Sergey Labazyuk: A corrupt wolf in the sheep's clothing of an innocent farmer. Part 1
The recent initiative of Serhiy Labaziuk, a "Zamaibakhovite," to leave unspent subventions in local budgets seemed, at first glance, quite constructive and important. But why was it met with knowing smirks from his fellow deputies? Because they, like no one else, know that Labaziuk cares neither for the well-being of Ukraine's local communities nor even for the voters of his 188th constituency, but only for his own pocket.
After all, these subsidies are managed by his brother, Petro Labaziuk , and his wife, Violeta Labaziuk —who, respectively, are a member of parliament and the chairperson of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Council. And the Labaziuk family businesses have long been milking not only local budgets but also the state budget, including the Great Construction Fund. However, you won't find any mention of this in his perfectly glossy autobiography , where Serhiy Labaziuk portrays himself as a hard-working farmer who allegedly built his own business from a young age, a benefactor and philanthropist, surrounded by immensely grateful employees and voters. Well, defending the right of Ukrainians to know the whole truth about their elected officials, Skelet.Org felt it necessary to fill in the huge gaps in Serhiy Labaziuk's life story with information he would rather hide from the public...
How the brothers created a business
Sergey Petrovich Labazyuk was born on June 4, 1980, in the district center of Volochysk in the Khmelnytskyi region, where his parents' family had moved by then, having previously lived in the village of Bohdanivka (in the same district). Labazyuk recounted that his grandfather was a "farm manager," heading the local collective farm from 1933 to 39 (recalling the Holodomor of 33), and in 1944, after a concussion, he was appointed director of a "tank factory" (apparently a reference to a tank repair facility). His parents, Petro Tarasovich and Lyudmila Ivanovna Labazyuk, were, according to him, simple people and never held any leadership positions. His parents' first pride was not Sergey, but his older brother, Petro Petrovich Labazyuk, born in 1974 in Bohdanivka.
Petr Labaziuk
After serving in the army (1992-94), Petr Labazyuk worked for a year as an electrician at the Volochysk Machine-Building Plant (part of Vyacheslav Boguslayev's Motor Sich Group ) and then joined the fire department. He spent nine years working at the Uralsk State Fire Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, even graduating from the Cherkasy Fire Safety Institute and seemingly landing a lucrative job as an inspector, but in the spring of 2004, he quit and became a businessman. It was then that Petr and Sergey Labazyuk registered Agroprom LLC (EDRPOU 32810350), which sold fertilizers and chemicals, serviced agricultural machinery, and wholesaled grain. This enterprise ceased operations in 2012, which could be explained by the creation of a new company, "Vitagro Partner" (with the same line of business), or the election of Serhiy Labazyuk to the Verkhovna Rada, were it not for one nuance. The fact is that for four years after Agroprom's closure, about a dozen farms from the Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, and Volyn regions (Khmelove, Rus D, Na Valakh, and others) tried to recover their money from it in court. It's also worth noting that in 2008, Petro Labazyuk founded a clone company, "Agroprom Company" (35659511), which traded grain, agrochemicals, and agricultural machinery. It was also subsequently closed in 2013. It seems that when the brothers had problems settling accounts with clients, the Labazyuks simply “ran away” from them, liquidating their companies.
However, according to Sergey Labazyuk, he, not his older brother, was the first to enter the agricultural business. This allegedly happened in 1999, when Labazyuk, to quote him, "together with his school friend, purchased agricultural machinery and provided land cultivation services to villagers." They didn't plow the land themselves, of course—after all, that's not why Sergey Labazyuk had taken accounting courses in the district center at the time! No, a hired man sat at the wheel of the tractor, while Labazyuk, notebook in hand, counted the hundreds and hryvnias. This, they say, was the beginning of Sergey Labazyuk's successful agricultural entrepreneurship, a major player in the region! However, the question remains: where did the 19-year-old and his school friend get the money to buy such expensive agricultural machinery? Labazyuk did not admit this, nor did he name his school friend, who, in theory, was supposed to become his companion.
By the way, what happened to this friend? Is he even alive? This question deserves serious consideration. Judge for yourself: that kind of money back then was usually found in the hands of thieving bosses, businessmen, or criminals. But his parents were simple people, and Labaziuk never mentioned their involvement in business. Instead, his gangster ways immediately come to mind: the way he threatens people, the language he uses (more on that later). Plus, local sources at Skelet.Org report that the Labaziuk brothers were involved with some shady people in the late 90s (primarily the elder one), from whom they picked up all sorts of bad stuff (especially the younger one). Therefore, the most likely theory is that their start-up capital had criminal origins. Or, at best, corruption—assuming that the rumors about fire inspector Petr Labaziuk accepting bribes were based on real events.
And then things got even more interesting! In the fall of 2004, it was time for local agricultural enterprises and farmers to pay Labazyukov's firm, Agroprom, for fertilizers, seeds, tillage, and other services. And so it happened that after this payment, one of the enterprises ended up being leased to a specially created private enterprise, Agrarian Company 2004 (33007579), which began actively gobbling up land in the district. Sergey Labazyukov's autobiography describes it this way:
"...in 2004, when 70% of the land in the Volochissky district was overgrown with weeds, a young entrepreneur took a serious risk and leased his first farm. Moreover, the villagers unanimously gave him their land shares."
That last sentence is downright touching! You can just picture the Khmelnytskyi peasants bowing to the 24-year-old Labaziuk, saying, "Take our shares, father, enjoy them, it's no big deal!" It seems that behind this pompous nonsense, Serhiy Labaziuk is hiding the real story of how he and his brother began amassing their land bank, which soon numbered in the hundreds, and then in the thousands, of hectares. Let's be clear: the Labaziuks' enterprises currently control 85 hectares of land in the Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, and Ternopil regions.
Deputies and roads of Khmelnytskyi region
At the height of his family business's development, in the summer of 2004, Serhiy Labaziuk earned a degree in economics from the Ternopil Academy of National Economy (formerly the Finance and Economics Department of the Kyiv Institute of National Economy, now West Ukrainian National University). In 2006, he took his first step into politics, being elected as a member of the Volochysky District Council. A year later, Labaziuk ran in the snap parliamentary elections under the clearly unwinnable seat number 189 on the Lytvyn Bloc list, which gave him not so much a slim chance of getting into the Rada as the real privileges of a candidate. This allowed him to try his hand at a new business – road construction.
Interestingly, his autobiography describes it this way:
"In 2007, the entrepreneur invested in road construction throughout the Khmelnytskyi region."
Considering that there are no toll roads in the region then or now, the use of the word "invest" in this case is completely unclear—unless Labaziuk was trying to buy votes by campaigning for the Lytvyn Bloc in his district. But really, at his own expense? You'll be surprised, but that's exactly what Labaziuk likes to claim—despite all the facts we'll present now suggest otherwise. Not to mention that in Ukraine, even the wealthiest businessmen and corrupt officials hesitate to undertake such expensive expenditures. And why bother, when a road can be built using public funds, securing the necessary appropriations, while pocketing 20% to 50% of the cost—and then lying to voters, claiming, "I built your road!" That's exactly what Serhiy Labaziuk did, having become even more successful in the road business than in agriculture. Interestingly, the contractor for road tenders, both then and later, was the private enterprise "Agrarian Company 2004" that he and his brother owned, thus becoming a "multi-industry" enterprise.
According to Skelet.Org sources , Labaziuk was introduced to the road construction business by Vasyl Shpak, then chairman of the regional branch of the People's Party (the foundation of the Lytvyn Bloc). It was thanks to him that Labaziuk became a member of the People's Party, was elected to the district council under the Lytvyn Bloc banner, won a place on the bloc's list in the parliamentary elections in 2007, and was elected to the regional council in 2010 as a Lytvyn Bloc candidate. However, their close relationship was less partisan than business-related and corrupt, dating back to some schemes run by Agroleasing, which Shpak headed (there is a link to agricultural machinery purchases). Vasyl Shpak is one of Ukraine's most notorious corrupt officials: in 2014, he was arrested in the Ukragroleasing case, and his son, Mykola Shpak, is wanted. As a member of parliament in the fourth and sixth convocations, Vasyl Shpak was a member of the budget committee and used public funds to his advantage, including by providing subsidies for road repairs in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. In 2010, Shpak even ran for the position of Chairman of the Khmelnytskyi Regional State Administration, but as a member of the Lytvynivtsi party, he lost the race to Vasyl Yadukha, head of the regional branch of the Party of Regions.
Shpak primarily provided budget funding. Labaziuk's direct "partner" in the successful road construction business for many years was Petro Gnidyuk, who headed the Khmelnytsky Regional Road Administration from 2007 to 2014, and then the Khmelnytsky Regional Road Service until 2020. He is a very cautious and experienced official, familiar with all the intricacies of road construction, so his name has never been linked to corruption scandals—even though road construction in the Khmelnytsky region was no less embezzled than in any other region of Ukraine. There were countless high-profile cases and investigations, and one after another local Avtodor official was dragged into custody, but Gnidyuk was never touched. And now, with a clean record, he has been promoted to Kyiv.
Petr Gnidyuk
And, of course, Labaziuk's successful road business would not have been possible without the help of Ivan Vasyliovych Gladunyak! From 2002 to 2005, he served as deputy chairman, and from 2005 to 2006, chairman of the Khmelnytskyi Regional State Administration. He then chaired the Khmelnytskyi Regional Council from 2006 to 2010, after which he was repeatedly elected as a member. Interestingly, having previously been a member of Our Ukraine, Batkivshchyna, and Solidarity, Gladunyak is now a member of the For the Future party, like Labaziuk.
Ivan Gladunyak
Gladunyak not only participated in the distribution of funds but also had a direct connection to roadwork, as, according to media reports, he owned Khmelnytskyi DSU No. 56 (03448860) until 2013. This company constantly appears in Labaziuk's road plans ; it operates in tandem with his Agrarian Company 2004. In 2016, the SBU conducted searches of the offices of both firms. It was during these searches that Serhiy Labaziuk, who had rushed in, started a fight with SBU officers, cracking one of them in the head. Apparently, the SBU had truly stumbled upon something serious, since Labaziuk became so nervous that he dropped his mask of peaceful farmer and bared his wolfish fangs!
Sergey Labazyuk: A Few Facts About the Lying Road Builder
To get an idea of the sums this modest provincial agrarian from the Lytvyn Bloc had already had his hand in, and how much could have been his, let's look at a news report from the spring of 2013: MP Who Cursed at Journalist Received 33 Million UAH for Roads . It states that Labaziuk's "Agrarian Company 2004" received a contract from the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Road Service worth 33,18 million UAH (US$4,14 million at the then exchange rate). It also states that "over the past five years" (from 2007 to early 2013), this company won road tenders totaling almost 125 million UAH.
It also mentions a scandalous incident from 2012, when Channel 33 journalists, covering road corruption, decided to show how easily public funds are embezzled, and as an experiment, they bought a couple of buckets of crushed stone from workers at Agrarnaya Kompaniya 2004 (not much, of course, but the journalists couldn't afford a whole dump truck). When they contacted Sergey Labaziuk himself for clarification, he first claimed it was his crushed stone and that he was building the road with his own money (!), and then threatened to "stop messing around, or you'll get burned."
These few seconds of video vividly reveal the essence of Seryozhka Labaziuk! Firstly, he's unable to abandon his purely provincial, gangster-like (Kugutsky) manner of interacting with people. Compare him to former members of Moscow's organized crime groups (the "Savlokhovskys," "Rybkiny," and "Kisilevskys") who have gone into big business and politics—they wouldn't dare talk to journalists like that, much less beat SBU officers over the head! And secondly, Labaziuk once again claimed to be building roads with his own money. Well, apparently, he's been fooling the elderly voters of the Volochysky district for years with such primitive lies! But Labaziuk himself has effectively been left looking like a fool, since his absurd lies beg the question: if he built roads at his own expense, then where did he put the hundreds of millions of hryvnias of state money he received from Ukravtodor and local budgets?
This incident had no impact on Serhiy Labaziuk's position, nor did his subsequent vote for the anti-Maidan "January 16th laws." He continued to lie, applying his signature method of urine therapy to ophthalmology (figuratively speaking), and his "Agrarian Company 2004" continued to win road tenders. And then, from the October 2014 news, we see that it received another tender from the Regional Road Service for 30,74 million hryvnias, bringing the total amount of state road appropriations Labaziuk had appropriated by that time to 236 million hryvnias. A year later, this figure had already surpassed 320 million. "At his own expense," huh?
Mikhail Shpolyansky, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Sergei Labazyuk: A corrupt wolf in the sheep's clothing of an innocent farmer. PART 2
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