, Elite of the Country
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