Vasyl Horbal, a former member of the Party of Regions' political council and current member of the National Bank's Supervisory Board and former owner of UkrGasBank, who for many years ran schemes involving hundreds of millions of dollars, currently leads a quiet and modest life. However, if you dig deeper, this is, in reality, merely a temporary facade.
Vasily Gorbal
According to official declaration in 2024 year, Gorbal Vasily Mikhailovich He received almost 3,3 million for his work as a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Bank, 3,178 million hryvnias in interest on deposits at UkrGasBank, and 2,533 million hryvnias in interest at Kreditwest Bank (West Finance and Credit Bank) on a 40 million hryvnia deposit. Vasyl Horbal also has a total of about 4 million hryvnias in cash and in UkrGasBank accounts, writes Oleksiy Andrushchenko. From-ua.
His wife, lawyer Natalia Horbal, is also comfortable, earning around 4 million hryvnias annually and saving in cash and bank deposits. It's worth noting that Vasyl Horbal has formally withdrawn from all businesses in recent years and is not a shareholder (except for a few shares in the Kyivmiskbud-1 Zagorodniy Trust, which is undergoing liquidation). However, his most recent expensive purchases, according to his declaration, were made in 2019-2020: a two-building property with a total area of 642,80 square meters for 5,785 million hryvnias (one square meter is approximately 9,000 hryvnias) and a plot of land beneath these buildings for 4,65 million hryvnias. One of Ukraine's once richest men, he drives a 2006 Bentley Continental, purchased six years ago for 200,000 hryvnias. Shares in a number of businesses (Gal-Vod LLC, Sokol LLC, which are engaged in the production of soft drinks) were transferred to his wife Natalia and trusted people.
However, Gorbal's modest net worth of $1,5-2 million and his family clearly belies his long career as a "successful" banker, businessman, and financier. Furthermore, the declaration contains no foreign real estate or mention of foreign companies. There is no doubt that a significant portion of the hard-earned money is stored in offshore accounts owned by Vasily Gorbal and his family.
Vasyl Horbal. "Papa" Igor Bakai and the UkrGazBank schemes
Despite setbacks at the start of his career in banking, in the 90s fate brought 25-year-old bank clerk Vasily Gorbal together with his “daddy” Igor Bakai, who has “clearly expressed” criminal tendencies and who gave Gorbal his start in business.
The young banker met Bakai in the early 90s at a party at the Rus Hotel, thanks to a friend who worked at Intergazbank, which belonged to Bakai.
DOSSIER: Igor Bakai. The "Father" of Gas Corruption. Part 1
In his first years, the young Horbal was merely an executive, placed at the helm of one of Ukraine's major banks, InterGazBank, where he rose rapidly from deputy to chairman of the board in six months. In 1997, the bank was renamed UkrGazBank, and from 1998 onward, it held the accounts of Naftogaz Ukrainy, a national joint-stock company headed by Bakai. UkrGazBank effectively served Igor Bakai's oil and gas schemes launder tens of millions of dollarsIt was at UkrGazBank that Horbal truly began to build his net worth. He claims he received a certain amount of shares as a bonus for the bank's successful development; later, Igor Bakai transferred the entire bank to him for management.
Igor Bakai
Through Bakai, Horbal met many politicians and "businessmen" close to the oil and gas industry, such as Valery Akopyan, who was vice president of Intergaz CJSC in the late 90s and, in fact, Bakai's accountant. Remarkably, Horbal and Akopyan still maintain contact, including through the Berkut-Kyiv hockey club. In 2018, Horbal will call Bakai, who fled to Russia from Ukrainian justice, "one of the best patriots".
In Ukraine, Bakai managed to close all criminal cases, but he became so brazen and lost all sense of proportion that he swindled Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov out of $12 million, for which he was arrested in Moscow on fraud charges and received a suspended four-year prison sentence with a probationary period of four years.
After the Orange Revolution of 2004, when Horbal’s “daddy” Bakai fled, UkrGazBank, which was designed for schemes, could have been written off.
In the first months after the revolution, Horbal panicked greatly after a law enforcement stunt at the bank, including the seizure of documents and the arrest of several top managers. On June 17, 2005, the Prosecutor General's Office arrested Vadym Lyashko, the head of Ukrgasbank, on suspicion of embezzling 300 million hryvnias through the bank. In an interview, Horbal dismissed this as a misunderstanding. There was a brief period of panic, when, deeply upset, Vasyl Mykhailovych sought buyers for the bank. He was prepared to either sell out completely or give up a significant portion of his shares in exchange for new patronage. But that "era of fear" quickly subsided, and Horbal immediately recovered. He realized he needed to find new ways and engage in politics to avoid being jailed. The bank was already operating as a Ponzi scheme: money was collected from depositors at high interest rates, and the funds to pay the interest were found by attracting new depositors.
Igor Gorbal
How to the media wrote Several years ago, UkrGasBank, headed by Gorbal, was accused of embezzling several hundred million hryvnias from Ukrzaliznytsia, siphoning off funds through offshore companies, tax evasion, and embezzling funds from bill offsets between companies. In 2009, the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko threatened former co-owners of UkrGazBank Gorbal and Oleksiy Omelyanenko prison.
In 2021 activists and journalists remindedUkrGasBank, owned by Vasyl Horbal, issued loans totaling over 300 million hryvnias and purchased bonds from the Ukrainian Investment Engineering Company, 75% of which was also owned by Horbal. The money was never returned to the bank. Investors in the Silver Breeze residential complex also suffered.
In 2016, MP Mykhailo Golovko sent a parliamentary inquiry to the Prosecutor General regarding the embezzlement of 3 billion hryvnias for the refinancing of UkrGasBank, but the agency responded with a formal reply. Vasyl Horbal's large wealth and connections helped him avoid criminal charges and prison.
Business, politics, the Russian Orthodox Church and Kyiv schemes
Kyiv residents remember how Vasyl Horbal, the head of the Party of Regions faction in the Kyiv City Council, tried to take over Kyivmiskbud under Chernovetsky after he removed Kyivmiskbud-1 named after Zagorodniy from the holding company due to debts to UkrGazBank, as well as the land grab by the Party of Regions, in which Vasyl actively participated.
In 2008, Focus journalists appreciated Gorbal, who wore a $200 watch, was worth more than $500 million, and was included in the top 50 richest Ukrainians. In 2007, he actually confirmed in an interview.
According to the press, in 2008 Gorbal had 20% of the shares of Eurocar CJSC. (the same one that made Skodas in Transcarpathia), 40% of the shares of UkrKart OJSC, he controlled the Kyivmiskbud-1 Trust OJSC named after M.P. Zagorodny, and the Ukrainian Insurance Group Insurance Company (was subsequently sold by Gorbal to the Austrian Vienna Insurance Group for $80 million), Inter Invest Consulting, Ipobank, Pension Fund Ukraine.
At the same time, Eurocar founded International Investment Group LLC and several construction companies: Akadembud, Budremontkomplekt, and Avtotrading Invest CJSC.
The Kyivmiskbud-1 Trust OJSC named after M.P. Zagorodniy, which was transferred to Ukrgasbank for debts, also includes Stroitelno-Investitsionnaya Gruppa LLC, Novaya Era LLC, the American firm Stenol Holding (Louisiana), and, in addition to all this, the Arkada sanatorium in Truskavets.
Where Gorbal undoubtedly held a 100% stake in 2008 was in International Pharmaceutical Group LLC, through which he founded (as usual, for money laundering and siphoning) the non-state pension fund "Ukraine." Subsequently, some of these assets were fictitiously transferred to front men.
In June 2005, the banker joined the political council of the Party of Regions and headed the Kyiv city organization. For many years, he was one of the main sponsors of the Party of Regions and was also a member of Viktor Yanukovych's inner circle. Vadim Novinsky, Mykola Azarov, Andrey Klyuev and other "regionals." In those years, he, together with Vadim Novinsky and other "regionals" actively promoted the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate. Horbal had several quarrels and business conflicts with Yanukovych's entourage, as well as Vagif Aliyev.
DOSSIER: Vagif Aliyev. The King of Kyiv Developers. Part 1
Vasily Gorbal's brother, Oleg, also came under attack; he was nearly imprisoned for fraud, but the 2013-2014 Revolution prevented it. After the 2014 defection of the Party of Regions and the change of power, Mikheil Saakashvili, with whom he had studied at the institute, stood up for Gorbal.
DOSSIER: Nikolai Azarov. The Survivor. Part 1
However, the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which replaced the Party of Regions with the same old acquaintances of Vasyl Horbal, took the necessary banker, who is familiar with cash-out schemes, under its wing, having "resolved" Horbal's criminal cases with the new government.
However, Vasyl Horbal himself is trying to solve the problem of new criminal offenses in a tried-and-true way: he's looking for ways to be useful to the new government and gain the necessary support to hush up yet another criminal case and continue his personal enrichment. And, judging by Horbal's appointment to the NBU Supervisory Board, he's succeeded so far. Horbal isn't a classic banker who has climbed every rung of the career ladder, boasting years of successful experience and an impeccable reputation. Rather, he resembles someone who rose to a very high position at a young age, his main task being to facilitate the machinations of his patrons. He then successfully entered politics, where he continued to enrich himself and "serve" his new masters.
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In May 2020, Horbal ran for the position of head of the State Audit Office but lost. In 2021, he tried to become head of the Bureau of Economic Security, but also failed. So, for now, he's content with a seat on the National Bank's Supervisory Board, which the former Party of Regions (OPZZh) helped him secure through the Verkhovna Rada quota in 2020.
One can only hope that Gorbal's new job won't help him cover up his old sins, and that he will ultimately receive the punishment he deserves for the crimes he committed, and that law enforcement agencies, including the NABU, will take an interest in Vasyl Gorbal's current status and affairs and uncover his millions.
Skelet.Org
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