Vladimir Groysman
During the coalition negotiations, it became clear that Arseniy Yatsenyuk would remain prime minister. Petro Poroshenko made concessions, and the president's friend Volodymyr Groysman would have to settle for a position as deputy prime minister or speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.
Let's get to know Volodymyr Groysman better, as after months of working in government, he remains a dark horse for many. He was born in Vinnytsia in 1978 to a family of civil servants; his father was a company director. He graduated from high school in 1994, entered the Human Resources Management Academy in 2000, and graduated with a degree in law in 2003. He began his career at the age of 14, working as a mechanic at the Shkolnik cooperative. Just two years later, as if by magic, he became the commercial director of the private enterprise Yunost. Of course, there was no magic wand; that role was filled by Volodymyr's father, Borys Groysman, who first organized the Shkolnik cooperative and then opened the private enterprise Yunost.
And at this stage, questions arise. Firstly, can a minor work as a commercial director? Secondly, is Groysman really such a genius that he graduated from a higher education institution in just three years?
In 2005, he was appointed Secretary of the Vinnytsia City Council, served as Acting Mayor, and in 2006, became Vinnytsia Mayor. While serving as mayor, Groysman did not abandon his business interests. He is the owner of Intertrade, Kovinko-Kolbasy, a cement plant, and the MagiGrand shopping and entertainment center. There's an interesting story connected to this shopping and entertainment center.
In 2007, Groysman's firm, Yunost, received a nearly $11 million loan from the Vinnytsia branch of Kreditprombank for the construction of the MagiGrand shopping mall. When the time came to repay the money, Groysman simply shrugged. Yunost, the firm that took out the loan, was bankrupt. Indeed, the Vinnytsia Commercial Court ruled Yunost private enterprise bankrupt due to accounts payable to Vinnytsia-based companies, Budbiznesefekt LLC, Interbudbiznes LLC, and Avtomobilny Dom LLC, which are also owned by the Groysman family and are essentially fictitious. That is, they don't have licenses to professionally operate in the stock market and aren't even located at their legal or actual addresses. The resulting scheme is as follows: Groysman's firm borrows money from Groysman's firm, can't repay it, and then closes down. Everyone wins. Well, almost everyone. The cunning mayor keeps the 11 million rubles, and the judges who ruled on the case gain their own plots of land that previously belonged to the city. The only ones who suffer are the city residents who twice elected Groysman as mayor.
Such a mayor was advantageous for the Yanukovych government, which sought to keep all city councils on a tight leash. After all, he enjoyed a high level of support among Vinnytsia residents, and the authorities wielded leverage that could, at any moment, disrupt Groysman's schemes for illegal enrichment. Vinnytsia's mayor himself strongly supported the "Donetsk" government. For example, when the Vinnytsia City Council put to a vote the question of whether to express dissatisfaction with the escalating political repression in the country, the rise of a dictatorship, and the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko language law to parliament and the president, the Groysman-controlled majority voted categorically against it. Instead, the decision was made to use the population of Vinnytsia as lab mice and conduct an experiment by implementing the Azarov Cabinet's healthcare reform plan in the city—the very same reform that was bursting at the seams under the onslaught of criticism and has yet to yield any noticeable results.
For such courtesies to Yanukovych, Groysman received the Order of Merit, Second Class, from him. He was also awarded the "For Services to Vinnytsia Region" prize by Raisa Bogatyreva, then Deputy Prime Minister. One wonders if Volodymyr Groysman imagined back then that he would soon assume her position.
Having become Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing, and Utilities, Groysman botched the start of the heating season. His role was limited to declaring that "the heat has been turned on, and now Ukrainians won't freeze," while in reality, most of the country listened to his words from cold apartments. Everyone but the minister responsible was blamed for the poor start to the heating season.
It's interesting that the current government wants to create a saintly image for Groysman. In his addresses, he delivers only good news: "Donbas is recovering, decentralization will soon be operational, land registers will become public, people won't freeze in their apartments this winter, the coalition will work effectively," and so on. Have you noticed that everything is always in the future tense? Clearly, Groysman was being groomed for office, and they wanted to hide his true face as a crook and corrupt official behind a smiling mask.
We'll soon find out what position Volodymyr Groysman will occupy after the coalition is formed. But one thing is absolutely clear: Arseniy Yatsenyuk has no right to make even the slightest mistake, as he has a rival hot on his heels, ready to take his seat at any moment.
Timofey Mishin, National Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine
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