A week ago, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan stated on Facebook that the MIU's top brass were receiving low salaries. He implied that this situation was fostering corruption within the agency. This prompted us to conduct a series of investigations into the MIU. We wanted to understand whether things were as dire as Omelyan claimed. After just a week of investigation, we uncovered a treasure trove of incriminating evidence. Moreover, every factual finding was clearly criminal.
There's so much information that each story (including the one involving Shulmeister) had to be broken into several parts. We're saving the most "appetizing" facts for later. It's more interesting that way.
But you, dear officials, still have a chance to save yourself. We are ready to stop the publication of this latest batch of incriminating evidence. But only in exchange for other, higher-caliber information.
Well, now the saga of the business adventures of the head of Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Zavgorodniy.
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Oleksandr Zavgorodniy is the epitome of a Ukrainian official. A classic of the genre. A romantic of railroad ties and locomotive whistles, he lives at the mercy of his son and wife, who are forced into business to support their wayward father. After all, Zavgorodniy's own income (less than 3 hryvnias per month, according to his financial declaration) is only enough to cover his mortgage payments.
It's no wonder Oleksandr Viktorovich is so beloved by Minister Pivovarsky. He's truly a saint. Zavgorodny's colleagues and friends are already in jail. And he worked for three years at the Ukrainian Transport Inspectorate, and not a single criminal case!
But recently, Uncle Sasha (as we affectionately call him) planted a seed of doubt in our minds. Is he really that saintly? In his latest interview with UP, Alexander Viktorovich blurted out too much. "I've shown what I earned legally. You won't see anything else in any government employee's income declaration," he said.
According to his declaration, Zavgorodniy is supported by his businessman husband. Last year, the official's income was only 37 hryvnias. But that's "legally"...
Ah, so that's how it is! Looks like Uncle Sasha is hiding something. And we weren't the only ones who noticed.
Some kind people sent us a curious letter with photographs. In the photo (apparently taken on a cell phone), the acting general director of Ukrzaliznytsia is getting into a silver Lexus. Other photos show his red-haired son, Igor Zavgorodniy, next to the same car.
A silver Lexus with license plate AA0376BT is Zavgorodny's daily driver, along with his son Igor, who has recently taken up residence in his father's office, quickly settling into his role as the "crown prince."
As is well known, Igorek owes the Dnieper Railway a considerable sum. But his father insists he doesn't interfere in his son's affairs. However, Igor is actively involved in his father's affairs. Recently, the "offspring" has been effectively "working" in his father's office at the Railway Administration, resolving serious issues.
The official and his son regularly use the car in the photo. Employees of Ukrzaliznytsia's central office can confirm this. While his father is attending meetings, the Lexus is used to transport Igor, who has become a frequent visitor to UZ's departments, where the heir is closely involved in the company's affairs.
However, Igor is still kept off the radar for certain "topics." Uncle Sasha personally oversees the establishment of electricity procurement schemes. Such matters are discussed privately only with Valery Lyudmirsky, the head of the energy mafia who has risen from the ashes like a phoenix and is receiving visitors at the Perfetto restaurant.
"The Last Supper": Valeriy Lyudmirsky, Deputy Head of the Energy Sales Department at Ukrzaliznytsia, gives Zavgorodniy a master class on shady energy supply schemes. Lyudmirsky evaded dismissal for a long time by taking... maternity leave. But something tells us we'll see him back in action soon.
However, Zavgorodny's "secret suppers" are the subject of a separate publication. Let's return to the Lexus.
As it turned out, the car belongs to a legal entity – the notorious construction company “Santanna”.
Nine years ago, a company began construction on a residential complex at 4B Dragomirova Street in Kyiv. Prices per square meter were skyrocketing, and happy Pinocchios brought their savings to Santana.
"They're driving piles, removing soil, digging, doing other things, and promising to deliver by the second quarter of 2008," joyfully reported apartment buyers who visited the construction site in December 2006. However, investors soon began to notice that the work was significantly behind schedule. "I'm monitoring the construction every day. According to my contract, Santana will miss the delivery deadline by at least a year," wrote one of the company's clients in early 2007.
Gradually, unfavorable rumors began to circulate among investors: "The owners of Santana took out a huge loan to build the building." It was later revealed that the company's owners had indeed taken out loans from three banks—Kyiv Commercial Bank, Swedbank Invest, and Expobank Commercial Bank—for a total of 80 million hryvnias (approximately $16 million).
Attempts to complete the building were made with varying success in 2007-2008, but then construction was finally frozen. Information surfaced that Santanna had not only cheated investors from Dragomirov; it also had another problematic building on Yerevanskaya Street. The developer was essentially operating a pyramid scheme. "Santanna attracts funds during the initial construction phase, investing these funds in the next plot of land, and so on," forum visitors shared their woes.
And in 2009, Santanna unexpectedly initiated bankruptcy proceedings. When it became clear that the funds raised had disappeared and the company had no intention of completing the building, the future residents appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office. "The building was sold and 85% mortgaged, but 55% was completed." The question is, "Where did 30% of the funds go?" the defrauded shareholders wrote.
However, Santana's bankruptcy case was officially opened only in 2013. The current whereabouts of its nominal owners are unknown.
And now about strange coincidences.
In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Oleksandr Zavgorodniy explained that in 2005, after being dismissed from his position as First Deputy Head of the Dnieper Railway, he went into the construction business. He returned to government service in 2010. The rise and fall of Santana coincided precisely with these years.
Coincidence number two. Santana was merely the construction contractor. The developer was a certain company called Transbudinvest (information about the complex on Dragomirova Street is posted in the "Projects" section of the company's official website). It seems construction wasn't Transbudinvest's core business, but rather a passing fad. In the wildly growing market of 2004-2008, everyone was jumping into real estate projects. The company's core business, however, was and is leasing freight cars.
"Our rolling stock rental services include general-purpose cars: thermos cars, refrigerated containers, gondola cars, large-capacity containers, pellet trucks, and tank cars for transporting dark and light petroleum products. Renting cars allows you to transport freight without the expense of purchasing your own rolling stock," the company's website states.
Zavgorodniy's company halted construction of the complex on Dragomirova Street back in 2009. Having collected money from investors, the railroad's chief executive's firm began bankruptcy proceedings.
Among its main partners, Transbudinvest names… the Ukrainian Railway Administration. How intertwined, don't you think?
Coincidence three. According to the register of encumbrances on movable property, Oleksandr Viktorovich Zavgorodniy (born October 4, 1969), a resident of Dnipropetrovsk, has had all of his... movable property seized since 2013. The decision was made by the Babushkinsky branch of the State Executive Service of the Dnipropetrovsk Department of Justice (Resolution Series VP No. 37146563, dated March 14, 2013). The court decision to begin the rehabilitation of Santana was made just two weeks earlier, on February 28, 2013. An experienced lawyer will explain that a fictitious seizure of one's property (when the seizure is imposed on the basis of a receipt issued to a relative or friend) is one way to protect one's "maino" in the event that someone actually wants to take it away.
And now, dear readers, hold on to your chairs. The seizure of Zavgorodny's property remains unlifted to this day!
Coincidence number four. The complex on Dragomirova remains unfinished to this day. For five years, the construction site remained silent, interrupted only by the occasional sobs of wandering investors bemoaning their lost savings. However, in early July, just after Uncle Sasha and the Zaporizhzhia backwoods had skyrocketed to the top of Ukrzaliznytsia, the complex began to stir. Construction workers began running around, and a crane was being set up. Investors claim the complex has supposedly been sold to the Dnipropetrovsk company Delmar. Apparently, the former owners reached an agreement with them regarding the completion of the project. In exchange, the Dnipropetrovsk residents were promised the sale of apartments that Santana hadn't managed to sell.
It's fantastic, but in the prosperous years of 2010-2014, such a project was considered unprofitable! When the price per square meter in the capital plummeted and buyers disappeared en masse, they decided to complete the complex.
Now let's carefully put all the pieces together. And here's the picture we're getting. After leaving the Dnieper Railway, Uncle Sasha got involved in the construction project as a partner, promising maximum assistance in another area of the railcar business. When the pyramid began to collapse, he simply panicked, trying to hide his assets. Now that Ukrzaliznytsia's unlimited resources have opened up to Zavgorodne, the construction can be completed. And not even with his own hands. According to our information, Delmar has been promised more than just a few dozen apartments. The complex is being sold as a package deal. For Uncle Sasha, resolving the Dragomirov problem is more than just a matter of honor. Among the defrauded buyers are serious people who have long promised to ruin the official's life and not just his own...
It's clear that after our publication, Uncle Sasha will start trying to get out of it. He'll say the Lexus was just let out for a spin. His property is under arrest!
But how will Pivovarsky, the prime minister and also the minister of internal affairs, view this? A private company with a dubious reputation is "friendly"ly driving a government official around in its car. Shevchenko was given a kick in the ass for flying on a private jet; the same thing is happening here.
The second option is that Zavgorodniy "frankly" admits his connection to Santana. He says it was a sin. So why not live and lead now?
Go ahead, my dear man. Just tell me – will you continue supplying Transbudinvest with trailers?
To be continued ...
Stay with us – it will be interesting. And for some, it might even be scary.
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