Avakov Arsen Borysovych
Official biography
Place of birth. Education. Born in Baku on January 2, 1964, in the family of a military man. He has been living in Ukraine since 1966. In 1988, he graduated from Kharkiv Polytechnic University with a degree in automated control systems (qualified as a systems engineer).
Career.
- In 1981-1982, he worked as a preparator at the Department of Automated Control Systems of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.
- In 1987-1990, he worked as an engineer at the All-Union Research Institute of Water Protection in Kharkiv.
- In 1990, he founded and headed Investor JSC (where he was president until 2005).
- In 1992, he founded the commercial bank Basis.
- In 2002, he was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv City Council.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, he was deputy head of Viktor Yushchenko’s Kharkiv headquarters and first deputy head of the Kharkiv regional “National Salvation Committee”. - On February 4, 2005, he was appointed head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration by President Viktor Yushchenko’s decree.
After his appointment, he resigned from the Supervisory Board of Investor JSC and Bazis Bank. - In March 2005, he was elected to the board of the People’s Union “Our Ukraine” party and became a member of the party’s presidium.
- On March 26, 2006, he was elected a deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council of the V convocation, a member of the Budget Committee.
- On April 11, 2009, at the suggestion of the leader of the All-Ukrainian public movement “For Ukraine!” Vyacheslav Kyrylenko was elected chairman of the Kharkiv regional organization of the “For Ukraine!”.
- On February 3, 2010, an extraordinary session of the Kharkiv Regional Council passed a vote of no confidence in Avakov as the head of the region with the wording “for using administrative resources in preparation for the second round of the presidential election”. «108 deputies voted in favor of the governor’s resignation, 8 voted against, 1 abstained and 1 did not vote.
- On February 5, President Viktor Yushchenko dismissed Avakov from his post on the basis of part 10 of Article 118 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that if two-thirds or more of the deputies of the council of the corresponding level express no confidence in the head of a district or regional state administration, the president decides to dismiss the head of the state administration.
- On February 9, 2010, two days after Viktor Yanukovych won the presidential election, he resigned as the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
- On April 21, 2010, he joined the Batkivshchyna party and accepted Yulia Tymoshenko’s offer to head the regional organization of Batkivshchyna, and is a member of the party’s political council.
- In October 2010, he took part in the election of Kharkiv mayor, and together with the representative of the Communist Party Alla Aleksandrovska, he was the main rival of the acting mayor and candidate of the Party of Regions Hennadiy Kernes.
- Since the fall of 2011, Avakov has been in Europe on business for his own foundation, in particular, promoting the film “Armenian Heritage of Europe.” Until December 2012, he was in exile in Italy due to criminal prosecution in Ukraine.
- Following the fall parliamentary elections of 2012, he was elected as a member of the Ukrainian parliament on the list of the united opposition Batkivshchyna.
- On November 27, 2012, Avakov announced his intention to return to Ukraine and resume his duties as a Member of Parliament. In the parliament, he was the chairman of the subcommittee on legislation on the status of a people’s deputy of Ukraine. During Euromaidan, he was involved in the infrastructure of the protest camp: barricades, tent city and catering.
- During the political crisis in Ukraine in 2013-2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dismissed the acting Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko on February 22, 2014 and appointed Arsen Avakov as acting Minister.
- On February 27, Avakov was confirmed as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
- On March 13, 2014, he wrote to the relevant committee to resign his parliamentary mandate.
Family
Oleksandr Arseniyovych Avakov — son, advisor to Avitalia s.r.l.
Inna Dmytrivna Avakov — wife, head of Pidstepne Sontsze LLC, a solar power generation company. In the past, together with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, she was the owner of the Espresso TV channel.
Compromising evidence
Interior Minister’s son Oleksandr Avakov lost tens of thousands of hryvnias in poker
KV learned about this from a video posted on the Internet. The resource newsonline24.com.ua claims that this video was made by operatives, but does not specify which ones. The video is titled “How to lose 100 thousand UAH in a few hours”.
KV learned about this from a video posted on the Internet. The resource newsonline24.com.ua claims that this video was made by operatives, but does not specify which ones. The video is titled “How to lose 100 thousand UAH in a few hours”.
Earlier, the Schemes program (Radio Liberty) published a video in which people who look like former Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar, son of Interior Minister Oleksandr Avakov, and MP Ihor Kotvitsky (MP “Deputies’ Control” group) decide the fate of a tender for the purchase of backpacks for the Interior Ministry.
Inna Avakova
Wife of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov
In October 2014, she exercised an option to buy out the official owners of Espresso TV’s stake in Astra Finance, which holds the channel’s digital license. This became known from the Minister’s declaration. The liabilities were estimated at 5050000 UAH.
Inna Avakova owned the channel together with Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Larysa, the wife of MP Mykola Kniazhytskyi of the People’s Front party. However, on December 30, 2017, Espresso TV reported that Avakov’s wife and Arseniy Yatsenyuk sold their shares to the company of Ivan Zhevago, the son of oligarch and MP Kostiantyn Zhevago.
According to her 2017 declaration, Inna Avakov sold her stake in Astra Finance LLC for UAH 55800000 to ATMOSPHERE ENTERTAINMENT INC (New York, USA).
According to the Nashi Groshi website, in 2017, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov became the owner of a villa on the Mediterranean coast in Italy.
On 03.02.2017, Ferdico S.R.L received a state deed of title to a villa on Batterie Street in the Italian municipality of San Felice Circeo, in the region of Lazio, province of Latina (via delle Batterie, San Felice Circeo, Lazio, Latina, Italy). Ferdico S.R.L. is owned by Avakov’s company Avitalia s.r.l.. The villa has 26 rooms in a 566-meter building on the first and second floors and in the basement. According to the journalists, the approximate value of the property, as shown by the calculator on the website avvocatoandreani.it, is about 774 thousand euros.
In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda, Arsen Avakov explained that this is one of his wife’s business projects. According to him, it is a building for a mini-hotel, purchased with credit funds and with the participation of the capital of Avitalia s.r.l.
BUSINESS ON THE “GREEN” TARIFF IN THE ENERGY SECTOR
In July 2017, Kotvitsky and the wife of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Inna Avakova, registered Pidstepove Sun, a company specializing in electricity production. This is evidenced by an extract from the Unified Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations. Initially, the nominal owners of the company were Natalia and Oleksandr Afanasyev from Zhytomyr. The company was registered in Mykolaiv, Transportnyi lane, 9. As of June 2018, the same contact information was used by several other companies of the Afanasievs that specialized in electricity production.
According to the statement, Kotvitsky contributed UAH 85 million to the company’s authorized capital, and Avakov’s wife contributed UAH 35 million. In March 2018, Pidstepne Sun LLC acquired a 25.4-hectare land plot on the territory of the Pidstepne Village Council in the Oleshky district of Kherson region.
On December 28, 2018, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC) issued a license to Pidstepne Sun LLC for electricity production. The license was issued for the operation of a solar power plant with a capacity of almost 10 mW.
Later, Kotvitsky told Bihus.Info in a commentary that the capacity of this station is 25 MW. However, he did not rule out that he would expand this business.
On April 26, 2019, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission set the so-called “green” tariff for Pidstepove Pole at 456.87 kopecks/kWh.
Wealth and assets
In February 2008, Focus magazine ranked Avakov 67th in its list of the 130 richest Ukrainians. The magazine’s experts estimated the Kharkiv Oblast governor’s wealth at $385 million. It was noted that a year earlier they amounted to $300 million.
JSCB Basis was registered by the National Bank of Ukraine in 1992. It has branches in Dnipro and Kyiv. In May 1995, the former branch of the Kharkiv Investment Commercial Bank for the Development of Light Industry, Interbudbank, merged with it.
Among the bank’s partners are Investor JSC, Turboatom JSC, Teploelektrocentral-3 CJSC, Kharkiv Heating Networks Regional Utility Company, Kharkiv Heating Networks Utility Company, UCEBOTnaftogaz OJSC, Saltivsky Khlibozavod CJSC, Ukrainian Tea Factory AhmadTI LLC, Dubliansky Alcohol Plant, and Novopokrovsky State Bakery Plant.
Basis is a part of the Investor financial and industrial group. The founder and owner of the controlling stake (50.55% of the bank’s authorized capital) is Investor JSC, whose main “controller” is Avakov.
According to Focus, FIG Investor coordinates the activities of about 40 diversified enterprises. These include the energy sector, production and sale of the popular Ahmad tea brand in Ukraine.
Arsen Avakov’s closest business partners include his wife Inna and son Oleksandr.
Arsen Avakov and his family members own several dozen companies and subsidiaries. Officially, Avakov’s electronic declaration for 2015 lists 15 legal entities whose ultimate beneficiary (controller) is Arsen Avakov or Inna Avakov.
For 2016, Arsen Avakov declared income in the form of a salary in the amount of UAH 466,121. He had UAH 626,348 on his account at Ukreximbank, $175,804 at Oschadbank, UAH 338,598 and UAH 200 thousand in precious metals. In addition, the Minister indicated that he is the owner of the Cypriot companies Ulisse
Management Limited and Fontana Management Limited and 12 shares in the Metalist football club.
Arsen Avakov is the ultimate beneficial owner of two Cypriot companies Ulisse Management Limited and Fontana Management Limited. This information is contained in the Minister’s electronic declaration for 2016. According to the declaration, Avakov and his wife own two apartments in Kharkiv with an area of 657.9 and 70.90 square meters, as well as an apartment in Chuhuiv with an area of 55.4 square meters, and a land plot in Korobochkino village, Kharkiv region, with an area of 1.2 thousand square meters. The minister’s wife also owns a land plot in Korobochkino village of 1.2 thousand square meters. In addition, the minister rents a 77.6-square-meter hotel room.
The declaration also states that Avakov owns 12 shares of FC Metalist worth UAH 3, owns 100% of the capital in the Italian company Avitalia s.r.l. worth UAH 8.8 million, 99.99% of the capital in Avakov’s Trust Company LLC (in liquidation) worth UAH 205.4 thousand (0.01% of this company is owned by Avakov’s son Oleksandr).
Avakov declared income in the form of salary in the amount of UAH 466.1 thousand and income from the repayment of the value of treasury war bonds in the amount of UAH 20 thousand and the repayment of coupons for them in the amount of UAH 2.8 thousand.
The Interior Minister has UAH 626.3 thousand on his account at Ukreximbank, UAH 175.8 thousand at Oschadbank, as well as UAH 200 thousand in precious metals, UAH 15 thousand, $12.8 thousand, 65 thousand euros and 870 British pounds, 3015 Canadian dollars, 96 thousand Japanese yen in cash.
In the column of financial liabilities, Avakov indicated dividends by the decision of the general meeting of Avitalia s. r. l. dated October 14, 2016, which were not credited to the accounts and were not paid in 2016 in the amount of UAH 148.4 thousand.
Avakov also declared a collection of paintings, a collection of books of the XVIII-XXI centuries in the amount of approximately 8 thousand copies, icons, artistic chess sets, a collection of coins of the XVI-XXI centuries in the amount of 2652 thousand pieces, a collection of gold coins of 24 items, stamps, a collection of cold steel of the XIX-XX centuries and a collection of wines. The price and date of acquisition were not specified for some unknown reason. The value of all this property is three or even five times higher than Avakov’s official income.
Criminal case
2012.
Since 1993, Arsen Avakov’s name has been mentioned in the operational developments of the Kharkiv police. Avakov was checked for involvement in the following crimes: the unsolved murder of Oleksandr Konovalov, deputy chairman of Investor JSC (1993)[61], theft of gas condensate on a particularly large scale from the Balakliyske field of the ShebelinkaGazVydobuvannya gas production department, and embezzlement of funds during the sale of condensate through a number of commercial structures. However, until 2012, no criminal cases were initiated against Arsen Avakov. In February 2008, Hennadiy Kernes accused Arsen Avakov of murdering his partner and lobbying for business interests on the live program Freedom of Speech on ICTV. Kernes also claimed that Avakov had bought himself a seat as governor:
“I want to look this man in the eye and tell him that I am the son-in-law of Yuriy Haysynsky (former prosecutor of Kyiv region), who was once accused of defending you when you killed your partner and embezzled all the money.”
At the end of October 2012, Oleksandr Motylevsky, the chairman of the board of Investor JSC, committed suicide, left by Avakov to take the fall for all his sins. In his suicide note, Motylevsky accused Avakov of framing his employees.
Avakov believes that it was pressure and threats from the DCO that forced Motylevsky to commit suicide.
On January 26, 2012, the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine opened a criminal case against Arsen Avakov under Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on the fact of malicious abuse of power and official authority, which led to grave consequences, specifically for the illegal change of purpose and transfer to private ownership of 55 hectares of state land worth over UAH 5.5 million in Pesochyn… On January 31, his apartments were searched. The reason for the criminal case was discovered during the inventory of the Kharkiv branch of the State Committee for Land Resources in late 2011, although a similar procedure in late 2010 did not reveal any act of land transfer at that time. According to Arsen Avakov himself, he canceled the original act 45 days after signing it, and the criminal case itself was falsified. He believed that the initiators of the case were Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Mykhailo Dobkin and Andriy Portnov, an advisor to President Viktor Yanukovych.
As Avakov had been in Europe since the fall of 2011, he was put on the Interpol international wanted list on January 31, 2012. On the same day, the Chervonozavodskyi District Court of Kharkiv imposed a preventive measure of detention on him[74]. Avakov appealed to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine with a request to close the criminal case against him due to the absence of corpus delicti on the basis of paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 6 of the CPC of Ukraine. 1, Art. 6 of the CPC of Ukraine.
On March 21, he was officially put on the Interpol wanted list. On March 25, the media reported that Avakov was detained in Frosinone, Italy. On March 29, an Italian court arrested Avakov for 40 days. On April 12, Avakov was released from custody by a decision of the Roman court. On October 18, 2012, a court in Italy ruled against Ukraine’s extradition of Avakov.
2016.
On September 13, 2016, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko announced the opening of a criminal case against Avakov. According to him, the proceedings were opened after an appeal from the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Vitaliy Shabunin. Two days later, Lutsenko said that the case against Avakov was closed.
There was no clarification as to what events led to the opening of the case. However, almost simultaneously, the Ukrainian media reported that the NABU was conducting an investigation into the abuse of power by officials of the Dergachiv District Administration of Kharkiv Region (Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Initially, the case was initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office, and on July 7, 2016, the NABU was assigned to investigate. In 2005, Investor PJSC (41.5% of which was owned by Avakov) and the Dergachiv District Administration entered into a contract for the sale of a land plot of 18.14 hectares. The plot consisted of three land plots — one of them was used for a children’s camp, the second belonged to the forest fund, and the third belonged to the Cherkasy-Loziv village council, which meant that it could not be alienated or sold. According to the Anti-Corruption Action Center (headed by Shabunin), the alienation took place with numerous violations of the law. As a result, PJSC Investor illegally seized 18.4 hectares of land worth UAH 2.7 million (in 2005 prices).
Business.
According to the proUA online media outlet, Arsen Borysovych is involved in the creation of the following companies:
— Investor JSC;
— JSCB “Basis”
— 7th TV channel;
— CJSC “Saltovsky Bakery”;
— Fifth Element LLC;
— Radio+ LLC;
— Radio Nova Hvilya LLC;
— OJSC Simon TV and Radio Company;
— Vostorg Supermarket LLC;
— Novosti Television Agency LLC;
— CJSC “Department store ‘Ukraine’;
— Investor-Naftogaz LLC;
— SE Investor Elite Bud;
— Investor Publishing House LLC;
— CJSC “TEC-3”;
— LLC JV Ukrainian Tea Factory Ahmad Tea.
He is a co-owner of Metalist and Kharkiv football clubs.
Arsen Avakov and his family members are also involved in the following companies:
— Investor ITALIA s.r.l.;
— Petrivske LLC;
— Prosyane Poultry Farm LLC;
— Vilkhuvatka Agricultural Enterprise;
— Starovirivskyi Poultry Complex LLC;
— Borea Studio;
— Media Technology Research Center;
— Siverskyi Carbonated Beverage Plant LLC;
— Viter Company;
— Pyramid Office and Warehouse Company LLC;
— OJSC Kharkiv Central Department Store;
— Robinson & Co;
— Alfa Communications LLC.
Compromising evidence
In the police crosshairs
Since 1993, according to the online publication “Ukraine Criminal”, Avakov’s name has repeatedly appeared in the operational developments of the Kharkiv police, he was checked for involvement in a number of serious crimes, in particular
— the murder of O.O. Konovalov in 1993, deputy chairman of Investor JSC (the crime has not been solved to this day);
— embezzlement in particularly large amounts of gas condensate from the Balakliyske field of the ShebelynkaGazVydobuvannya gas production unit;
— misappropriation of significant funds during the sale of condensate through their commercial structures — FOP “Enterprise of Kharkiv District ‘Processing Plant’, CJSC ‘Fuel Additive Production Plant’, LLC ‘Investor-Naftogaz’, CJSC ‘Investor-Atika’ by significantly understating the cost of gas condensate.
And the changes for the police introduced by Avakov were, to put it mildly, “about nothing.”
Pressure on the Minister of the Interior
In November 2005, Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko said that Arsen Avakov had given an ultimatum to leave his team members alone.
“The other day, I received a call from the chief police officer of Kharkiv region, who said that the governor had given him an ultimatum: either he would raise the issue of changing the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the president, or we should leave his team members, including many bribe-takers, alone… Naturally, I ignored this attack on me. For me, all corrupt officials are equal, no matter what team they belong to,“ the minister said (”Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraini”, November 1, 2005).
Arsen Borisovich denied these accusations. “I love Yuriy Lutsenko as a person, I respect him as a minister, and I will not play a game of spoiled telephone with him,“ he said (”URA-Inform”, September 12, 2005).
Lobbying for the interests of the Bazis bank
Opponents of Arsen Avakov accuse him of putting all budget organizations under the control of the bank “Basis”. Avakov says this is not true: “All budgetary funds are serviced by the Treasury, but Bazis won the tender and serves some budgetary funds related to part of the salary payment, etc. Among other things, the city places a part of its deposits with the bank. I had a choice, but I decided for myself that I should not restrict this bank in the market in any way because of my relationship with it. It was aggressive and very active before, and it still is, and it was one of the leaders of the Kharkiv banking world before and it still is” (Glavred, August 11, 2005).
Illegal use of funds
In November 2006, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych announced that the amount of illegal misappropriation of funds and material assets in Kharkiv region exceeded UAH 120 million.
According to Avakov, the control figures of the Control and Audit Office included UAH 97 million of property of the Kupyansk Foundry, which was transferred from state to non-state ownership incorrectly. “The story is the same with another plant, which was “valued” by the CRO at UAH 17 million,” the governor said.
Accusations of involvement in a murder
In February 2008, Kharkiv City Council Secretary Gennadiy Kernes accused Arsen Avakov of lobbying for his own business interests and of involvement in a murder. Arsen Avakov filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office to prosecute Kernes for slander.
His inner circle
Arsen Avakov’s inner circle includes Viktor Yushchenko’s nephew, Yaroslav Yushchenko, whom they met during the Orange Revolution.
Arsen Avakov is friends with his business partners Hennadiy Hayovyi and Andriy Pereyedenko, the first deputy head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Volodymyr Babayev, advisor Oleksandr Protas, and the former mayor of Kharkiv Volodymyr Shumilkin. “We have been friends for many years outside of politics, outside of our positions and positions, and we have nothing to share with him. He and I have a very powerful tandem, which many people envy,” says Arsen Avakov (Glavred, August 12, 2005).
Arsen Avakov does not hide his sympathies for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Yulia Tymoshenko.
“Unfortunately, we rarely communicate with Yulia Volodymyrivna. Sometimes we call each other, no more. I have always been a supporter of the unification of democratic forces. I have my own views on many processes, sometimes different from Tymoshenko’s. But in the main, we are absolute allies. If a democratic coalition is formed and a democratic government comes to power, and Tymoshenko is in it, I will wholeheartedly support it,“ says the Kharkiv governor.” (“Korrespondent”, No. 7, February 24, 2007).
Over the past six months, rumors have been circulating in the political corridors that Tymoshenko and Avakov’s positions have recently begun to converge. The Kharkiv governor commented on his relationship with Yulia Volodymyrivna as follows: “I really have very calm and good relations with many people, including Tymoshenko” (November 4, 2008).
Arsen Avakov respects President Yushchenko.
“I decided to support Viktor Yushchenko a long time ago, and it was known to everyone, from Kushnarev, who had no illusions, to our current president and his family members. The fact is that the moment came when we had to consolidate our efforts, and we joined forces,” Arsen Borisovich recalls (Glavred, August 12, 2005).
The Kharkiv governor says that he intends to stay in his current position until the end of Viktor Yushchenko’s presidential term.
Arsen Avakov is considered to be Petro Yushchenko’s man in the political circles. Arsen Borisovich takes this calmly: “I am a man of my parents. My views are in line with those of my party comrades, the President and Petro Yushchenko in particular. Nothing more“ (”Korrespondent”, February 24, 2007).
Summary.
Arsen Borysovych is a corrupt type and an “eternal minister”. Power changes — Avakov remains. He gets the most out of his position. He frames his colleagues, misappropriates land, steals public money, and gets away with it thanks to his good connections. And all of his activities are aimed at the prosperity of his family rather than the benefit of ordinary people.