Vladimir Bedrikovsky: The Taking Hand of Prosecutor General Lutsenko. Part 1
High-ranking law enforcement officials, who are the most vocal about the fight against corruption, are themselves mired in it up to their very caps. A striking example of this is the office of the current Prosecutor General of Ukraine. Yuriy Lutsenko, where corruption continues to flourish as rampantly as under his predecessors. And the blame for this lies not with the crisis, the opposition, or Russian aggression, but with the Prosecutor General himself, who deliberately surrounds himself with people like Vladimir Bedrikovsky. Bedrikovsky began reviving old and building new corruption schemes as soon as he took over as head of the Department for Oversight of Legality.
The legacy of "authorities"
Vladimir Vladimirovich Bedrikovsky (Ukrainian: Бериківській) was born on December 16, 1963, in the town of Zalishchyky (Ukrainian: Заліщики) in the Ternopil region. It's worth noting that the media often publish incorrect years of his birth: sometimes 1961, sometimes 1964. However, in the Ukrainian residents' database, V.V. Bedrikovsky is listed as having been born in 1963.
After school, with the help of relatives, he found work at the Dnisterka tourist center, holding down two jobs: as an electrician and as a sports instructor (guiding tourists on nature hikes). At the time, such work was typically reserved for two types of people: creative types and natural-born lazybones. Well, Bedrykovsky didn't write poetry, compose music, or paint. But after serving in the army (1982-1984), he joined the police—also, it should be noted, not a job for workaholics. From 1985-87, he trained at the Ivano-Frankivsk Police School (now a branch of the Lviv University of Internal Affairs), after which he worked for two years as a district police officer in the district center of Borshchiv (Ternopil Oblast).
Bedrikovsky's moment of glory came in 1989, when he entered the Kyiv Higher Police School (now the National Academy of Internal Affairs). Upon graduating in 1991, Bedrikovsky was invited to join the Department for Combating Organized Crime (UBOP), which was then the most prestigious and high-powered job in the police. It's worth noting that this is how he ended up in the UBOP. Valery Geletey, He also studied first at the Ivano-Frankivsk Police School and then at the Kyiv Academy. However, Heletey's career as a "Criminal Organized Crime Investigation Officer," with his powerful backers, took off quickly, and he initially even surpassed Bedrikovsky, who had to work as an operative for a couple of years longer. However, Bedrikovsky's background as a "combat operative" was later often used as a political asset in personnel games.
What Bedrikovsky actually did in the ranks of the UBOP in the 90s remains a closely guarded secret. True, you can't hide an awl in a sack, and ubiquitous journalists somehow uncovered information that in the 90s, operative Bedrikovsky, working for the Savlokhov brothers' organized crime group, quickly became close to his protégés and later began working for them. No, the Kyiv UBOP never stooped to the level of lackeys for the "authorities" (simply because it was unprofitable); rather, it was their unofficial "partner" in various matters. Moreover, an unscrupulous and vile "partner," often betraying his "companions." That's why the ranks of "authorities" were regularly thinned, with those on friendly terms with the UBOP replacing intractable and inconvenient organized crime group leaders, and some of the businesses of murdered and convicted "authorities" going to the "cops." Here we can recall the UBOP-affiliated banks created by Heletey's colleague, Alexei Savchenko, using the money of the murdered Pryshch. Of course, the details of Bedrikovsky's relationship with the Savlokhovs remain unknown, but Skelet.Org It's known that the dashing "UBOP" officer has been one of the main "protection" men for the commercial entities created by the brothers since the 2000s. Naturally, he wasn't paid a monthly "envelope" for this service: that would be dangerous, and he'd have to share with his superiors. No, according to sources, Bedrikovsky controls a stake in the companies created by the Savlokhovs. Moreover, he's not limited to his connections to the Savlokhovs' organized crime group.
Boris Savkholov
But for many years, this information was either hidden, quickly scrubbed, or hushed up. Moreover, Bedrikovsky himself was cautious, and the kind of stories about him that circulated in Kyiv about his colleague Heletey didn't circulate. So, formally, Bedrikovsky remained a clean, practically flawless Organized Crime Control (UBOP) officer. And when necessary, a legend was concocted about Bedrikovsky as an "honest cop" and courageous operative. This became necessary after the first Maidan, when several officials in the capital's Ministry of Internal Affairs were elevated by the new government. Even Bedrikovsky's service record from 1991 to 2006, available in the media, was erased and abridged to the point of indecency. It was as if it had been deliberately truncated to create the impression that Bedrikovsky had been plucked for promotion almost directly from an ambush of criminals. But in reality, by that time, Bedrikovsky had already forgotten how to fasten handcuffs: since the late 90s, he had held senior positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since at least 2003, he had been the deputy head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (his boss was Yuriy Cherkasov), and before that, he was the head of a department within the GUBOP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Incidentally, Bedrikovsky's career in the UBOP far surpassed that of Valeriy Heletey - before the first Maidan, he was, at most, only the deputy head of the Kyiv UBOP (and then headed the Kyiv criminal investigation department).
So, while Heletey made his career in the Kyiv Department of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Bedrikovsky did so within the walls of the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself. Consequently, there were varying levels of corruption, which by the early 2000s had already permeated the UBOP. Ministry officials rarely had to deal with criminal "authorities," unlike the Kyiv UBOP officers who worked in the field. But Bedrikovsky had the opportunity to work with "VIP clients," pulling off some rather intricate schemes. For example, as in the case of "businesswoman" Oksana Moroz.
Oksana Moroz
Vladimir Bedrikovsky and the "female praying mantis"
As the media has reported numerous times, in the 80s, failed student Oksana Moroz engaged in hard currency prostitution at Kyiv's Dnepr Hotel. Due to the constant contact between dollar prostitutes and foreigners, this activity was closely monitored by the KGB. However, criminal organizations also provided protection for this business. Thus, Oksana Moroz became an informant for state security and simultaneously made numerous useful contacts within the emerging Kyiv organized crime groups. It should be noted that Oksana Moroz was distinguished by her high sociability and ability to quickly establish useful connections—not only sexual but also friendships, which eventually also led to business contacts.
Oksana Moroz
And so, starting in the late 80s, when it became possible to earn dollars not only from the "front," Oksana Moroz retrained as a "marukha" (slut), becoming the wife of former butcher Harry Malik-zade Dzhiba, better known as the crime boss Dzhiba and uncle of another crime boss, Viktor Avdyshev. She even gave birth to a son, Malik Garievich Moroz, in 1991. But the following year, Dzhiba was murdered, and Oksana found herself another crime boss, then a third, and so on, going through several murdered or imprisoned "husbands" over the course of three years. Then she hit the jackpot in the form of American businessman Alex Hunt—aka Alexander Markovich Okhotin, a Ukrainian Jew who emigrated to the United States (his father's name was Tabakmakher). With his money, she bought up all the apartments in the historic four-story building at 8/16 Grushevsky Street (literally next to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine), where she already owned two apartments inherited from "authorities." On the ground floor, she opened a super-expensive boutique, "Sanahunt," for VIP clients of the highest rank. It became not only a clothing store but also a sort of salon for the capital's elite (and one can only guess what was on the upper floors of this "salon"). Thus, the former currency whore became Kyiv's premier courtesan, counting generals among her friends, and having Leonid Kuchma's daughter and Viktor Yushchenko as her godparents. A more detailed account of her "life" was once written by a series of journalistic materials "The Female Praying Mantis".
"Salon" by Oksana Moroz Sanahunt
Incidentally, Oksana Moroz's resourcefulness, literally swindling high-ranking individuals out of huge sums of money in her boutique, is admirable. Not only did she charge designer items several times higher prices than in Europe, not only did she present consumer goods as exclusives, but she also often sold not certified goods, but "Taiwanese" counterfeits smuggled through Odessa.
At the same time, representatives of famous global brands have repeatedly noted that their companies have not sent any new collections to Ukraine, and they have no idea who is selling what in Kyiv on their behalf.
Amid the crowds of oligarchs, high-ranking officials, prominent politicians, and their family members who frequented Sanahunt, the relatively modest figure of Vladimir Bedrikovsky was almost invisible. Nevertheless, he was named one of Oksana Moroz's personal defenders. According to several sources, Skelet.OrgVladimir Bedrikovsky had known her since the early 90s, when he worked as a detective for the UBOP. There were even unconfirmed rumors that Oksana Moroz had put in a good word for him, so that Bedrikovsky could be placed directly in the ministry—at least, rumor hadn't mentioned any other patrons of his at the time, and yet, someone did indeed help Bedrikovsky's career in the late 90s. Whether that's true or not, in 2003 he had the opportunity to repay her with a very big favor.
A couple of years earlier, Oksana Moroz had conceived the idea of leaving her current husband, Alex Hunt, despite having given birth to his child. To begin with, Oksana created the company "Art-Plus," which took over the management of the boutique "Sanahunt," which took out large foreign currency loans guaranteed by Hunt. Hunt also spent heavily on furnishing their "family nest" in Kyiv and bought his wife a villa in Cannes (previously owned by Alexander Abdullin, a longtime member of parliament from the Batkivshchyna party). In early 2003, Oksana Moroz forged documents, transferred significant funds from Hunt to her own accounts, and also orchestrated a credit scam. Suspecting something was wrong, Hunt contacted the National Bank, the police, and the prosecutor's office, but was met with nothing but disdain. Then, as an American citizen, he decided to seek the truth at the US Embassy—and that's when Oksana Moroz's patrons in uniform stepped in. First, Ukrainian police simply confiscated Hunt's US passport, leaving him without papers for two months (meanwhile, Moroz filed for divorce from him in... a Haitian court), until the US Embassy finally intervened.
Then, with the help of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP), then headed by Cherkasov and Vladimir Bedrikovsky, they attempted to strip Hunt of his American citizenship. An old criminal case from 1973 was dredged up, in which then-Soviet citizen Alexei Okhotnikov was sentenced to a year of correctional labor for stealing tires. Since Okhotnikov-Hunt, when applying for US citizenship, failed to mention his criminal record (it had long been expunged), this could have served as grounds for revoking his citizenship. However, it didn't, and Hunt was simply thrown out of Ukraine, after which he was banned from entering. The ban was based on a statement from Oksana Moroz, a typical complaint from a divorcing wife against her husband, but for some reason sent directly to the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GUBOP) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Why not immediately go to the anti-terrorism center?! Since when has the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (especially at the level of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' main office) been involved in domestic conflicts? Nevertheless, Oksana Moroz's complaint was accepted and responded to immediately. The official response was handed to her by Bedrikovsky himself, who was personally behind this scam (his boss, Cherkasov, was a temporary member of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime). He thus notified her that the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime had submitted a corresponding request to the State Border Protection Committee to ban citizen Khant from entering Ukraine.
Vladimir Bedrikovsky, prosecutor, Sanahunt, Yuriy Lutsenko, bribe, biography, compromising information
After this, Oksana Moroz began transferring all of Hunt's Ukrainian property to her name, using corrupt courts to make the necessary rulings. Hunt, for his part, hired lawyers in Ukraine, one of whom (Yeremenko) in 2004 began challenging the entry ban on his client. To his surprise, he received a response that there was no such ban! The Border Service wrote back that they had made no such decision and recommended the lawyer contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs for clarification. The Ministry of Internal Affairs then issued an official response from Vladimir Bedrikovsky, stating that the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime "does not make decisions to deny entry to foreign citizens." Curtain call! However, the ending of this story was far more tragic: some time later, Hunt, who had been trying to fight for his property and his son (Oksana Moroz also won his son's death in court), died under highly suspicious circumstances.
But this wasn't the only known instance of Vladimir Bedrikovsky providing Oksana Moroz with "corrupt services." Another scandal erupted in 2016, when Moroz's courier attempted to smuggle a million dollars and euros in cash out of Ukraine. Moroz's friend immediately rushed to her aid. Alexandra Kuzhel and his ever-present defender, Vladimir Bedrikovsky, who, already a big shot in the Prosecutor General's Office, was able to hush up the case, even though it had generated a lot of attention.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Vladimir Bedrikovsky: The Taking Hand of Prosecutor General Lutsenko. Part 2
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