Hennadiy Kernes
Official biography
Born. June 27, 1959 in Kharkiv (USSR) — died December 16, 2020 in Berlin (Germany).
A citizen of Ukraine.
Family.
Father: Adolf Lazarevich Kernes.
Mother: Anna Abramovna Kernes.
Children: Rodion Haisynskyi, Danylo Pryvalov, Kyrylo Kernes.
Civilian wife: Oksana Haisynska.
Start of political activity
In 1998, he became a member of the Kharkiv City Council, having been elected in electoral district 23. Kernes founded and headed the non-partisan parliamentary group “New Kharkiv — New Opportunities”. In the 2002 local elections, he was supported by about 90% of voters. In 2002, he became the head of the deputy corps and secretary of the city council.
In 2004, he supported the Orange Revolution. In 2005, he was included in the list of the “Our Ukraine” party in the elections to the Kharkiv City Council, but during the election campaign he switched to the opposite camp, the Party of Regions. At the same time, he met and became close to Mykhailo Dobkin. In 2006, Kernes managed Dobkin’s election campaign for mayor of Kharkiv. The election video that Kernes helped Dobkin record caused a great deal of publicity.
After Dobkin’s victory in the mayoral election, Kernes became the secretary of the Kharkiv City Council for the second time.
“Euromaidan”
He did not support Euromaidan. In response to the Euromaidan events, the All-Ukrainian Public Union “Ukrainian Front” was created in Kharkiv on the basis of the Party of Regions infrastructure, with Kernes and Dobkin as its leaders.
According to a widespread version, on the night of February 21-22, 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych arrived in Kharkiv, where he spent the night in a country residence with Mykhailo Dobkin, Andriy Portnov, his son Viktor, Hennadiy Kernes and others. However, in an interview in 2017, Kernes himself stated that he knew about this meeting, but did not participate in it and did not see Yanukovych that day.
In the twentieth of January 2014, Kernes and Dobkin went to Russia for several days for unspecified reasons. Igor Girkin, one of the participants in the war in Donbas, on the side of the DPR, said the following in the 2020 program “Russian Interest”:
“Kernes and Dobkin flew to Moscow. They brought back a project of the Kharkiv Republic, and they were ready to proclaim it, but they were told ‘Don’t do it’.” Kernes himself rejected all such statements, saying that he had always considered Kharkiv “an integral part of Ukraine” and that he had flown to Russia “to wish his friend a happy birthday.”
On February 22, 2014, on the air of the popular Ukrainian political talk show “Shuster Live”, Hennadiy Kernes addressed MP from the Svoboda party, Ihor Miroshnychenko, who personally participated in the dismantling of the Lenin monument in Okhtyrka, with the following words:
“I invite you to the city of Kharkiv to Svoboda Square, you are the Svoboda party, where there is a monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. And if you even try to break it, I, as the mayor of Kharkiv, declare that I will break two arms and two legs so that you will never do this again.”
In 2014, a monument to Lenin in the center of Kharkiv was demolished, which Kernes did not prevent. The year before, the monument was included in the list of specially protected monuments, but a few hours before the dismantling, the monument was removed from this list by a decree of the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Ihor Baluta. Kernes appealed the demolition decision in court and announced a plan to restore the monument, but it was never restored. In 2014, a number of Soviet monuments were demolished in Kharkiv and its environs by unknown persons with complete inaction of local authorities and law enforcement agencies.
Attempted assassination
On March 17, 2014, Gennadiy Kernes reported threats against him:
“I am addressing the head of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kharkiv region, the heads of the regional prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine and informing them that recently I and my family, including children, have been targeted by dozens of threats against me amid political persecution. Arsen Avakov, the former governor of the Kharkiv region and now the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, may be behind the threats against my family’s health and life.
On April 28, 2014, an assassination attempt was made against Kernes. The incident occurred around 12:00. While the mayor was jogging along the Bilhorodske highway, he was shot (allegedly) with a 7.62 mm caliber weapon. Hennadiy Kernes was seriously injured, with a pierced lung and liver, the bullet went through and through. Kernes was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery, after which he remained in a life-threatening condition. On the night of April 28-29, the plane with Kernes on board flew to Israel for treatment.
Compromising evidence
Kernes accumulated his initial capital by buying and selling stolen jewelry, then ran a sewing shop, conducted real estate transactions, and participated in privatization.
In April 1985, when they learned that a certain A. Selin had money and a burning desire to buy a Volga, Kernes, Dolgikh and Bezhenar offered him an “option.”
On the spot, they took 20 thousand rubles from the buyer, Kernes went to pay the car seller, but never returned. Selin was indignant, demanded to be paid back, for which he was immediately beaten, and the scum broke the glass in his Zhiguli and pierced the roof. Subsequently, the court did not find Hepa and the company guilty of hooliganism — the “fight” was allegedly only a consequence of mutual hostile relations.
In 1992, the Judicial Panel on Criminal Cases of the Kharkiv Regional Court found the fraud-prone “psychopath” Kernes “guilty of a crime under Article 143, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine” and sentenced him to 3 years in a strict regime penal colony with confiscation of all property that was his personal property.
During the 1998 elections, Kernes and Zhuravlev used the media to create an image of honest businessmen who were primarily concerned with the interests of the city. There is information that during the election of Kernes as a deputy of the city council in 1998, some of the ballots were forged, and that he was “assisted” in the election by another criminal authority (now deceased) Batozsky S. S. — Baton.
In January 2003, a resident of Kharkiv, Oksana Yuriyivna Haisynska, applied to the forensic examination. The woman had been severely beaten. As follows from the forensic report, “the examined stated that on January 22, 2003 around 19.00 in the premises of the National Hotel, Mr. Kernes beat her with some object on the head, kicked her in the face and torso, strangled her by the neck with his hand…” The consequences of the beating for the victim were very severe. But the woman did not want to become a victim.
At the end of 1999, the Simon TV company aired a program in which journalist Zurab Alasania had the misfortune to mention Hepa’s criminal past and link this past to his present. A lawsuit for a million hryvnias immediately followed. The court satisfied the claim almost in full — it ordered the TV company to pay 800 thousand in favor of the plaintiff.
Some sources report that Gennadiy Kernes is being prosecuted. In an interview with LB.ua in 2012, Kernes stated that he had spent 2 years in prison (he was under investigation under Article 143, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR — group fraud — under which he was sentenced to 3 years with confiscation of property in 1992).
In March 2015, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine completed a pre-trial investigation against Hennadiy Kernes under the criminal articles “illegal imprisonment or abduction of a person”, “torture” and “threat of murder”. The case had been under investigation since February 2014, when suspicions of involvement in the abduction and beating of Maidan supporters in January 2014 arose. Along with the mayor, two of his bodyguards are involved in the case.
On September 15, 2016, officers of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine conducted searches in the premises belonging to Hennadiy Kernes in connection with a criminal case on the organization of a scheme to steal 654 hectares of land in Kharkiv worth UAH 4 billion.
Kernes accumulated his initial capital by buying and selling stolen jewelry, then ran a sewing shop, conducted real estate transactions, and participated in privatization.
In April 1985, when they learned that a certain A. Selin had money and a burning desire to buy a Volga, Kernes, Dolgikh and Bezhenar offered him an “option.”
On the spot, they took 20 thousand rubles from the buyer, Kernes went to pay the car seller, but never returned. Selin was indignant, demanded to get his money back, for which he was immediately beaten, and the scum broke the glass in his Zhiguli and pierced the roof. Subsequently, the court did not find Gepa and the company guilty of hooliganism — the “fight” was allegedly only a consequence of mutual hostile relations.
Persons with whom Hepa was involved in the criminal case:
Bezhenar Mykola Heorhiiovych, convicted; Ishenko Serhii Mykolaiovych, convicted; Koshel Viktor Pavlovich, convicted, nicknamed ‘Kosha’, ‘Wallet’; Luchnikov Yurii Oleksiiovych, convicted; Nits Volodymyr Viktorovych, convicted, nicknamed ‘Kabaty’; Borys Oleksandr Vsevolodovych, convicted; Stanislav Oleksiyovych Merezhko, convicted; Valeriy Ivanovych Sheremet, convicted, nicknamed ‘Shyrma’; Volodymyr Konstantinovych Kleba, convicted, nicknamed ‘Gapon’ (killed); Renat Abdulkhayevich Aleev, convicted; Serhiy Ivanovych Dashin, convicted; Ihor Olehovych Revyakin, convicted; Viktor Danilovich Dolgikh, convicted; Oleksandr Georgievich Lapshin, convicted, nicknamed ‘Lapa’; Serhiy Volodymyrovych Shestakov, convicted; Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Lukstin, convicted, nicknamed ‘Luka’; Stanislav Borysovych Dumskiy, convicted; Margarita Oleksiyivna Ivakhnik, convicted; Halyna Leonidivna Spektor, convicted; Mykola Pavlovych Baev, convicted, director of the Novo-Saltivskyi Market JV; Yurii Mykolaiovych Fisakov, convicted; Oleksandr Viktorovych Martseniuk, convicted, founder of a number of commercial structures; Eduard Oleksandrovych Varavin, convicted, alias “Multik”.
Viktor Potanin is Kernes’s trustee and specialist in real estate purchase and sale.
Earlier, Kernes maintained close business relations with criminal authority Yevhen Oleksandrovych Zhuravlev, born in 1963, nicknamed “Fixa”. After the conflict that occurred more than a year ago, Kernes and Zhuravlev have been on bad terms.
Among Kernes’s close business contacts, sources name Oleksandr Yuriyovych Abrosymov, born in 1958, a previously convicted felon, nicknamed “Shklets”. Abrosymov, like Kernes, is a member of the Kharkiv City Council.
Level of influence
He is on the operational records of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (including the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine) as a criminal authority, known by the nickname Hepa, founder of 14 commercial structures and co-founder of 19, uses criminal funds in his business. His accomplices are V. Koshel, V. Nits, V. Sheremet, N. Bezhenar…
The persons involved in the land fraud are the former mayor of Kharkiv (2006-2010) Mykhailo Dobkin, the current mayor of Kharkiv Hennadiy Kernes, the director of the legal department of the Kharkiv City Council Volodymyr Kovalenko, the chief architect of Kharkiv Chechelnytskyi and the former head of the Kharkiv department of the State Committee for Land Resources Yuriy Sanin.
The number of criminal court cases or any other procedural cases initiated:
— 1988 — criminal cases were opened against H.A. Kernes on the fact of extortion, fraud and thimble-jacking in Ukraine and the Russian Federation — in Tula and Moscow for using fake checks and underpayment of funds;
— 1992 — The Judicial Panel on Criminal Cases of the Kharkiv Regional Court found the fraudulent Kernes “guilty of a crime under Article 141(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine” and sentenced him to 3 years in prison “in a strict regime penal colony with confiscation of all property that is his personal property”;
— 2007 — The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine initiated and collected a criminal case on the fact of organizing mass riots, which resulted in dozens of civilians being injured on Klochkivska Street, where the construction site of the Target shopping center was being dismantled under the leadership of Kernes, and dozens of people were injured. The case was withdrawn by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and never brought to court;
— 2007-2009 — the case of Kernes and Kartovykh, in which the interests of H. A. Kernes were represented by A. M. Drozdov. The case went to the Supreme Court (see, for example, ATN, Kernes v. Kartovykh);
— 2008 — the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine initiated and collected a criminal case on the fact of inflicting bodily harm to MP Medvedev (Party of Regions) at the request of H. A. Kernes for the supply of low-quality cocaine. The MIA interviewed witnesses and perpetrators in the case. The case was seized by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is deciding whether to send it to court.
— 2008 — City Council v. SBU case (see, for example, City Council v. SBU)
Real estate
According to his electronic declaration, Hennadii Kernes rents 7 square meters in a residential building in Kharkiv (total area 92.5 square meters) and a room in the National Hotel with a total area of 57.3 square meters.
Since 2015, Kernes’ common-law wife has owned an apartment in the center of the Ukrainian capital with a total area of 150 square meters. The approximate value of the apartment is UAH 25 million.
Gaisynska also owns two apartments in Kharkiv, with a total area of 300 square meters, worth 300 thousand dollars. Also on social media, the journalist found a photo of Kernes’ wife in London near a house on Baker Street. Most likely, this is the house where Haisynska’s son Rodion lives.
He is also a major real estate owner, owning
— a building at 21 Lenin Ave;
— Pushkinsky Trading House LLC — Favolo di ora Italian sanitary ware and tile store (54 Pushkinskaya St.);
— JSC NPK-Holding.
Vehicle fleet
Since 2019, Haisynska has owned a whole fleet of cars — Bentley Brooklands, Rolls-royce Ghost, BMW x-6, Audi A8. almost all of them have the same numbers in their license plates — 0202. The only exception is the Audi A8, which the mayor moved into in 2013, with license plates 0050. It is registered to his son.
Another minibus in which Kernes is often seen is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter with the same license plate 0202. It is registered to Victoria Morozova, the director of the restaurant at the National Hotel, where the mayor lives. But the mayor’s bodyguard, Yevhen Smitskyi (he is involved with Kernes in the case of beating Euromaidan activists), «got» Toyota Land Cruiser 200, which was also seen several times in Kernes’ motorcade.
Income.
In 2019, Hennadiy Kernes earned UAH 1,152,907 as mayor of Kharkiv.
He also received dividends of UAH 18,900,000 from the asset management company Finex Capital.
In addition, the mayor of Kharkiv received interest from two Ukrainian banks totaling UAH 8,973.
Bank accounts
Hennadiy Kernes keeps a total of UAH 17,348,442 and USD 17,497 on his accounts in four Ukrainian banks.
Cash
The Kharkiv mayor keeps UAH 64,067,498 in cash.
Income declaration — 2020
Kharkiv Mayor Hennadii Kernes received more than UAH 20 million in income in 2019. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the published declaration.
According to the declaration, Kernes earned UAH 1.152 million as mayor, and another UAH 18.9 million in dividends from Finex Capital. He also declared about UAH 9 thousand in interest on deposits.
Kernes keeps UAH 64 million in cash, and has deposits in banks totaling about UAH 17 million and more than $17 thousand. The mayor of Kharkiv owns 11 luxury wristwatches, the value of which is not specified, as well as a wheelchair worth more than UAH 100,000.
Kernes also indicated that he rents 7 square meters in a residential building in Kharkiv and a 57.3 square meter room in the National Hotel. Last year, he spent UAH 1.8 million on medical services in Germany.
The declaration also lists other assets, such as shares in Kharkivoblenergo and Kharkivoblenergozbut, as well as 7,000 investment certificates of Finex-Capital Asset Management Company worth UAH 7 million.
Unofficial income
According to the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center, the State Bureau of Investigation suspects the park’s main contractor, Alpax-SK, of tax evasion and withdrawal of funds into the shadow uncontrolled turnover through “transit” companies and a number of companies with signs of fictitiousness.
The investigators learned about this from a July 9 ruling of the Zhovtnevyi District Court of Poltava.
Law enforcement officers found that between May 2015 and January 2016, officials of Shlyakhrembud, by prior conspiracy with officials of the Department of Construction and Roads of the Kharkiv City Council, committed embezzlement of budget funds. They did so by overstating the volume and cost of work performed under the contract. It is known from the court hearing that in March 2014, the director of the Department, Volodymyr Chumakov, instructed the tender committee to conduct procurement for road repairs totaling UAH 240 million. As a result, in 2014, the Department concluded 21 contracts with Dorrembud and Parking+ LLC for a total of UAH 229.13 million. The companies were to complete all the work by the end of 2017.
Meanwhile, even in such a difficult period, the city is not stingy in allocating tens of millions from the budget for improvement. According to the public procurement system ProZorro, the city council and utility companies have recently announced the following public procurement:
— Kharkiv City Council — repair of its own building for UAH 2 million (March 17);
— Kharkiv Zoo — construction of a 90-seat cafe with a playground in the African Safari area for UAH 29 million (March 18);
— Municipal Enterprise “Central Park of Culture and Recreation named after M. Gorky” — reconstruction of the irrigation system and landscaping of the park for more than UAH 16.5 million and reconstruction of the pedestrian and transport network and landscaping of the territory for UAH 15 million (March 19).
Thus, the total amount is approximately UAH 62.5 million, which is UAH 2 million more than the total amount allocated from the reserve fund for the purchase of medical equipment and protective gear.
Expenses
The Kernes family takes vacations on a grand scale. In order to relax in one of the luxury hotels in the Maldives, you need to pay 65 thousand hryvnias per day. A week-long vacation for two will cost almost 500 thousand hryvnias. According to the journalist, this is Kernes’ five-year salary.
It is worth noting that this is not the most expensive vacation the couple has ever had. For example, a vacation in one of the hotels costs almost UAH 1.5 million.
In May 2019, Kernes spent a total of UAH 1,837,278 on medical services in Germany.
The cost of his car varies from 160 to 170 thousand dollars.
Real estate market: Kernes is known for his real estate transactions:
— sold the premises of the Orbita store (Henri Barbusse St., Z) with an area of 296 sq.m. for $70,000 in cash + $12,000 by bank transfer;
— sold the premises of a store (43/45, 23 Augusta St.) with the area of 304 sq.m. for $452,000 in cash + $57,600 in cashless payment;
— sold the premises of the House of Everyday Life (54-a 50 Let VLKSM str.) with the area of 7397 sq.m. for $270,000 in cash + $30,000 in cashless payment;
— sold premises at 11 Sumska St. with the area of 184.6 sq.m. for $13,200 + $4,800 by bank transfer;
— sold premises at 4 Melnykova Street with an area of 389 sq.m. for $36,000 + $17,000 by bank transfer.
Summary
Gennadiy Kernes, despite the love of Kharkiv residents, is a “muddy type”. Back in the 90s, he started dealing with criminal cases, and even then he had a lot of money, which made his activities go unpunished. After his entry into politics, his financial status increased dramatically. It is believed that Kernes has the lowest salary, about UAH 10,000 per month, but this does not prevent him from vacationing in first-class hotels in the Maldives.