Oleh Valeriyovych Lyashko
Official biography
Born on December 3, 1972 in Chernihiv. Ukrainian journalist, politician, leader of the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko, member of the Verkhovna Rada.
Family
His mother is Lyubov Pavlivna Lyashko (born June 21, 1953). According to the official version, his father left his mother immediately after Oleh was born.
His wife since June 2, 2018 is Rosita Oleksandrivna Liashko, née Sayranian. Born on October 28, 1970, they lived in a de facto marriage from 1998 to 2018. Rosita is a real estate agent, and before meeting Oleg, she worked as an administrator of a slot machine hall.
Daughter — Vladyslava Vitaliivna Horbenko (b. 2002)
Son — Oleksandr (born May 17, 2020)
Sister — Victoria
Brother — Serhii lives in Luhansk region.
Until the age of six, he was raised in an orphanage in Pryluky. Later he studied at three boarding schools: Yabluniv, Komariv and Borznyanska.
He worked as a shepherd. He studied at a technical school to become a tractor driver. Then he tried to enter the Faculty of Journalism at Kyiv National University, but failed. However, he did not give up his passion for journalism. He wrote articles for the Borznyansky district newspaper Kommunistichesky Trud. In 1990, on the recommendation of Anatolii Turkeni, a correspondent for the Ukrainian Radio in Chernihiv, he began an internship at Radio Liberty. In 1990-1992, he was a correspondent for the Kyiv newspaper “Moloda Hvardiya”.
In 1992-1995, he was the editor of the newspaper “Kommercheski Visti” of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of Ukraine, which was then headed by Borys Sobolev.
On June 21, 1993, Oleh Lyashko was arrested on charges of embezzlement of state property.
On December 9, 1994, the Criminal Court Panel of the Kyiv City Court issued a verdict finding Lyashko, who had worked as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Kommercheski Visti before his arrest, guilty of committing crimes under Articles 86-1, 191, 194, part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court found Lyashko guilty of “embezzling state property worth 1 million 300 thousand rubles and a collective bargaining agreement worth 1 million 100 thousand rubles”.
He was sentenced to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property. Lyashko served his sentence in Izyaslav colony No. 31. Six months later, the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 4 years. Lyashko was released in May 1995 under an amnesty in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Victory, and in 1998 the Varvynskyi District Court of Chernihiv Oblast early lifted his conviction, but in 1999 the Chernihiv Oblast Court reversed this decision. Much later, in the fall of 2010, a video from 1993 appeared on the Internet, in which 21-year-old Oleh Lyashko spoke frankly about his sexual life with a man named Borya during interrogation by the prosecutor’s office. Lyashko tells the prosecutor’s investigator about his homosexual relationship with a high-ranking official whom he pleased in exchange for promises of help in his career. In particular, Lyashko states that he “took it in his mouth.”
Lyashko himself tried to declare this recording a fake. But investigator Oleh Matveev, who was interrogating Lyashko on video at the time, later confirmed the fact of the video recording, but refused to say who “Borya” was. According to some reports, “Borey” could be the same Borys Sobolev who headed the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of Ukraine, during which time the newspaper “Kommercheski Visti” was published, edited by Oleh Lyashko.
After his release from prison in 1995-1996, he was the editor of the Politics supplement of the Pravda Ukrainy newspaper. In 1998, he graduated from the Law Faculty of H. Skovoroda Kharkiv State Pedagogical University. In 2000-2006, he was the editor-in-chief of Svoboda newspaper (CJSC “Editorial office of Politika newspaper”).
Compromising material
Lyashko’s corruption schemes
The media found out how Lyashko “earned” hundreds of millions of hryvnias on corruption schemes
Ukrainian investigative journalists have uncovered schemes through which the leader of the Radical Party, Oleh Lyashko, who did not have his own business, earned hundreds of millions of hryvnias, Corruption Info reports.
In particular, over the past year alone, Lyashko and his wife have purchased real estate worth about UAH 20 million, according to the publication of anti-corruption investigative journalist Denys Bihus, Bihus.info. In addition, Lyashko uses an armored Cadillac Escalade. This car is not listed in the MP’s declaration (he declared a Mercedes S 550 and a Land Cruiser), but Lyashko has been spotted driving this car near the Verkhovna Rada on several occasions before.
The car is officially registered to Lyashko’s advisor, Oleksandr Hulak. He is a member of the Radical Party and even in 2014 he ran for parliamentary elections and failed. In his application to the CEC, the man did not indicate his place of work, only that he was temporarily unemployed.
According to the journalistic investigation, the corruption scheme that helped Lyashko enrich himself originated in Chernihiv Oblast and has been operating since 2008. It is connected, in particular, with the former deputy head of the State Emergency Service, Oleh Averyanov, who is a member of the Chernihiv Regional Council.
“Until 2009, fire trucks were manufactured not only for Ukrainian firefighters, but also for import by the state-owned enterprise Pryluky Fire and Special Machine Building Plant Pozhspetsmash. In 2007, the SPFU announced plans to privatize the state-owned plant. Even at that time, investors were interested in the enterprise. But the plant did not survive the transparent tender. Already in 2008, at the request of creditors, the court initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the plant for a ridiculous debt of UAH 20 million compared to the value of the enterprise. Its property was distributed among several companies, including those associated with Averyanov. At the same time, Lyashko visited the plant for the first time,” the journalists found out.
In 2009, a year after the bankruptcy of the state-owned enterprise, the SES transferred UAH 263 million to the account of a private company with the same name, Zavod Pozhspetsmash, which was run by Averyanov, for the supply of firefighting equipment. However, the private Zavod had no production, so the company transferred the money to another company with the same name, the Pozhspetsmash Production Enterprise, co-founded by Oleh Averyanov’s mother-in-law. The mother-in-law’s company purchased Russian cars through a chain of fictitious companies. In 2011, the tax authorities found that while the cars were traveling through the chain of companies, their value had doubled.
As the journalists found out, after the tender agreement, two companies were liquidated, and a new company, PK Pozhmashina, appeared at the production facilities of the former state plant. The owner of the private firm is a Cypriot company, and the formal ultimate beneficiary is Oleksandr Borshch, a member of the Radical Party. However, according to Oleh Averyanov’s ex-wife, Yevheniia, the company Pozhmashyna is actually owned by Averyanov, and the official beneficiary is Borshch, an old friend and godfather of the couple.
In 2015, the former head of the State Emergency Service, Serhiy Bochkovsky, claimed that Oleh Lyashko was putting pressure on him to “knock out” the victory in the SES tender for Pozhmashyna. After the personnel rotations associated with Bochkovsky’s arrest and dismissal, Averyanov became deputy head of the SES, and the tender for fire trucks worth UAH 92 million was held shortly after his appointment. The SES then rejected all the bids except for Pozhmashina and Man Truck & Bus Ukraine.
The latter won the tender. However, law enforcement agencies found that Averyanov had colluded with the commercial directors of the German representative office: after the Germans won, they transferred two-thirds of the winnings to Pozhmashyna. The money was then transferred to a company called Alliance-Agro Trading and Industrial Company LLC with an office in Averyanov’s apartment.
In addition, in 2016, despite the ongoing criminal proceedings, the company received more than 400 million hryvnias from the state budget for the supply of fire equipment. The journalists reminded that in late 2015, the Radical Party faction refused to vote for the state budget, which the “radicals” called corrupt, until it was supplemented with UAH 400 million for the purchase of firefighting equipment.
“After successfully participating in the tender, Oleh Lyashko and Oleh Averyanov went to celebrate their victory at a plant they allegedly had nothing to do with. Within a year after the purchase, Lyashko spent 20 million hryvnias on real estate,” the investigation says.
Averyanov himself has denied any involvement in the company, although his ex-wife is suing for it as joint property.
Real estate
In 2012, the MP’s mother bought three apartments of 100 square meters each in a business class building at 36-B Yevhen Konovaltsia Street, but the following year they were all sold, and now she has only a 13-meter car space there.
She also owns a house of unknown size in the village of Bohdanivka near Kyiv.
At the beginning of 2017, Oleh Lyashko bought a 550-square-meter house and two land plots with a total area of 0.6 hectares in Kozyn village (Koncha Zaspa) for a total cost of UAH 15 million.
Lyashko told reporters that he bought the house on credit, but there is no information about a loan or mortgage in his declaration or real estate statement.
The 2018 declaration states that the radical is the owner of a 550-square-meter house and a land plot with a total area of more than 0.6 hectares. The politician purchased this property in the village of Kozyno, Kyiv region, for 15 million hryvnias. He also rented a part of a residential building there.
In particular, Lyashko has a separate house where he receives journalists. In 2014, he showed it to the ICTV TV channel and said that he had spent his last money on it. However, to this day, this object is not listed in the declaration. Interestingly, the mansion was originally registered to Lyashko’s wife’s younger sister, Lolita Fedotova.
Lyashko owns six plots of land in Knyazhychi, Kyiv region, as well as an apartment of almost 100 square meters in Kyiv.
Lyashko’s wife Rosita Sairanen owns a 605-square-meter plot of land in the Ukrainian capital. She also owns a 296-square-meter country house in Kyiv and uses a 63-square-meter summer kitchen in Mala Oleksandrivka, Kyiv Oblast, free of charge.
The head of the Radical Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada, Oleh Lyashko, declared 740,000 dollars, 90,000 euros and 890,000 hryvnias in cash.
In addition, according to the electronic declaration, Lyashko has UAH 1844775 and UAH 190,700 in bank accounts.
Lyashko’s partner Rosita Sairanen has $200,000, 40,000 euros and 760,000 hryvnias in cash.
Last year, Lyashko received UAH 992,388 in income from the alienation of real estate and UAH 2245,500 in income from the alienation of movable property.
In addition, in the Verkhovna Rada, he received UAH 79,596 in salary and UAH 80,559 in funds for parliamentary activities.
In Kyiv, Lyashko owns apartments of 367.20 sq. m. and 95.50 sq. m., an office of 182.80 sq. m. and a parking space of 23.60 sq. m.
He also has a 127.50-square-meter “garage” in Pryluky, Chernihiv region.
The MP also owns 6 land plots in the village of Kniazhychi, Brovary district, Kyiv region, with an area of 210 square meters.
In addition, Lyashko rents a 215.90-square-meter house and a 450-square-meter land plot in Kozyn village, Obukhiv district, Kyiv region.
450 square meters, as well as a land plot of 142.30 square meters.
Among other valuable movable property, Lyashko declared a collection of coins issued by the National Bank of Ukraine, a collection of silver and gold coins of foreign origin in the amount of 5 pieces, and a peasant pitchfork, 4 watches by Vacheron Constantin, Ulysse Nardin, Breguet and Audemars Piguet, a treadmill and an exercise bike, furniture, and jewelry (a set of white metal, black pearls and precious stones — earrings and a ring).
His partner Rosita Sairanen also owns jewelry.
Lyashko owns 33.33% of the corporate rights to the Polityka newspaper.
Vehicle fleet
In 2014, the SUV was put up for charity auction. The Range Rover was sold for 70 thousand dollars and the politician donated the proceeds to the ATO.
Later, Oleh Lyashko was repeatedly seen in a Cadillac Escalade, although this car turned out to be registered to his assistant. The MP himself later got a Mercedes-Benz S550, and his wife Rosita got a Mazda CX-5.
Currently, the candidate’s declaration lists a 2004 Toyota Land Cruiser, and his wife has a Mercedes GLE 250. In addition, Lyashko indicated that he rents a 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser 200.
THE FIGHT BETWEEN LYASHKO AND GERUS: POLICE OPENED A CRIMINAL CASE
As a reminder, the current MP and his former MP had a fight the day before in the VIP terminal of Boryspil airport. The leader of the Radical Party asked Andriy Gerus about electricity imports from Russia. After the former MP pointed a finger at the current one, a scuffle broke out between them. Lyashko grabbed hold of his opponent’s shirt and tore it. Afterward, the opponents exchanged accusations on social media. Lyashko accused Gerus of importing Russian electricity. Gerus, on the other hand, claims that the Radical Party leader is lobbying for the interests of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov to purchase coal under the Rotterdam+ formula.
Police opened a criminal investigation into the fight between Oleh Lyashko and Andriy Gerus. The article is “Threats against a public figure”. This was reported to Channel 5 by the regional police.
Oleh Lyashko had several convictions. Back in 1993, he was arrested on charges of committing a number of crimes, including embezzlement of state and collective property on a large scale and arbitrary appropriation of power. He was sentenced to six years in prison with confiscation of property, but was released a year later under an amnesty.
In 1999, the Politika newspaper headed by Lyashko was closed by court order for disclosing state secrets. In 2001, Lyashko was given a suspended sentence for publications about the former acting Vice Prime Minister Vasyl Durdynets and the head of the Odesa regional police department, Ivan Hryhorenko, which were recognized by a Ukrainian court as defamatory. However, in 2006, he succeeded in having this decision overturned by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
In 2010, a video recording appeared on the Internet showing Lyashko’s alleged interrogation by the prosecutor’s office in 1993, where he talks about his intimate relationship with a man.
On the night of March 9-10, 2014, he detained a deputy of the Luhansk regional council, Arsen Klinchayev, who was later interrogated and beaten on video. The international human rights organization Amnesty International stated that, in its opinion, the actions of Oleh Lyashko and his armed supporters were a flagrant violation of international legal norms. On September 10, 2015, a criminal case was opened against Oleh Lyashko in the Russian Federation on suspicion of kidnapping a resident of Mariupol, Dmytro Tchaikovsky.
In September 2018, it was reported that Lyashko was going to be stripped of his parliamentary immunity. According to the information, the SAPO and the NABU charged the MP under Articles 366-1 (declaration of false information) and 368-2 (illegal enrichment) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In the Verkhovna Rada, Lyashko is often seen as an active participant in fights and brawls.
In 2001, he was convicted of slander for spreading libel in the Svoboda newspaper about the then Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Durdynets. Oleh Lyashko was sentenced to two years’ probation. In 2006, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the V convocation on the lists of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc — he was No. 26 on the electoral list. He worked as the chairman of the subcommittee on the organization of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Rules, Deputy Ethics and Support of the Verkhovna Rada. In November 2007, during the early elections, he again became a Member of Parliament of Ukraine (VI convocation) from the same bloc — No. 29 on the list.
Since July 2009, he has been the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Budget. Chairman of the Temporary Investigation Commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate violations of property, land and other legislation by Kharkiv Mayor Mykhailo Dobkin and Kharkiv City Council Secretary Hennadiy Kernes. Despite the fact that he got into big politics thanks to Yulia Tymoshenko, this did not stop him from insulting the leader of the Batkivshchyna party in every possible way and calling her a “Kremlin cuckoo.” On October 28, 2012, in the parliamentary elections, Oleh Lyashko won the 208th majority constituency and became a member of the Ukrainian parliament of the VII convocation.
In January 2012, 16-year-old Vadym Tereshchenko of the organization for the protection of sexual minorities accused Lyashko of rape. On July 15, 2012, an attempt by Oleh Lyashko to smuggle two pupils of the Yalta boarding school, aged 12 and 14, to Turkey was prevented. In May 2014, it was announced that an investigative check had been launched in Crimea over this fact. On May 25, 2014, he took third place in the presidential election, gaining 8.32% of the vote. In the 2014 snap parliamentary elections, Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party was on the list and received 7.44% of the vote.
On March 17, 2014, he introduced a bill that proposed to consider participants in “separatist rallies for joining Russia” and those who obstructed the movement of military personnel and military equipment as traitors and accomplices of the occupiers. It is proposed to apply the death penalty to traitors, saboteurs, murderers, looters, deserters and spies during the “military aggression”. The draft law provides for the severance of diplomatic relations and the introduction of a visa regime with Russia, denunciation of agreements, a ban on the Communist Party and the Party of Regions, a call to the EU to ban the entry of Crimean residents with Russian passports, and other measures. The commander of the Azov regiment, Andriy Biletsky, noted that Lyashko “was one of the lobbyists for the creation” and arming “from the warehouses” of their volunteer battalion, created in early May 2014. On July 11, 2014, he registered a bill in the Verkhovna Rada that bans 518 cultural figures — Russian citizens who supported Russia’s “military aggression” against Ukraine — from entering Ukraine.
Lyashko is suspected of being the creation of a group of Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash and former Presidential Administration head Serhiy Lovochkin. According to a number of experts, Lyashko’s task is to erode the protest opposition field. On September 10, 2015, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Oleh Lyashko and members of the Azov National Guard regiment on suspicion of kidnapping a resident of Mariupol, Dmytro Tchaikovsky (Donetsk region).
The criminal case was initiated on the grounds of crimes stipulated by subpara. “a”, ‘c’ of Part 2 of Article 126, subpara. “e”, ‘f’ of Part 2 of Article 117, Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of Russia (kidnapping, torture, use of prohibited means and methods of warfare). In the spring and summer of 2016, together with journalist Olena Kyryk, he hosted the weekly program ‘Lyashko’s Truth’ on the ‘NewsOne’ TV channel. The program was closed at the initiative of the TV channel, and Lyashko attributed it to political pressure. On April 24, 2017, the Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Artem Sytnyk, reported that the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine had opened a criminal investigation into the possible illegal enrichment of the leader of the Radical Party, Oleh Lyashko.
Summary
Sweet speeches about love for pensioners and ordinary people bribe the unfortunate people of Ukraine. And Lyashko skillfully uses this. He continues to visit villages, promising decent pensions and salaries to ordinary people. But as can be seen from journalists’ investigations, “the tongue says one thing, but the hands do another.” Oleh Valeriyovych makes his money mainly through tender procurement. And to ensure that his illegal business is untouched, Lyashko generously shares his money with prosecutors and the Anti-Corruption Bureau and anyone who can somehow interfere.