In early June, Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi Court ordered the arrest of Donetsk businessman and former Donetsk Regional Council member Serhiy Belogorodsky for two months. This citizen is accused of financing terrorism and has a rather interesting "credit history." Specifically, Belogorodsky began his "business" as part of the UkrLiga organized crime group, known for the first high-profile murder of journalist Igor Aleksandrov in Ukraine. It's noteworthy that Yanukovych-era Donetsk Regional Prosecutor Serhiy Syusyailo is trying to get Belogorodsky out of prison. Donetsk mobsters don't abandon their own. It's possible that, thanks to his connections and money, Belogorodsky will soon be released. This will be further proof that nothing has changed in our country, even despite the war.
Belogorodsky began his career in business (and, yes, politics) in the association ZAO UkrLiga, which Slavyansk residents remember as the local organized crime group "17th Section," which "controlled" Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in the 90s.
The organized crime group "17th Section" was the security "roof" of Rybak's business, and the legal cover for "black" affairs and "laundering" of the organized crime group's activities was carried out through the association JSC "UkrLiga".
So, Sergei Belogorodsky was in charge of the association’s commercial activities.
Belogorodsky became known to the general public after a high-profile scandal in 2012 surrounding the corporate raid on Donetsk Regional Enterprise of Bus Stations (DOPAS), a company that services all 49 suburban bus stations in the region.
As a member of the Donetsk Regional Council, Sergei Belogorodsky, taking advantage of his close ties to Yanukovych's son and his uncertain influence on the Ukrainian Tax Service in the Donetsk region, tyrannized over the Donetsk Regional Enterprise of Bus Stations.
The fact that DOPAS is having problems became widely known after the arrest of one of the owners. Vladislav Dreger.
The company's press service sent a press release to the media stating that Donetsk Regional Council deputy Sergei Belogorodsky was carrying out a "raider takeover" of the enterprise.
"Currently, raider actions are being carried out on behalf of S.A. Belogorodsky to replace officials (directors), without the knowledge and participation of the founders, at a number of enterprises that are members of the Ukrainian Transport Association.
Attempts are underway to steal corporate rights to the Donbass Bus Stations and Donetsk Bus Stations enterprises, according to a DOPAS press release.
And already on December 19, 2012, the company’s management decided to hold a press conference.
DOPAS LLC Director Elena Bordyugova spoke with journalists in the company's building, where the media employees were ushered in by sturdy young men after a thorough ID check.
Bordyugova stated that the greed of a regional council member, who used his connections in the Tax Inspectorate and the Verkhovna Rada (his friendly relations with Vadym Bondarenko, head of the Donetsk Regional Tax Inspectorate, and MP Oleksandr Bobkov) to seize other people's businesses, led to the cessation of all economic activity at regional bus stations. During what she considered illegal searches, conducted in violation of all procedural norms, virtually all accounting and tax documents, computers, and company seals were seized. E. Bordyugova also stated that, in parallel with such actions by government agencies, the founders of DOPASA are under threat from criminal organizations.
According to Bordyugova, the regional council member himself has openly confirmed Belgorodsky's involvement in the takeover in private conversations with DOPASA employees. Moreover, in these same conversations, he touts the name of the president's eldest son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, claiming that it was he who gave Belgorodsky the go-ahead to reshape the regional bus market.
Following these harsh statements, Elena Bordyugova issued an official statement on December 21 through the DOPAS press service, in which she apologized to Sergei Belgorodsky.
The statement also stated that everything happening around the enterprise OOO DOPAS is being interpreted in the media in a distorted form.
That's how they pressured me, took it away, and forced me to apologize. A true regional!
Sergey Ivantsov, for ORD
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