Shkil Maksym Viktorovych
The main thing from the biography
Businessman, founder of MS Capital holding.
Maksym Skil was born on August 19, 1983 in Lviv.
“MS Capitalwas founded by Maxim Shkil in 2019. The businessman’s assets include the following companies:
- — In the field of logistics: «First Logistics Company;
- — in road and bridge construction: Avtostrada Group of Companies;
- — in the agro-industrial complex: «Pryluky Agricultural Company;
- — in the field of car dealership: «Audi Center Odesa South;
- — in granite mining and processing: «Bekhivskyi Granite Quarry.
Related parties
Education.
Has three degrees and a PhD in law.
Personal life and hobbies
Maksym Shkil is married and has two daughters. His sports hobbies include boxing and cross-fit training, as well as billiards.
Assets.
In 2006, Maxim Shkil started his first business. In partnership with foreign investors, he created and launched the Bekhivsky quarry, which specializes in the extraction and processing of granite. In the following years, investors invested more than 20 million euros in its production facilities, which allowed the company to take a leading position in the market. In May 2021, MS Capital acquired 100% of the corporate rights of BGK. The company has implemented an investment program: the fleet of specialized quarrying equipment and the material and technical base in general have been updated. The quarry has reached its full planned capacity, which allows it to ship more than 100 railcars of crushed stone per day and produce 2 million tons of finished crushed stone products per year.
In 2011, Maksym Shkil founded First Logistics Company, which specializes in grain transportation by rail. The company owns innovative hopper cars and gondola cars. Its own fleet consists of more than 1000 railcars. PLC holds a leading position in the grain transportation market in Ukraine and is represented in all regions of the country. Among the partners of First Logistic are the largest traders.
In 2015, the businessman acquired the corporate rights of Audi Center Odesa South. A year later, the largest dealership in Ukraine was built and put into operation, which also became the first center in the Audi Sport concept. “Audi Center Odesa South now holds a 20% market share among Audi dealers in Ukraine.
In 2016, Maksym Shkil founded Avtostrada Group, which is one of the leaders in road and bridge construction. The company implements projects of any level of complexity, has its own production chains and a closed production cycle, owns a unique modern fleet of more than 2500 vehicles and a team of more than 5000 employees. From day one, Autostrada has implemented European quality standards.
In 2020, the holding founded Pryluky Agricultural Company. The businessman invests in the purchase of a grain elevator and corporate rights to Kursk-Agro, which become part of PAC. The company grows crops in Poltava and Chernihiv regions. Due to the highly efficient organization of processes and modern machinery, the enterprises have one of the highest yields in Ukraine.
Compromising material
In June 2017, Rainer Bomba, State Secretary of the German Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, visited Audi Center Odesa South, the largest dealership of AUDI AG in Ukraine. One of the founders of this center is Ukrainian businessman Maksym Shkil. Probably, Rainer Bomba, as well as the management of AUDI AG, which opened this center in December 2016, does not know which well-known Ukrainian fraudster and embezzler they shook hands with and with whom they cooperate. However, Ukrainian journalists who have written dozens of publications, as well as millions of Ukrainians, know how Maksym Shkil steals and launders money, in particular through the AUDI concern.
Maksym Shkil started his business career as an assistant to Mykola Demianko, a member of the Party of Regions, who is one of the best and oldest friends of fugitive former President Viktor Yanukovych. Maksym Shkil became one of the leaders of the political organization Young Regions, the youth wing of the Party of Regions, and headed the western region of the country. Maksym Shkil wanted to go into business, but as he stated in an interview, even his own father did not trust him. In 2007, senior comrades from the Party of Regions made 23-year-old Maksym Shkil the nominal (front) manager and owner of several companies producing asphalt concrete, crushed stone and granite, as well as granite quarries. Thanks to corrupt officials, in 2010-2014, Maxim Shkil’s companies illegally won state tenders and plundered the state budget. He and his patrons bribed and corrupted officials and laundered millions of dollars for Viktor Yanukovych and his friends.
In gratitude for the protection and money, Maksym Shkil would fulfill orders. For example, in 2012, journalists of Ukrainska Pravda wrote how Maksym Shkil brought 300 veterans from Zhytomyr to a concert of the current hero of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and a member of the State Duma of Russia, Iosif Kobzon, who has always been an ardent fan of the gangster Party of Regions and a friend of Viktor Yanukovych.
“During the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014, Young Regions and Maksym Shkil became famous for their illegal and sometimes criminal activities, such as supplying fighters to the Maidan protesting against Viktor Yanukovych’s government. These fighters beat and terrorized students, journalists, and Ukrainians who came out to defend their European choice. Later, with the help of lawyers, Maksym Shkil tried to remove information from the media about his activities during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych.
In 2011, Maksym Shkil created one of his main companies, First Logistics Company, which began to transport grain and other goods. He lists his mother, Tetiana Shkil, as one of the owners of this company. Maksym Shkil’s company, First Logistics Company, began winning government tenders worth tens of millions of dollars for the transportation of Ukrainian grain and other goods by rail. According to Ukrainian journalists, Maksym Shkil also paid large bribes to Ukrainian railroad officials to provide the required number of freight cars at the lowest rates. At the same time, he did not pay taxes to the country’s budget.
One of these officials was Ivan Fedorko, a former director of freight transportation at the Ukrainian railroad and head of certain branches of the railroad. Maksym Shkil even employed his daughter at the First Logistics Company and paid him regularly. Maksym Shkil also gave Ivan Fedorko a car of his favorite brand, Audi Q7. In July 2016, Ivan Fedorko, while drunk, crashed into the car of a well-known Ukrainian photographer and journalist, injuring his wife and child. After that, Ivan Fedorko was fired from his job.
In 2013, Maksym Shkil founded Zertrans, a freight transportation company, and for a long time controlled the company UPI-Magistral.
After former President Viktor Yanukovych and Maxim Shkil’s friends and patrons fled the country in early 2014, law enforcement and tax authorities became interested in the activities of Maxim Shkil and his companies.
Several criminal and administrative cases were opened against these companies for money laundering and tax evasion. From 2014 to 2017, the Ukrainian tax police filed lawsuits against Maxim Shkil’s companies. Several dozen criminal cases were opened. In order to avoid going to jail and hide his criminal activities, Maksym Shkil made nominal owners of his companies fictitious people, such as Rostyslav Pachkovsky. At the same time, in an interview with Ukrainian media in 2020, Maksym Shkil called the First Logistics Company his company, although its owner is a fictitious person.
Ukrainian media also report that the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan is related to Maksym Shkil and helps him in his illegal business.
In order to legalize and hide the proceeds of crime and tax evasion, Maksym Shkil invests in the construction of an Audi dealership in Odesa. Six months later, Maksym Shkil himself states that his Audi dealership in Odesa has taken 30% of the market for these cars in Ukraine.
The Kompromat portal wrote about the discrepancies in the infographic provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure.
According to Ukrainian experts and journalists, such figures can only indicate that the Audi dealership is used for money laundering. Therefore, it is possible that Ukrainian and German law enforcement agencies will soon investigate the new activities of Maxim Shkil, Audi management and representatives of the German Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
The other founder of Audi Center Odesa South is Serhiy Skrypka from Odesa. According to Ukrainian journalist Oleksiy Lupanosov, Serhiy Skrypka, together with Yevheniy Deev and other accomplices, organized the theft of property of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in Odesa.
This is the famous case of the SKA Stadium. It was because of this scam that Odesa lost the right to host EURO 2012. In fact, at the start of the preparations for the European Championship, one of the most legendary sports facilities was taken away from Odesa residents, thus depriving the city of competitive opportunities.
According to Censor.net, from 2009 to 2014, Yevhen Deev was the director and co-founder of 3C Auto Elite LLC (the official distributor of Audi in Ukraine), and the other co-founders of this company are: S.I. Skrypka and the offshore company INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS GROUP.
Thus, Maksym Shkil, Serhiy Skrypka and Yevhen Deev, as well as their friends, continue to rob the Ukrainian people, avoid paying taxes, withdraw funds to offshore accounts, and legalize their money by selling expensive cars through Audi dealerships.
Dozens of criminal cases have been initiated against the companies, but for some reason, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and SBU Head Vasyl Hrytsak turn a blind eye.
How the odious Maksym Shkil and the clever Oleksandr Boyko are fighting for road billions
There is a split and a scandal in the cartel.
Maxim Shkil, the youngest and most aggressive off-roader, publicly withdraws his Autostrada from the National Association of Road Workers of Ukraine!
First, for the first time, disputes within the cartel came to light, where Oleksandr Boyko of Avtomagistralya-Pivden, with the shrinking “pie,” began to encroach on all the niches he could reach. In particular, he recently took away an operating billion from Avtostrada in Chernihiv region and did not return the favor.
Secondly, there is a chance for Linens. We remind you that this is the name of the program under which a cartel member can apply to the AMCU and be the first to report all the conspirators, and for this he will receive full amnesty and the expected perk — when the antitrust authorities catch the rest of the cartelists (and in Linens it is done quite quickly), the hero will get everything he can reach!
And Shkil can do a lot — over the past year, he has invested more than a billion hryvnias in new equipment.
Maksym Shkil, a member of the Young Region, and the First Logistics Company are robbing Ukraine by sponsoring DPR terrorists
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food held a large tender that was awarded to First Logistics Company LLC. It would seem that there is nothing surprising about this, but a subsequent inspection revealed unexpected details. As it turned out, the company finances separatists, and the person behind it is ex-Young Party of Regions member Maksym Shkil. The same Maxim Shkil who was previously accused by the SBU of financing DPR terrorists. Most of us remember that the case was quickly hushed up, Maxim Shkil was able to pay off to continue doing the same thing without pain… writes ya-1.com.ua.
The Revolution of Dignity promised to bring about dramatic changes for Ukrainians. According to the new government, the representatives of the previous regime will be punished for their crimes as they deserve. We have repeatedly heard that none of them will feel as comfortable in the future as they did during Yanukovych’s presidency.
However, 1.5 years later, we can safely say that the “old” staff is still in place. People like Maksym Shkil only hid for a while to wait out the uncertain times at the bottom, and then went back to big business.
We are talking about a number of very valuable personnel for the previous government. Young, active, and tenacious, they can lie low at the right time. These ambitious people not only developed schemes to siphon off fabulous amounts of money from the state budget into their own pockets, but also dynamically replenished the notorious “mutual fund” of the Yanukovych family.
And as hard as it may be to believe, the old schemes continue to work today: huge sums of money are siphoned off the state budget and deposited in the impressive offshore accounts of representatives of the “criminal” government, among whom Maksym Shkil is a prominent figure.
It was Shkil and other leaders of the PR were able to show their full potential during the events of winter 2013, when they sent so-called “titushky” — “athletes” — to the Maidan en masse, organizing provocations, beating people and destabilizing the situation in every possible way. After the revolution, the term “titushka” became a part of the Ukrainian vernacular: it can be used to describe any rude person who can raise his hand to a woman, an elderly person, or a member of the press. But the Young Regions team highly valued such personnel. Because they could be entrusted with the dirtiest job, and they would do it without batting an eye.
If the Party of Regions had won, one can imagine what bonuses characters like Maksym Shkil would have received. This includes a path to big business, all sorts of preferences, and maybe even assistance in his political career. But since the other team won, we can assume that the “supplier of thugs” is in big trouble: law enforcement agencies are interested in him, and he has been cut off from oxygen in both business and politics. This would have been an adequate punishment for the outrages that the sports “young men” were committing on the Maidan.
But what is the real story?
Not only has Maxim Shkil not been punished, but he is living well, and his family companies are thriving. For example, the First Logistics Company LLC, one of the founders of which is Shkil’s mother, Tetiana Vasylivna, recently won a large tender from the Ministry of Agricultural Policy for the transportation of 450,000 tons of grain by rail. The head of the company is a certain Oleh Burlachenko.
It turned out that First Logistics Company LLC “minimizes the company’s tax liabilities”. In other words, it conceals income using a well-established scheme. Namely, it transfers money to companies that, as the audit showed, “have signs of fictitiousness.” In this case, during 2014, Shkilya transferred 36 million hryvnias to “pacifier” companies, Ecoline-ST LLC and Mega-Exim LLC, There seems to be nothing illegal about this: the company offered the most favorable terms and won the tender. However, an analysis of the financial activities of First Logistics Company LLC revealed such details that the company should not be allowed to participate in public tenders, and its management should be tried for economic crimes.
In addition, the analysis revealed that the First Logistics Company transfers money to the accounts of individuals in the eastern regions of Ukraine and purchases weapons and military equipment.
By the way, there is another company among the winners of the tender — Zertrans LLC. By a strange coincidence, the tax number of this company is absolutely identical to the number of the private enterprise UPI-Magistral LLC. According to the financial statements, this company accounts for the lion’s share of the expenses of First Logistics Company LLC. And the founder of Magistral is… the same Oleg Burlachenko.
The tax avoidance scheme has been worked out to the smallest detail. By including “his” company in the expenditure side, Maxim Shkil was able to reduce the profitability of First Logistics Company LLC to 0.3%. As a result, on a revenue of over UAH 400 million, the income tax amounted to only more than UAH 126 thousand.
In such a situation, one can only wonder at the unsinkability and invulnerability of the “young talents” from Yanukovych’s team. They have so well settled in under the new government that they do not hesitate to implement their usual corruption schemes, parasitizing on the state budget. The result is that while demonstrative “trials in absentia” are being held against Yanukovych and his inner circle, smaller cronies feel quite at ease under the new government. They continue to rob the country. With the same zeal and on the same scale.
The head of Russian Railways is suspected of lobbying for the interests of the First Logistics Company
This scandal involving Maxim Shkil and his company became public in November 2015. The acting head of the Prydniprovska Railroad, Ivan Fedorko, may be lobbying for the interests of the private First Logistics Company, where his daughter is allegedly employed.
This information was voiced on the air of the “Special View” program on Channel 5, Apostrophe reports.
It is noted that Fedorko is a former deputy of the former CEO of the Southwestern Railroad, Oleksiy Kryvopishyn, who is currently under investigation for suspicion of corruption — the construction of a cottage town at the expense of the railroad. In addition, Kryvopishyn is known for his “rebellion” against the new management of Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ): when Kyiv decided to dismiss all regional road managers, Kryvopishyn announced that the Southwestern Railway was no longer subject to orders from the central office of the railway administration.
“There was a mutiny in the spring of 2015. But one of the participants, Ivan Fedorko, is now in charge of the strategic, frontline railroad. After Kryvopishyn’s suspension, he seemed to go into hiding, but Dnipropetrovs’k is a temporary “exile.” It’s to gain strength, build up its resource muscles and return to the national level,” the authors of the story say.
According to the program’s authors, impunity gives the odious personnel at UZ fearlessness. And then they quote the current acting CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Zavgorodnyi, who claims that the lustration of the state monopoly’s employees will not affect them.
According to journalists, Maxim Shkil, a Zhytomyr businessman who used to do business in the region’s granite deposits, is involved in the First Logistics Company (PLC), which is lobbied by Ivan Fedorko. “According to some reports, Ivan Fedorko, the current head of the Prydniprovska Railroad, was a partner in this business. And now Fedorko’s daughter works for PLC, which allegedly received special preferences from Prydniprovska Railways,” the story says.
However, these are only indirect assumptions, the journalists clarify. “Officially, Ivan Fedorko has no business. We failed to find out about it personally from him. The head of the railroad refused to meet with journalists,” the article says. However, the formal founder of PLC, Oleg Burlachenko, commented: “We are not involved in any corruption schemes. When Fedorko was the deputy head of the Southwestern Road, of course we knew each other, of course we went and agreed on the transportation that needed to be agreed. I think this is a normal process.” When asked whether Fedorko’s managers, as well as his daughter, work for the company, Burlachenko said no.
Experts note that there have always been a lot of shell companies around Ukrzaliznytsia during the years of independence, which, in fact, diverted part of UZ’s income to intermediary companies. “This problem was, this problem is. And despite the statements of Minister Pyvovarsky, no effective steps have been taken in this direction so far,” says Oleksandr Kava, former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.
Maksym Shkil and the First Logistics Company in the service of the Kremlin
In April 2016, the “Podrobytsi” program on the Inter TV channel aired a report mentioning the First Logistics Company, co-owned by Maksym Shkil. The story states that Shkil’s partner Fedorko still represents the interests of the Yanukovych family in Ukrzaliznytsia and is one of the Family’s watchdogs. The criminal schemes that Shkil profits from are linked to Viktor Yanukovych’s eldest son, Oleksandr, better known as Sasha the Dentist. In fact, the First Logistics Company works in favor of the aggressor country.
The current government should pay attention to those who continue to rob the country and sponsor terrorism in eastern Ukraine. In our case, it is Maxim Shkil, a prominent representative of the bloody Yanukovych regime. We are waiting for a response from the SBU and the PGO.
Maxim Shkil and Bakhtiyar Sapayev are the “road mafia” of Ukraine: The highway and the SBU-48
According to rezonans.info, Maksym Shkil’s Avtostrada and Bakhtiyar Sapayev’s ShRBU-48 of Bakhtiyar Sapayev are cutting into Ukraine’s road budget.
This material was provided by rezonans.info and is the property of of rezonans.info.
A recent investigation into the activities of SUNP Avtostrada LLC, owned 100% by Ukrainian owner Maksym Shkil, his connections in the Poroshenko-era ministerial apparatus, such as Volodymyr Omelyan, who lobbied for his companies, and even earlier, representatives of the Yanukovych era, has made it possible to establish the connections of other participants who are firmly entrenched in the huge tenders of the Road Mafia today. Investigative journalists will unwind this tangle thread by thread. Why do we drive on bad roads, where and, most importantly, to whom do millions and billions of dollars in budgets go, and why do roads still need new repairs every year?
This article will discuss how a thread from the company of Maksym Shkil, who settled on Vinnytsia roads, led investigators to Cherkasy roads, which “belong” to Sapaiev Bakhtiar and his LLC “ShRBU-48”.
Bakhtiyar Sapayev is an accomplice of Maxim Shkil in the arbitrariness of road repairs in Ukraine
The successful company ShRBU-48 LLC is one of the leaders in terms of the number of tenders won in Cherkasy region, and one could even say that it is a road monopolist.
From 2002 to 2010, Bakhtiyar Sapayev (or as he asked to be called, Borys Sergiyovych) was the head of the State Road Service of Cherkasy Oblast. After him, this structure was headed by Serhiy Leshchenko. It is noteworthy that Serhiy Leshchenko remained the contact person at Umanavtodor for a long time, even while holding a public office, and before that he had been the head of the board of Umanavtodor for 8 years and only left in 2010.
In 2010, according to Ukravtodor’s order No. 283-VK of August 5, Bakhtiyar Sapayev was appointed chairman of the board of the state joint-stock company Automobile Roads of Ukraine; before that, Volodymyr Demishkan had headed the agency three times.
Bakhtiyar Sapayev and his associates. It is possible that Shkil is also involved in this:
According to media reports, Volodymyr Demishkan is connected to Umanavtodor (Sapayev Bakhtiyar) by a share in Talnivsky Shchebzavod LLC, an enterprise that is more than 26 years old (registration date: 10/13/1993). This information is in the process of being clarified and confirmed, but let’s get back to Sapayev.
Sapayev’s connections with various business activities:
- Vladimir Anatolyevich Orlov oversees more than 34 organizations;
- Yevhen Mykolayovych Honcharenko oversees 9 organizations;
- Vasyl Shovkun oversees 13 organizations;
- Vyacheslav Ponomarenko oversees 12 organizations;
- Yulia Popova, 15 organizations;
- Gennadiy Zemelov, 27 organizations.
Since 2008, the companies associated with Bakhtiyar have spent more than UAH 10 billion, and the dollar to hryvnia exchange rate was at UAH 5 per US dollar.
Due to delays in construction, lack of proper control at the central and local levels over the use of budget funds, the projected cost of the highway has increased 2.7 times compared to the original project (UAH 1.9 billion) and now stands at UAH 5.2 billion. Since 2004, a total of UAH 1.4 billion has been spent on the construction of this facility.
Important: remember the name of the company that participated in the “tender” and merged it into Sapaiev’s company: Avtomagistral-Pivden LLC, owned by Valerii Korotkov and Oleh Nalyvannyi from Odesa.
Dark affairs of “SHRBU-48” LLC
The fact that the company belongs to Sapayev is evidenced by the analysis of sources:
The former director is Ihor Votkaliuk, who was replaced by Ruslan Guba, but 90% of the company is still owned by Bakhtiyar Sapaiev.
Data from OpenData:
Previously, all three were united by another company, CJSC Umanavtodor.
The company is currently the leader in terms of the number of tenders won in Cherkasy region. Is it worth reminding you where Sapayev worked from 2002 to 2010? A hint: he was the head of Cherkasy Ukravtodor.
Data from ProZorro:
Kirovohrad region (most of the contracts to Rostdorstroy LLC) and Vinnytsia region (most of the contracts to Avtostrada LLC) are next.
Currently, Sapaiev Bakhtiar has “won” one of the largest tenders in Cherkasy region, with a tender value of almost UAH 2 billion. We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the bids of all but two participants were rejected. And the second participant was the same company — Avtomagistral-Pivden LLC, the same company that had already merged a very lucrative tender for Sapayev, as described above.
And this is not an isolated case, for example, here is another tender with the same participants
In continuation of this tender, it is also worth noting that all bids, except for Sapaeva-Skilya, were rejected.
Although, judging by repeated statements, it is Avtostrada LLC that does not meet the qualification criteria of the tender, it still wins.
Fire battles for lucrative road contracts
Corrupt officials do not want to give up their positions, they are establishing new ties with “new” officials. They even demonstratively get rid of entrepreneurs who are able to create healthy competition by all means, including the most gangster methods. Here’s the situation with the burning of Poltavastrocentr’s equipment. This is an organization that submitted documents for participation in state tenders for road works in parallel with Maksym Shkil’s company Avtostrada in Vinnytsia region.
After Poltavastrocentr’s management became aware of blatant violations in the tenders, pre-arranged agreements and kickbacks, they filed complaints with the supervisory authorities.
But the higher organizations apparently did not like such statements, because there was no serious reaction. At first, representatives of Avtostrada talked to the “wayward” businessmen for a long time, then they put on a show with a gathering of thugs. When they were convinced that persuasion and threats were useless, they took drastic measures. One night, special equipment belonging to the Poltavastroenergo company caught fire. The arson was committed by unidentified persons, but the company believes that the incident is related to their position on corruption in the road sector.
Garnik Poghosyan, director of Poltavastrocentr, openly stated that corruption in the industry is supported by the Cabinet of Ministers and Ukravtodor.
Information about Poltavastrocentr:
The rescuers received the call on May 6, 2019, at about 01:30. The fire was localized at 1:53 a.m. and completely extinguished by 3:15 a.m. There were no casualties, but several pieces of special equipment necessary for the company’s operations were destroyed.
“The fire destroyed three road rollers, two truck tractors, excavators, damaged the tent cover and plastic elements of a semi-trailer. One car, one truck and two semi-trailers were rescued,” the SES reported.
The damage is estimated at millions of hryvnias. It will take even more to buy new equipment.
Poltavastrocentr has repeatedly expressed suspicion that this was an attempt to put pressure on the company’s management and deprive it of the opportunity to participate in tenders.
“We believe that corrupt officials are behind these events, along with their contractors, who, even before the announcement of the tenders, had already divided and “cut up” the state funds allocated for road construction and repair,” said Garnik Poghosyan, the company’s director.
Interestingly, a month before the fire, the Vinnytsia Regional Road Service announced another tender for road repairs. However, the terms of the tender were drafted in such a way that no company could meet them, except for Avtostrada, owned by Maksym Shkil.
The interests of this company were lobbied by Groysman’s government at the time, and Poltavastroenergo’s bid was rejected. The company’s management, having a successful experience in canceling anticompetitive conditions, planned to achieve justice and filed a complaint with the AMCU, requesting that the Vinnytsia Road Service take measures against the illegal actions of the company to prevent it from participating in tenders in the region. And then a whole detective story unfolded.
It is noteworthy that Maksym Shkil has all the tools to put pressure on those who disagree. Not every organization can withstand the pressure that the owners and managers of Poltavabudtsentr have withstood. Some time after the complaint was filed, Avtostrada made attempts to persuade the Poltavastrada director and owner to withdraw the complaint and not to initiate any more such documents to the regulatory authorities. However, neither Araik Amirkhanyan (the owner) nor Garnik Poghosyan (the director) were going to back down. When long persuasions proved to be in vain, articles defaming the company’s good name began to appear in the media and on Internet resources.
“Realizing that our company would not back down on the issue of participating in tenders for road repairs in Vinnytsia region, representatives of the company (Avtostrada), through certain members of the Cabinet of Ministers, namely Novak and Groysman, began to launch this dirty flywheel, that Poltavastrocentr deliberately disrupts road tenders across the country, that we are a “pacifier” and that we are the main problem of the road industry, despite the fact that we signed contracts for road works almost all over the country for more than one billion hryvnias in 2018-2019,” said the director of Poltavastrocentr.
Vicious practice: road tenders and their winners
Complaints against Shkilya were received not only from Poltavastrocentr, but also from other organizations, which, however, were less persistent and did not challenge the illegal actions of the tender commissions that awarded contracts to Avtostrada LLC.
In Cherkasy region, for example, a tender for road works worth UAH 600 million was held, which was won by Avtostrada. The second participant was the company of another “road builder” Bakhtiyar Sapayev, who had been winning the best government contracts in the region until now, and this time acted as a formal competitor. Interestingly, the bids of all other participants were simply rejected.
It is worth noting, however, that there were repeated statements that the winning company was the one that least of all met the stated requirements.
It should be noted that the previous victories of Bakhtiyar Satpayev’s firms could hardly be called deserved. He was also embedded in the corrupt system of road construction and repair. How the School managed to push aside the man who had been winning the competition for the largest projects for many years is anyone’s guess. Just like Maxim Shkil’s companies, Sapayev’s firms used the services of financial organizations to launder money received from public procurement.
Since 2008, firms related to Bakhtiyar have used more than UAH 10 billion, despite the fact that the dollar to hryvnia exchange rate was at UAH 5 per US dollar. The most famous tender was for the Zaporizhzhia bridges, for the construction of which more than UAH 3 billion was allocated, but which was never completed.
Offshore zones, Ukrainian taxes and founders of Maksym Shkil’s companies
In 2016, Mostkombud-MKB LLC was transformed into Avtostrada Joint Ukrainian-German Enterprise LLC. As for the German component, the company became a joint venture thanks to the participation of Zacharias Walter, who has the appropriate citizenship. But in this case, we are not talking about him personally, he is a third party in this case, but about his eponymous company registered in the offshore zone of Portugal on the island of Madeira — Zacharias International Projects. It was this company that was of interest to the School and its partners.
EU members have repeatedly made statements about the offshore zone in Madeira, and European media have written about it many times. It is easy to conclude that a certain German citizen, Zacharias Walter, and his offshore company are precisely the channel for withdrawing money from Ukraine in order to avoid paying taxes.
It is important to note one phenomenon in the activities of the German-Portuguese company. The mysterious foreigner Cichares Walter and his offshore company work only with Maxim Shkil’s companies. There are no contracts or interactions with other companies, they deal exclusively with Maxim Viktorovich’s organizations. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that the services provided by this offshore company to Shkil’s companies are fictitious, the money transferred for them remains offshore and goes to Shkil, his curators, patrons and associates. Here is a list of the organizations with which Tsaharias International Projects works:
- AUTOSTRADA LTD;
- GORPROMTEKHNIKA LTD;
- BEKHIVSKYI GRANITE QUARRY LTD;
- LTD “UNSP ‘AVTOBAN’
All of these are organizations whose beneficiary is Maksym Viktorovych Shkil, a Ukrainian entrepreneur and chairman of the Business Development Committee of the Ukrainian Taxpayers Association.
- AUDI dealership in Odesa.
Zacharias is not the only German who provides fictitious services to Shkil in order to move money offshore. A certain Martin Manfred Erich participated in three of his companies. These are the organizations:
- “Girpromtekhnika”;
- «Bekhivskyi Granite Quarry;
- LLC “Unsp ‘Avtoban’.
According to the latest data available to us, the head of all 3 companies is Yevhen Viktorovych Hneniy.
The re-registration related to the transformation of Mostkombud-MKB LLC into Avtostrada Joint German-Ukrainian Enterprise LLC was carried out in 2016 on the basis of a protocol dated 12.07.2016:
A little later, the company was transformed from a joint venture into a purely Ukrainian organization by withdrawing some fictitious entrepreneurs from the founders and introducing other fictitious participants. For some time, Avtostrada was managed by Serhiy Skakun, who signed tender applications.
At the time when the company had the status of a joint venture and was registered through an offshore company for a fictitious German citizen, Volodymyr Voloshchuk was listed as the owner on the Ukrainian side. And only then Avtostrada was re-registered to Maxim Shkil, and fictitious contracts were concluded with the offshore company. Such a long way, willy-nilly, suggests that Shkil, although quite influential and well-paid, is a hired manager in this whole corruption story. Bekhivsky Granite Quarry LLC, owned by the same Maksym Shkil, can be put in the same category. And Voloshchuk also participated in the companies Avtostrada Group LLC and Bud-Lenskyi PE.
Skakun was listed in Zakhid Granit Service LLC and 3C Group LLC, the latter company being registered with Maksym Shkil and Tetiana Shkil, and managed through the Cyprus offshore company BERNADOR HOLDINGS LIMITED, which owns 80%. And what a coincidence, it is Bernador Holding Ltd. that represents Audi products in Ukraine — 3S Group (3S GROUP LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (3S GROUP LLC). This information was taken from the website of Audi Center Odesa South, the same company that sells expensive Audi cars and is owned by Maksym Shkil.
How much do Ukrainian roads cost, or how to become successful at the expense of state budgets
Avtostrada was opened on April 15, 2016, the same year that Volodymyr Omelyan was appointed Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. This is also easily verified on the company’s website.
The newly created organization was to be a huge success. From the very moment it was opened to the present day, there has not been a single day of downtime. The firm is simply overwhelmed with contracts for government orders. The list of completed works is posted on its website.
Avtostrada was not created by chance and far from spontaneously. The need for it arose in connection with the launch of the Go Highway project, which was authored by Omelyan. After all, it is much safer to cut up state budgets with proven accomplices. It is much easier to reach an agreement with a trusted person and launch a new, fully controlled company on the market and deploy a proven scheme than to recruit someone from the market participants already operating in this industry.
This project, like most of those promoted by Omelyan, was aimed solely at getting as much money from the state budget as possible and transferring it to private pockets. As you know, all of Omelyan’s projects have turned out to be completely unprofitable for Ukraine.
Just a reminder. Immediately after graduation, Omelyan was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a specialist in the NATO department, and after a while he was included in the MFA control group. He then worked in a variety of government agencies — at the embassy, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Finance. During his tenure, he never put forward a single project that did not receive money from the state treasury. For example, the money from the American Uber project, opened in Ukraine on his initiative, went to foreign countries. Omelyan took over Ukrzaliznytsia, which began to fall apart at the seams under his leadership. The carve-ups were so blatant that Omelyan was even stopped by Groysman.
Maksym Shkil was actively involved in Omelyan’s projects. At first, they methodically ruined the railroad, and then moved on to siphoning off funds for road works.
The “Go Highway” project was presented by the head of Ukravtodor, Slovymyr Novak. The activities of this organization, just like now, were guided and controlled by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine through the Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan. This project was a real gift for the company Shkilya, which received its multibillion-dollar contracts as soon as it opened. One of the country’s most important projects was given to an empty company in the year Omelyan was appointed Minister of Infrastructure.
Shkil has always done all the dirty work of laundering money from the state budget, first through the First Logistics Company, which specialized in rail transportation for Ukrzaliznytsia, and then through Avtostrada. This explains his dizzying commercial success and the contracts he received for his newly opened and completely “naked” company.
There were, however, rumors about allegedly affiliated asphalt plants that Avtostrada allegedly had, but in fact these plants turned out to be bare plots of land. This is what a photo of the asphalt plant used by Maksym Shkil’s company to obtain government contracts for road works in the village of Stryzhivka, Vinnytsia region, looks like.
Maksym Shkil is no stranger to corruption schemes. Before he started repairing roads, he was equally successful in making profits from the First Logistics Company, which he created and which thrived on railroad transportation. A little earlier (in 2015), Shkil opened a luxury car dealership, Audi Center Odesa South, with a contract for an official Audi AG dealership. Everyone knows who buys the expensive luxury cars sold in the showroom in Ukraine and for what money. Read more about the company’s German partners in the article below.
It is interesting that the School’s success in commercial activities came somehow suddenly and, importantly, coincided with the coming to power of Poroshenko’s team. His entrepreneurial talent was in his diligence and reproduction of a corruption scheme that was set up and successfully tested first at a logistics company and then transferred to road construction. Today, a large number of cases have been opened and are being considered in courts throughout Ukraine against all the companies with which Avtostrada worked. However, neither Maksym Shkil nor the director of Avtostrada have been brought to justice.
Interesting! The owner of the quarry in Zhytomyr region is the First Logistics Company.
Some specifics about the cost of Avtostrada’s road works
One of the very first public procurement tenders won in Vinnytsia region was impressive for the cost offered by the newly created Avtostrada. Avtostrada was paid about UAH 23 million for 1 km of road. To make it clear what we are talking about, here is the cost of 1 km of road on the Kyiv-Chop highway. It amounted to UAH 9.6 million. A similar facility is the Odesa-Reni road section, with an average cost of UAH 13 million per 1 km.
The reference to the high quality of materials and work is untenable. There is evidence of this collected by investigators and confirmed by experts. According to the materials of the criminal case No. 127/11168/19 of April 22, 2019, SUNP Avtostrada LLC deliberately reduced the composition of the pavement in order to reduce its cost.
If you know all the details of Avtostrada’s activities and who owns it, it is not surprising that a recently organized company with asphalt of dubious quality and an exorbitant cost of 1 km of road pushes aside all its competitors, both well-known and those with considerable experience in road construction. Of course, it is clear that the interests of the company were lobbied for by Volodymyr Omelyan from his ministerial chair. The only question is in whose interests the Minister of Infrastructure and Maksym Shkil were acting.
If someone tried to show integrity and prevent Avtostrada from participating in tenders, a complaint was immediately sent to the relevant authorities and, with the help of Minister Omelyan, the company was returned to the tender. And then it would be the winner.
Against the backdrop of all these offshore companies, ministerial lobbies and pre-allocated tenders, it seems quite logical that Viktor Vikar, who previously worked at the Vinnytsia Oblast State Administration’s Department of Transport, was appointed director of Avtostrada.
Of course, this appointment was not accidental, and the majority of the tenders won in Vinnytsia region are a clear confirmation of this. The neighboring Cherkasy region accounts for only a small part of all Avtostrada’s contracts. But there is another trusted contractor there, which we will mention in our investigation. In short, the conclusion suggests itself — Maksym Shkil is a very important part of the corruption octopus in the road construction industry that has entangled the whole of Ukraine. Another project involving Shkil, where he had a much greater territorial influence, looks no less serious.
Once again about Ukrzaliznytsia, Omelyan, and the School
Omelian once won the fight for the opportunity to run Ukrzaliznytsia that unfolded between him, Groysman, and Balchuk. Maksym Shkil, owner of the First Logistics Company, which is directly connected to UZ’s infrastructure facilities, knows why this victory was so important for the Minister of Infrastructure. Omelyan actively lobbied for PLC, providing it with lucrative contracts with incredible discounts for rolling stock leases.
“Ukrzaliznytsia suffered losses, but the pockets of the participants in the corruption scheme were lined to the brim. After all, all other organizations paid for the lease, as they should, according to the established tariffs, and could not compete with Shkilya. While others were barely making ends meet, the School was making huge profits and even acquiring railcars.
It is clear that both Shkil and Omelyan are just links in a chain that delivers money to more serious people. But the damage they do to their own country is enormous. In 2017 alone, the estimated losses from their activities for the railroad amounted to two billion. This is only the damage caused to UZ, add to it unpaid taxes, planned expenses of PLC and the revenues that Ukrzaliznytsia should have received, and this amount will increase several times. This is the money we are talking about. At the expense of the ruin of UZ, the private foreign accounts of the main actors and patrons were filled with money.
Add to this the money received by PLC from tenders for the transportation of goods. At the same time, even taxes were paid scantily. The solution to the problem of how to reduce taxes is elementary: due to fictitious enterprises, the profitability of the transaction was sharply reduced, its cost part on paper increased significantly, and in reality, fictitious companies transferred money to offshore. With billions of dollars in revenue, despite the fact that all the work was done by UZ, the School company paid a minimum of 200-300 thousand hryvnias in taxes.
Criminal cases and evidence: who is being prosecuted and how
After the change of leadership in the country, several criminal cases were initiated, involving managers and responsible persons of Avtostrada.
During the pre-trial proceedings in the criminal proceedings initiated by the Investigation Department of the National Police at the request of the All-Ukrainian Special Board for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime, the following was established:
During 2018, the Road Service in Vinnytsia region of the State Agency of Motor Roads of Ukraine (EDRPOU 25845655) conducted tender procurement of works on major repairs of roads in Vinnytsia region. The winner of the tender was Avtostrada Joint Ukrainian-German Enterprise LLC. The same organization was engaged as a subcontractor by the State Enterprise Vinnytsia Oblavtodor to lay the top layer of the road surface with crushed stone-mastic asphalt concrete mixture — 20 (SCA 20).
The investigative measures established that officials of Avtostrada LLC underestimated the content of expensive additives Wetflix BE, Sasobit, Viatop 66, Licomont during the production of SMA-20 at the asphalt plant in Stryzhivka village, Vinnytsia district, Vinnytsia region, and thus misappropriated budget funds…
This episode has already been resolved in both commercial and criminal proceedings. The main actors of the corruption scheme were not affected in any way, only small bipeds who carry out illegal orders of their superiors were held accountable.
Road contracts, burdened with the need to transfer kickbacks to offshore zones, would not have looked so attractive and would not have been so fiercely contested if the DSTU had been followed during the production of mixtures, and the construction regulations had been followed during the laying of the road, all taxes had been paid, and proper control had been exercised. The criminal proceeds would evaporate, and the frequency of repairs would be dramatically reduced, because the asphalt would not melt with the snow in winter and crack. But this would be completely unprofitable for the shadowy figures, who would have to part with their billions of dollars in kickbacks and safely hidden in offshore accounts.
In this case, law enforcement agencies established the fact of fictitious business activities that took place between 2017 and 2018. In other words, they found money laundering and withdrawal through fictitious companies created specifically for these operations, and yet, Avtostrada JV still wins tenders and, if you look, is now fighting for a tender of almost UAH 500 million.
Fuchs’ guest: Kolomoisky, Khomutynnik, Shkil and Klitschko attend their friend’s anniversary
Being under NSDC sanctions did not prevent businessman Pavlo Fuks from celebrating his 50th birthday at a golf club in Kozyn, Kyiv region.
Pavlo Fuks’ birthday is October 27.
The party in honor of his anniversary was stylized as the Venice Carnival: guests wore masks, and a sign with Pavlo Fuks’ initials and the name “Venice Carnival” was mounted at the entrance to the golf club.
There were a lot of guards at the entrance.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky and his sister and husband, former head of the National Police Serhiy Knyazev, and many others attended Fuks’ anniversary.
The former curator of the youth wing of the Party of Regions, businessman Maksym Shkil also congratulated Fuks on his anniversary.
“As a joint investigation by UP journalist Sonya Lukashova and Yuriy Nikolov of the Nashi Hroshi project recently found, Shkil is currently one of the main beneficiaries of President Zelensky’s Big Construction project. His company has already received orders for more than UAH 10 billion,” the investigation says.
Maksym Shkil’s company Avtostrada seizes tenders in Zhytomyr region through fraud with the head of Ukravtodor
The priority for road construction works in Zhytomyr region has already been distributed among companies. Representatives of the road construction industry claim that the terms of the tender for the procurement of works on the M-21 highway, which Ukravtodor awarded to Maksym Shkil’s Avtostrada, were violated. The same fate awaits the H-03 highway, where Ukravtodor has awarded all tenders to Turkish Onur. Both companies, members of the National Association of Road Workers of Ukraine, have already been found to be involved in collusive procurement practices and form a road cartel. All other companies in the road construction industry are denied participation in procurement to prevent them from competing. Experts report that this situation will lead to embezzlement by 30% or more. The favorite companies win tenders among themselves in fictitious races by prior agreement.
Tenders for work on the M-21 highway may go to Avtostrada, which is owned by Maksym Shkil. In order to circumvent the requirements set by Ukravtodor to have a filling station in the construction zone, the head of the Road Agency, Oleksandr Kubrakov, used a chain of subordinate structures: 1. Zhytomyr Road Service — removes competitors of “its companies” from tenders, refusing them to bid, and admits only companies that are approved by the head of Ukravtodor, Oleksandr Kubrakov. 2. The Zhytomyr Regional Road Agency has already signed a contract with Avtostrada for the supply of asphalt from its plant. The regional road authority itself is virtually bankrupt, and the plant is almost destroyed, overgrown with grass and out of commission, despite the statements of officials.
Watch the video. 3. Ukravtodor Research Institute (DerzhdorNDI) — issues the necessary certificate, acts of inspection and confirmation of the satisfactory condition of the asphalt plant, which is supposed to produce asphalt for Avtostrada. Artem Bezuglyi, Director of the State Road Research Institute, signed the relevant documents.
“This plant was included in the tender by Avtostrada company by agreement with Zhytomyr Oblavtodor State Enterprise. On March 3, this plant was certified by “DerzhdorNDI” SE for the production of asphalt mixtures, but given the condition of the equipment, we can conclude that the plant was hardly launched,” said Dmytro Vernydub, a road industry expert.
Anatoliy Tsika, 1st Deputy Director of “DerzhdorNDI” SE responded to the journalists: “The appearance of the plant is not a confirmation of what it can or cannot produce. A team was traveling, and at the time of departure the plant was running.” The Zhytomyr Oblast Road Service, which is the customer of the tenders, claims that it is not possible to check the technical condition of the plant, which is under the jurisdiction of Ukravtodor. “If the documents contain a certificate, a certificate for the plant, and so on, it’s all official, it’s on ProZorro, we look at it, we check it. If it is there, it is there. But we don’t create any commissions and we don’t go around. Because if we travel to all regions of Ukraine and check the availability of their equipment live, as they say, we will simply not be able to do it all,” explained Serhiy Zaika, head of the Road Service in Zhytomyr region.
The scheme has been worked out
On Monday, February 24, at an open tender for the provision of services for the overhaul of the national highway H-08 in Cherkasy region, the winner was Avtostrada LLC, owned by a well-known ex-regionalist, Maksym Shkil. It will be paid UAH 403 million for the work. In 2019, under the same scenario, he managed to win a similar tender on the same road — the company earned 622 million hryvnias.
Here’s what the bidding actually looked like: 7 companies applied for the tender, but only two were allowed to participate — Avtostrada and ShRBU-48 (just like last year’s bidding). The others had inconsistencies in their documents, etc. At the same time, the company ShRBU-48 did not even try to compete, because it did not reduce its price — it left it at the level of UAH 403,500,000. “Avtostrada made one step down (in the amount of a minimum 1%) and won with a bid of UAH 403,499,000.
After signing the contract, the cost of one kilometer of road will cost UAH 40 million, which is much more expensive than many other companies. For example, in the same Cherkasy region, Rostdorstroy LLC performs work for almost half the price — UAH 22 million per kilometer. And according to the results of last year’s tender, the cost of repairs from Avtostrada reached 60 million per kilometer. The business community says that the tender for the School was organized by former Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, as if it was his “demobilization chord.” By the way, Omelyan’s patronage was also discussed before: it was Avtostrada that overhauled the section between Vinnytsia and Uman as part of the Go Highway project (the same “hyperloop”).
The firm of the ex-Region of Regions member accused of corruption, Maksym Shkil, received another 400 million for road repairs
An estimate of the overhaul of the public road H-08 Boryspil-Dnipro-Zaporizhzhia (via Kremenchuk) worth UAH 403.49 million has been published. The Road Service in Cherkasy region is the customer for the repairs under a contract signed on March 13 with the Ukrainian-German Joint Venture Avtostrada LLC.
The journalists remind that the ultimate beneficial owner of Avtostrada is businessman Maksym Shkil, a former aide to Party of Regions MP Mykola Demianko.
According to the documents, the winner of the tender will use three types of asphalt mixtures to repair the section of the highway km 87+300 — km 98+000 in Cherkasy region (prices are exclusive of delivery and VAT):
- SMA-20 mixture on bitumen for 2794 thousand UAH/t;
- coarse-grained porous asphalt concrete grade 1 for 2194 thousand UAH/t;
- dense coarse-grained asphalt concrete type A, grade 1 for 2319 thousand UAH/t.
“The prices for the mixtures are slightly higher than in similar tenders for the repair of the H-03 Zhytomyr-Chernivtsi road and the M-12 Stryi-Ternopil-Kropyvnytskyi-Znamianka road, which were contracted by CJSC Khmelnytsky Road Construction Department No. 56. There, the mixture of SHMA-20 on BMKP 60/90-65 bitumen cost 2585 UAH/t, and coarse-grained porous asphalt concrete of A-B type of grade 1 cost 2212 UAH/t, respectively,” the journalists write.
At the same time, they remind that Avtostrada is suspected by the police of producing low-quality asphalt mixes that did not match its cost:
“The measures taken have established that officials of the Joint Ukrainian-German Enterprise Avtostrada LLC underestimated the content of expensive additives WetflixBE, Sasobit, Viatop 66, Licomont during the production of SHMAS-20 at an asphalt plant in the village of Stryzhavka, Vinnytsia district, Vinnytsia region, and thus seized budget funds,” the court ruling in the case, which is being investigated by the National Police Investigation Department in Vinnytsia region, states.
Avtostrada also won the tender for the repair of the H-08 highway because Ukravtodor, together with the AMCU, eliminated five competitors from the tender, leaving only two — Avtostrada and DRSU-48 LLC. Moreover, one of the companies was eliminated from the bidding for the same violations, while the two favorites were allowed to participate in the tender with the same problems in their bids, journalists remind.
Millions of hryvnias for road repairs ended up in Shkil’s pocket
In 2020, roads were repaired all over the country. This is a rare amount for the state. We spent 86 billion hryvnias.
For example, according to MP Anton Polyakov’s telegram channel, a Vinnytsia-based company called Avtostrada, owned by Maksym Shkil and his godfather, former Minister Omelyan, has already appeared in Chernihiv region.
Shkil will build a bridge on the border with Moldova for UAH 3.4 billion
A border bridge across the Dniester River will be built on the border of Ukraine and Moldova by the end of 2022. The construction cost will be UAH 3.38 billion.
The editorial office of 368.media learned about this from information on the ProZorro portal.
According to the tender documents, the contractor must complete the construction of a border bridge crossing over the Dniester River on the Ukrainian-Moldovan state border near the settlements of Yampil and Cosăuc by December 31, 2022.
Only two bidders competed for the tender6: Avtostrada LLC with a bid of UAH 3.386 billion and Rostdorstroy LLC with a bid of UAH 3.416 billion.
Thus, the winning company, Avtostrada LLC, will carry out the construction of the border bridge crossing by 2.12% below the expected procurement cost.
Conclusions
Maksym Shkil has been ravaging the country since the days of Viktor Yanukovych. And thanks to the inaction of law enforcement agencies, he continues to do so, not without the help of influential comrades, of course.