Bertash Vasyl Mykhailovych
Official biography
Born in the village of Lisove, Rokytne district, Rivne region. In 1980, he graduated from Rivne Agricultural College, and in 1995 from the Faculty of Industrial and Civil Engineering of the Ukrainian Institute of Water Management Engineers, specializing in civil engineering.
Career.
- He began his career in 1979 as a worker at the Myrhoshcha State Farm College.
- In 1980, he became a construction technician at the Gorky collective farm (Romaniv village, Lutsk district, Volyn region). After graduation, he returned to the collective farm as a civil engineer.
- 1987-1988 — Chief Engineer of the Klevansky Industrial Plant, Head of the Repair and Construction Department of the Rivne Regional Machine-Building Industry.
- 1988-1998 — Head of the Rembudmontazh section of the Goryn Production Association, Head of Rembudmontazh.
- 1992-1998 — General Director of the Ukrainian-Polish enterprise REMROL.
- 1998-2005 — Head of the Capital Construction Department, Deputy Chairman for Construction and Housing and Communal Services, First Deputy Chairman of the Rivne Regional State Administration.
- 2002-2006 — Member of the Rivne Regional Council.
2006-2007 — Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the V convocation from the Party of Regions (No. 155 on the electoral list), First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Construction, Urban Development and Housing and Communal Services.
On March 18, 2010, by the decree of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, he was appointed the Head of Rivne Regional State Administration.
On March 2, 2014, he was dismissed from his position by a decree of acting President Oleksandr Turchynov and replaced by Serhiy Rybachok.
Bertash had been a member of the Party of Regions since 2000, headed its Rivne branch and was a member of the political council.
He is the president of the Rivne-based public organization Billiard Sports Association.
Regalia.
Honored Builder of Ukraine. Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration. Awarded the Order of Merit III, II degrees.
Family.
Wife — Tetiana Stepanivna. Son Myroslav (born in 1981).
Hobbies.
Sports, hunting.
Unofficial biography
During the 2010 presidential campaign, Vasyl Bertash headed the Rivne regional headquarters of Viktor Yanukovych, and worked hard to ensure high results for his candidate. For this he received the “bread and butter” governorship. In local and central media, Bertash was portrayed as a virtually unopposed candidate for the governorship in the region.
Celebrate an anniversary — get an order
President Yanukovych awarded the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration, Vasyl Bertash, with the Order of Merit II degree. Yanukovych presented Bertash with the order “for his significant personal contribution to state building, socio-economic development of the Rivne region, many years of conscientious work and high professionalism.” Bertash celebrated his 50th birthday on January 7, 2011.
The untouchable son-major
In the winter of 2008, Bertash’s son Myroslav was accused by Rivne media of running over a 19-year-old student, Olha Horetska, in a drunken car, an Audi Q7. Allegedly, it was he who was seen getting out from behind the wheel of the SUV. However, later, local businessman Igor Muzyka took the blame for what happened. He also paid the girl’s medical expenses. Six months after the accident, the police closed the case: contrary to the previous testimony of witnesses and traffic policemen, it turned out that the collision did not occur on a pedestrian crossing, but 18 meters away.
Myroslav Bertash is a deputy of the Rivne City Council from the Party of Regions and the head of the land commission of the Rivne City Council. At one of the city council sessions, Bertash Jr. came with a Louis Vuitton briefcase worth between 725 and 925 euros.
The former head of the Rivne Regional State Administration was celebrated with personalized wine and books
The celebration took place at the Sport restaurant in Kyiv, and the guests included family and friends of the celebrant, former and current officials.
The guests were treated to personalized wine «B.V.M.» from a limited edition made especially for the birthday boy («B.V.M.» is an abbreviation for Vasyl Mykhailovych Bertash), and books «Vasyl Bertash: Life Through Time», published by his friends in 500 copies.
Media report 5 people seriously wounded in shootout in Rivne region
On May 9, 2014, dozens of people were injured in a shootout in Sarny district, Rivne region, five of them seriously. This was reported by the local publication ChaRivne.
A clash broke out between villagers and armed men. Currently, 5 people are wounded, 2 of them have cut wounds, 3 have gunshot wounds.
Under the pressure of the villagers, the militants began to flee and went to the base where they lived. The base itself is located in the village of Strashevo, and its owner is the former head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vasyl Bertash.
The villagers managed to stop the militants and seized their cars. During the inspection, they found many weapons, hundreds of Russian flags and Right Sector stickers.
The media reported on how people in Ukraine make money on illegal car certification schemes
To register a car purchased abroad at the Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, you need to have a certificate of conformity. However, some certification bodies directly violate the law, making money on citizens and the state. One such example is Rivnestandard LLC, which operates despite criminal proceedings and even sentences against its employees.
Back in 2015, Nashi Hroshi wrote about an illegal scheme under which RivneStandard LLC managed to “privatize” the issuance of certificates. Thus, the former head of the State Enterprise “Rivne Standard Metrology” Viktor Zarudny deprived the state enterprise of certification revenues in favor of Rivne Standard LLC. In January 2014, Zarudnyi became the head of the state enterprise thanks to the then governor of the Party of Regions, Vasyl Bertash. Under Zarudnyi’s leadership, the number of certificates issued by RivneStandardMetrology SLC decreased significantly. At the same time, this figure increased sharply at RivneStandard LLC: revenues from the state-owned enterprise flowed into private hands. Mustafa Nayem wrote about the schemes of falsification of documents during laboratory tests for car certification with the participation of Bertash and Zarudnyi, citing the data of the CIA.
The head of the Rivne regional council, Oleksandr Danylchuk (“Batkivshchyna”), was shot while hunting for wild boar.
On November 6, 2010, he was hospitalized in the surgical department of the Rivne Regional Hospital with a gunshot wound.
This was reported to Ukrainski Novyny by a source in the hospital.
The source said that Danylchuk was wounded by buckshot in the upper back of his left leg.
Danylchuk himself said that he felt fine, but that he was unable to kill the boar after being wounded.
He also confirmed the information that the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration, Vasyl Bertash, took part in the hunt.
Revenues.
In 2012, the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vasyl Bertash earned 1112,000,817 hryvnias and declared 2 land plots, an apartment, a garage, a non-residential building, 3 cars, 2 motorcycles and almost 3 million hryvnias in banks.
In 2011, he earned slightly more — UAH 1393,000,651. Also, according to the 2011 income declaration, the head of the RSA had a fourth car, a Land Rover Defender, and UAH 3 million 325,000,524 in bank accounts. According to the current information from the declaration, the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration lives alone. He did not indicate any family income.
The Law of Ukraine “On Principles of Preventing and Combating Corruption” provides for the declaration of income of family members living together, regardless of where they are registered.
“Family members are persons who are married, their children, persons under guardianship and custody, other persons who live together, are connected by common life, have mutual rights and obligations, including persons who live together but are not married” (Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Principles of Preventing and Combating Corruption’).
If there are brave souls, let’s throw Bertash out the window, — the head of the Rivne Right Sector
It seems that Roman Koval was being sarcastic when he said “throwing Bertash out the window.” As he explained later, such sharp phrases were used to “cool down” hotheads. After all, according to Roman Koval, there is currently no legal mechanism to install an opposition head of the Rivne Regional State Administration without removing Viktor Yanukovych from power.
Slow reconstruction
Who, how, and why has been repairing the Rivne ambulance for five years now
Vasyl Bertash, the former head of the Rivne Regional State Administration and a member of the Party of Regions, liked to visit construction sites and monitor the process. In the case of the reconstruction of the regional hospital, the schemes that were in place under his leadership are still relevant today.
“A million here, a million there — for reconstruction, construction, repairs. What do you know about how officials divide budget money and who gets it? This is a story about two attempts to fix up the Rivne Regional Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine. The first one was during the Party of Regions. The second was under the new government. As it turned out, both have a lot in common.”
Why was the nephew of the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration building an unreliable three-story school in a village with 47 students?
In 2011, on St. Nicholas Day, a new school was inaugurated in the village of Buderazh in the Zdolbuniv region, which the villagers had been waiting for for more than 20 years. Until then, the schoolchildren had been studying in an old, dilapidated building.
The modern three-story building welcomed 75 schoolchildren on December 19. The head of the Rivne Regional State Administration, Vasyl Bertash, emphasized at the ceremony that the government’s priority was to get all students out of the emergency premises. It was on his initiative that the regional program for the completion of problem schools was developed. And we could give the current regional authorities a big plus for this, if not for a few strange and contradictory «buts» that suggest that building schools in Rivne region is not only vital, but probably quite profitable. A few months later, cracks appeared on the school building.
Residents of Rivne Vasyl Bertash and Mykhailo Buzynarskyi are going to the parliament on the list with Viktor Medvedchuk and Nelia Shtepa
Journalists were shocked by the mansions of the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vasyl Bertash: an investigation in the TV program “Who Lives Here?”
The official request of the ZIK TV channel for an interview and the governor’s income and expense declaration has not yet been answered.
You will also find out who the official’s exquisite collection of foreign cars and motorcycles is registered to, who really owns the hunting grounds, and whether his father’s position helps the family business.
Summary
Vasyl Bertash uses his position to cover up for his unfortunate relatives and pocket money through shoddy construction and illegal car certification schemes. It is not surprising that the citizens of Rivne region are fed up with Bertash’s illegal tricks and rebelled against him.