Dark spots of the past
Officials have always and everywhere stolen. Of course, we can't blanketly accuse them all of financial dishonesty, but in the vast majority of cases, this is the bitter truth. This is especially true if investigations have been conducted repeatedly, the defendants' guilt has been established, entered into the state register of pre-trial investigations, and the audit results have long been made public, in the most transparent sources possible. As you understand, we're not talking about "mere" sums of a few thousand (or even tens of thousands) of hryvnias. The damages amount to millions, or rather, tens of millions. Moreover, we're talking about people who thrived under the Yanukovych regime and stole public funds without a care in the world.
A hostage of simple schemes
The subject of this article, Vladimir Viktorovich Tkachenko, is the former head of the directorate of the Social Insurance Fund for Temporary Disability. It turns out that substantial funds were allocated for disability restoration, but they never reached those in need, ending up in the pockets and wallets of Mr. Tkachenko and his accomplices. The schemes for embezzling the funds were far from complex and had been honed over the years: the Social Insurance Fund for Temporary Disability transferred funds to the relevant companies, which Vladimir Tkachenko had some connection to, in one way or another. The lion's share of the proceeds was then siphoned off through fictitious contracts to unauthorized accounts, and then vanished without a trace.
How to make money out of thin air
For example, the work of two such firms, Zdravie LLC and Medreabilitatsiya LLC, has been studied quite thoroughly. They acted as intermediaries between sanatorium-type treatment facilities and the Social Insurance Fund, depositing significant sums into their accounts. Moreover, both firms have owners with the same last name, are registered at the same address, and even share the same telephone number. Zdravie is owned by Yevhen Gennadievich Pavlenko, while Medreabilitatsiya is owned by Gennady Viktorovich Pavlenko. This surname is certainly not the most uncommon in Ukraine, but you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see the close connection between these companies. At one time, approximately 20 million hryvnias each "fell" into their accounts, which is further evidenced by the fact that these companies were fined by the Antimonopoly Committee for anticompetitive agreements during tenders. Incidentally, the auction was held with a minimal number of participants, and its results were agreed upon in advance with the Foundation—Tkachenko was in good hands, apparently counting on a particularly large reward.
How to win a tender
A simple scheme—the transfer of a huge sum—approximately 20 million hryvnias for consulting services, which clearly has nothing to do with the provision of the stated medical rehabilitation services. Furthermore, at the end of 2013, a tender was held for advertising placements worth over 10 million hryvnias. The sole bidder was a company co-owned until October 2012 by V.V. Tkachenko, who, incidentally, held the position of First Deputy Director of the Executive Directorate of the Social Insurance Fund at the time of the tender. In short, the principle of "making money while it's being made" was clearly his motivation. This smacks of not only an administrative violation of the law, but also downright criminal liability, especially given the size of the sums involved.
No matter how long a rope twists
Naturally, this plundering scheme couldn't continue indefinitely. The SBU and the Prosecutor General's Office became closely involved in the activities of Tkachenko and the companies he supported in 2014. All the clues were easily unraveled, and information about the criminal activity was obtained. Serious trouble loomed on the horizon for Volodymyr Tkachenko. The SBU announced it was suspending the illegal activities of officials from the Social Insurance Fund for Temporary Disability, who had created a mechanism for embezzling public funds that allowed them to increase their capital by as much as 30 million hryvnias. The SBU press service reported this on its website. Tkachenko was dismissed from his leadership position.
An experienced official and intriguer
However, Vladimir Viktorovich, a seasoned official and schemer, isn't about to give up. He's recently filed four lawsuits challenging the Foundation's board decision, trying to prove that his dismissal was illegal. This is precisely the information contained in the Register of Court Decisions. The number of lawsuits filed in the same Holosiivskyi Court in Kyiv already suggests what he's hoping for—perhaps the case will eventually end up before the "right" judge, who will make an equally "right" decision. And so, either Tkachenko doesn't fully grasp the fact that the situation in the country has changed and that winning through traditional bureaucratic methods is no longer possible, or, on the contrary, he understands the situation very well, counting on his people in the justice system (and he certainly has them), or he's simply driven mad by greed and a reluctance to lose such a fertile trough. Frankly, the latter possibility is hard to believe. But it's certainly possible, so we're presenting it as a hypothesis.
So who is he?
A few words about Vladimir Viktorovich Tkachenko himself, so we understand where he came from and who he was before. Tkachenko is 40 years old, and he began his political career under the wing of the unforgettable Natalia Korolevska, serving as deputy party chairperson and then chairperson of the executive secretariat of the "Ukraine Forward!" party. Before Kyiv, he lived in Luhansk and was included on Natalia Korolevska's party list at the elections, number 33. In short, he was a loyal adherent of the Party of Regions, a fact he now tries to shy away from. And after the 2014 revolution, he somehow seamlessly migrated from the list of Korolevska's failed party to the comfortable position of director of the executive directorate of the Social Insurance Fund against Temporary Disability. Apparently, he didn't shine particularly brightly, as he narrowly avoided the lustration law, having been caught out by the blatant misappropriation of large sums of public funds and the blatantly simplified schemes for obtaining them. It can be safely said about him: greed was his undoing.
SKELET-info
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