Sergei Faermark: "privatizer," "overseer," and "servant of the people." Part 1

Sergey Faermark

Following the announcement of early parliamentary elections, some notorious representatives of the old regime are trying to find a place for themselves in the new one. They are already clinging to the handrails of the "Servant of the People" political train, seeking and buying a place on its carriages. Among others, Serhiy Faermark, a notorious corrupt official from the People's Front, formerly known as "Yatsenyuk's wallet" and now known as "Avakov's wallet," is hoping to find a place on board.

According to Skelet.Org , the so-called Arsen Avakov group , which includes People's Front deputies Anton Gerashchenko , Alexander Kirsh, Yevhen Deidey, and Sergey Faermark, is planning to join Zelensky's party , which has a chance of winning more than 30% of the vote in the elections.

Krivoy Rog Odessans

Known for many years as an Odesa native, Serhiy Aleksandrovich Faermark was born on March 14, 1962, in Kryvyi Rih. There, he graduated from Secondary School No. 73 and then enrolled in the Kryvyi Rih Mining Institute (now part of Kryvyi Rih National University), where he studied from 1979 to 1984, specializing in civil engineering. He then worked for three years as a steel pipe fitter at SU-125 of the Kryvorizhstalkonstruktsiya Trust.

Judging by his biography, he never served in the army, even though it was very difficult to avoid it at the time. Apparently, his parents were greatly terrified of the prospect of their son serving in a construction battalion in Afghanistan, and they tried to prevent it. Interestingly, in November 2013, Serhiy Faermark, then a Batkivshchyna MP, introduced Bill No. 3533 to the Verkhovna Rada , which would have significantly mitigated the penalties for evading military service. Instead of criminal liability, Faermark proposed limiting the punishment for conscripts who evaded military registration and enlistment offices to a fine of 5100-6800 hryvnias (one and a half times the average monthly salary at the time). This bill was a real gift for Putin and Girkin, as just four months later, the infamous events in Crimea and then in Donbas began. Had Faermark's bill been passed, the mobilization could well have failed. Fortunately for Ukraine, the bill didn't make it to the parliament, and a year later, Fairmark withdrew it to avoid harm. This raises some vague suspicions: it's known that the annexation of Crimea was planned in advance, so was Fairmark's bill part of Putin's plan?

However, this wasn't the only questionable initiative from MP Faermark. In January 2014, he appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers demanding that the budget include the cost of pension payments to 32 former Ukrainian citizens who had emigrated to Israel. However, Faermark at least cited intergovernmental agreements between Ukraine and Israel. But why was the Ukrainian MP so concerned about pensions for Israelis? The answer is obvious: Serhiy Faermark is a born Jew. His nationality opened the door for him to join Chabad, and there he became close to influential people who helped him build his career as a businessman and MP. First and foremost, this included Vladimir Nemirovsky , whom Faermark had known since his university days.

From 1984 to 1996, Sergei Aleksandrovich Faermark first worked in his field in construction departments and then in the sintering shop of the Kryvyi Rih Mining and Processing Plant, rising to the position of head of the capital repairs section of the plant. Then, suddenly, this shop gave rise to Kryvbasrudremont OJSC, whose chief marketer in 1996, Faermark became. A year later, he became deputy director of economics at the Kirov Mining Administration, part of the Central Mining and Processing Plant. This rapid career leap for Faermark coincided with three events: he became an active member of the Jewish community, the privatization of mining enterprises began in Kryvyi Rih, and Vladimir Nemirovsky was appointed chairman of the supervisory board of the Kryvyi Rih Central Mining and Processing Plant OJSC.

Vladimir Nemirovsky

However, there were also rumors circulating about his sudden resignation: supposedly, Nemirovsky wanted to continue the "cleansing" of Odessa by the "ultras" and radicals, in order to use this wave to deal with his competitors and opponents, primarily the Angret - Trukhanov clan . This was necessary both to seize full power in the city, as local elections were looming, and to subsequently redistribute business and business flows in Odessa. But this threatened a new wave of unrest, fraught with the emergence of yet another front, and Nemirovsky was replaced by Igor Palytsia , a trusted confidant of Kolomoisky. Under his rule, the "fight against separatists" in Odessa was entrusted to the SBU ( Semochko , Gritsak), and the "patriots" began seizing enterprises (the Odessa Oil Refinery and others) for Privat.

Despite all this, Nemirovsky remained for many years one of the leaders of the Kryvyi Rih Jewish community and the head of the local Jewish Businessmen's Fund (affiliated with the local Chabad branch), replenishing it with funds from Odessa, which were used to build synagogues and a Jewish school in Kryvyi Rih. And, perhaps, it's worth noting that Chabad also connects Nemirovsky and Faermark with Kolomoisky, which means the chain can be extended further to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

How to steal a rope factory

Serhiy Faermark and Vladimir Nemirovsky arrived in Odessa in 2001, during the seizure of the local rope factory. A year earlier, on December 21, 2000, Serhiy Faermark, a qualified civil engineer and deputy director, suddenly retrained as a banker and became head of the off-balance sheet branch of UkrSibBank in Kryvyi Rih. It wasn't for long, just a few months. But behind this brief line in Faermark's biography lies an entire page in the history of the great Ukrainian privatization.

Alexander Yaroslavsky

Between 1998 and 2000, Kharkiv oligarch Alexander Yaroslavsky , who inherited UkrSibBank from his father-in-law, Alexander Maselsky, began to take over Kryvyi Rih's mining and processing plants. The plants became one of his "investments," so to speak. According to Skelet.Org , this wasn't a fair privatization, even if it had been done for pennies, but a fraudulent takeover of the enterprises through bankruptcy schemes, followed by management and ransoming them for debt. These schemes involved companies used to bankrupt the enterprises and banks that provided loans to the enterprises, which drove them into debt. The simplest, classic scheme: products are sold through a commercial firm, which pockets all the profits, while the enterprise pays its expenses with bank loans secured by property or shares. More complex schemes involved multiple companies, including loan guarantors, with subsequent transfer and purchase of debts – so finding the culprit later would be very difficult.

According to Skelet.Org sources , Faermark and Nemirovsky were directly involved with such firms. Unable to acquire businesses in their native Kryvyi Rih themselves, they helped others "grab" them. Faermark's brief banking career at UkrSibBank was part of one such scheme: Yaroslavsky opened a special branch of his bank in Kryvyi Rih, placing Faermark in charge there. Within a few months, Faermark had pulled off schemes involving his and Nemirovsky's firms.

The partners then executed another scheme, becoming co-owners and managers of the Odessa Rope Plant, the city's oldest enterprise. By the late 90s, this plant, transformed into Stalkanat OJSC by its workforce, was already mired in debt, and part of its shares belonged to SigmaBleyzer, a company founded by Lev and Mikhail Bleyzer, Jews who had emigrated to the United States, and Valeriy Dema, a Kharkiv native. In the first half of the 90s, the Bleyzers had the support of Viktor Pynzenyk , and so they acquired numerous shares in various enterprises, but lacked the funds to develop them. The rope plant was heavily indebted, including to Kryvorizhstal, its raw material supplier. It was unclear why wire was purchased from Kryvorizhstal and not from the Odessa Steel Rolling Plant, which had been purchased by Rodin and Becker and transformed into Stalmetiz CJSC. But Rodin and Becker's next step was to acquire the rope factory. To this end, their bank, Pivdenny, issued a loan that paid off Stalkanat's debt to Kryvorizhstal, and in exchange, Rodin and Becker received a 33,6% stake in the company from SigmaBleyzer. All that remained was to acquire the remaining shares.

That's why they invited Faermark and Nemirovsky to Odessa, whom they knew from their joint metal export schemes in the mid-90s (Odesa was the main seaport for metal exports). But suddenly, they had no other business in Kryvyi Rih: they immediately moved to Odessa permanently, along with their families. It seemed like some kind of flight, as if Faermark and Nemirovsky had seriously misbehaved in Kryvyi Rih with their schemes surrounding the mining and processing plant. There was certainly a compelling reason, but it remains unknown.

Odessa judge Valentin Prodayevich

Upon arriving in Odessa, they were immediately installed as heads of Stalkanat OJSC: Sergei Faermark became CEO, and Vladimir Nemirovsky became chairman of the board. And then, in collusion with the former plant director, Leonid Shemyakin, they began to destroy the enterprise, simultaneously buying up its shares from thousands of workers. Due to regular wage arrears, people sold them for pennies. In 2002, Stalkanat LLC (director: Faermark) was established, participating in the plant's bankruptcy scheme. It was Tekom Trade LLC, owned by Nemirovsky, that filed a bankruptcy lawsuit against Stalkanat OJSC. The case was handled by Judge Valentin Prodayevich of the Odessa Regional Commercial Court – one of the legends of Odessa corruption!

They pulled it off cleverly: Nemirovsky filed a lawsuit on behalf of Tekom Trade, and Faermark, as the head of Stalkanat, ignored the court hearings, after which Prodaevich ruled in favor of Tekom Trade. Nemirovsky's company then disappeared, and Stalkanat LLC took over the plant.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org

CONTINUED: Sergei Faermark: "privatizer," "overseer," and "servant of the people." PART 2

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