Oleksandr Mamai and his permissiveness
Official biography
Born on June 11, 1968 in Poltava.
1985 — graduated from secondary school #19 in Poltava.
From June to August 1985, he worked as an assembler at the Poltava Metalware Plant.
1987 — expelled from the Poltava Civil Engineering Institute due to academic debt
1987-April 1988 — a loader at the Poltava Wholesale and Retail Plant
June-July 1988 — a loader at the Poltava City Glass Container Base
September 1988-1991 — janitor of the kindergarten №47 in Poltava
1991-1995 — painter and plasterer at Ltava-2
1996 — started doing business as an entrepreneur
2000 — became the head of the agricultural enterprise Inter-Agro
2006 — ran for the Poltava City Council
2009 — founded the public association “Our Home is Poltava”
2010-2015 — took office as mayor of Poltava
2010-2015 — studied at Poltava Agrarian State Academy
2015 — re-elected as mayor of Poltava
2017 — defended his thesis “Influence of growing conditions on the yield and quality of winter wheat” and received a master’s degree
Spring 2018 — deputies expressed no confidence in the mayor and dismissed him
November 2018 — reinstated as mayor
December 2018 — removed from office due to a mistake in the decision-making process
2019 — ran for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and lost, and gave way to the head of the regional branch of the OPFL, Ilya Kiva
November 2020 — re-elected as mayor of Poltava
Until Mayor Mamai became a public figure and gained access to administrative resources, his personality was practically not covered, so the legality of the Mamai family’s savings and their lifestyle before 2010 remain blurred. However, the lifestyle and principles of Oleksandr Mamai during his time in power can tell us a lot. After all, as they say, people do not change…
It is very telling that in one of his video interviews, Mamai directly stated: “If I am sure that I can circumvent the law and I will not be punished for it, I will do it all the time!”
One of the most fundamental scandals broke out in 2013. Mamai did not consider it necessary to inform the city council members about the existence of a conflict of interest, as he, as the mayor of Poltava, and his stepdaughter Iryna Klymko, as a city council member, organized a resolution in favor of Klymko as a private entrepreneur, to allocate her land plots for business activities — placement of retail facilities. Klymko was also a director and co-founder of Real
Estate Group, a real estate company. The second co-founder of this company is the mayor’s own daughter Natalia Mamai-Kirichenko (photo on the right), also a member of one of the district councils of Poltava.
A criminal case was initiated over this fact and, surprisingly, it went to court and even began to develop, largely due to the efforts and principled position of Zhovtnevyi District Court Judge Larysa Holnyk.
During the hearings, Mayor Mamai behaved, to put it mildly, impudently. For example, during one of the hearings, Mamai tried to disrupt the hearing due to the absence of his defense lawyer, laughing and smiling, and claimed that he could not contact his lawyer. But when the activists present at the hearing established contact with the mayor’s lawyer, the latter suddenly became ill, complained of physical illness, demanded an ambulance, then left the courtroom, got into his car and drove away.
Later, a scandal erupted with an attempt to bribe Judge Holnyk in the Mamay case. A quickly filmed video shows Mamai offering to make a deal during a confidential conversation and indicating that Dmytro Trykhna, Mamai’s former deputy, would be his contact person. As a result, a criminal case was opened against Trichna for attempted bribery of a judge, and Mamai is a witness in the case.
Further, the judge was subjected to all kinds of pressure from the head of the court, who is a friend and acquaintance of the mayor. In this regard, Judge Holnyk sent two appeals to the High Council of Justice. No result!
Later, Mamai stated that Judge Holnyk herself had demanded a bribe from him. Due to some circumstances, the judge was forced to recuse herself, after which the case ended up in one of the courts of the district center, and Mamai quite rightly received a decision that completely satisfied him — the case was closed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Mamai has an interesting biography, or rather, two of them. According to the official one, he is married with two daughters and two sons. According to the other, he is a divorced single father of many children who lives in his mother’s apartment. But in both cases, he continues to be a millionaire!
So, in 1996, he started doing business. In September 2000, he became the head of the Inter-Agro agricultural enterprise. The company owned 40,000 hectares of leased land, 7,000 heads of cattle and 6 elevators. In total, the company employed about 5,000 people. The company was founded by his wife, mother, and mother-in-law.
Later, Inter-Agro, represented by Director Mamai, took grain, wheat, and sunflower seeds from the largest agricultural producers to store them in its elevators. When the time came to return the grain stored at Mamai’s elevators, it turned out that there was nothing to return and nothing to pay for it. Litigation began. At this point, Kernel Group, owned by businessman Andriy Varevsky, who coincidentally turned out to be Mamai’s relative, filed a lawsuit to declare Inter-Agro bankrupt. In its turn, Inter-Agro, so to speak, fully recognized all the claims and its property was transferred to Andriy Varevsky. Thus, Inter-Agro’s property remained in the family, and the stored grain did not have to be returned.
During his term in office, Mamai repeatedly shocked Poltava region with his actions and constant foul language.
For example, in July 2015, before the start of the city council session, the mayor got into a fight with MP Kaplin. The conflict was caused by the issue of raising public transportation fares. At the same time, it is worth noting that the mayor was strongly defending the interests of carriers in this matter. During the fight, according to Kaplin’s aide, Mayor Mamai hit the deputy in the face with his hand.
This could have been the end of the conflict, but Mamai tried to escape from the city council territory in a car as a passenger, but the protesters surrounded the car and did not allow him to do so. At this point, Kaplin tried to reach the key in the ignition through the open driver’s side window to turn off the engine, but Mamai grabbed his arm and began to drag him into the car, shouting that Kaplin had “semen on his mouth.” As this situation unfolded, Mamai found himself driving the car and, as befits a worthy city ruler, began to drive through people, rolling several people on the hood at the same time. One of the victims in this situation was a member of the city council, Oleksandr Shamota. As a result of the incident, 3 people went to the hospital for help, Mayor Mamai left the scene accompanied by a police officer and was escorted to a drug clinic for examination. The result is zero accountability.
During one of his conflicts with Kaplin, Mayor Mamai verbally proposed to him an intimate relationship, which he, of course, denied: “Maybe you want to have a….?”.
Oleksandr Mamai has made bribery a way of life for himself. This statement is true, because Mamai’s main activity, function and source of income is the position of mayor of Poltava. And he has always obtained this position by directly bribing voters, who were given food every time before the elections.
Mamai is an opponent of the Ukrainian language. Mayor Mamai explicitly stated that he was against the demolition of communist monuments in the center of Poltava, Mamai uses Russian as his main language, and in an interview with Odna Rodyna, he said that even his deputies would start speaking Ukrainian only if the city was occupied: “Poltava has not been occupied yet. As soon as this happens, we will speak it.”
In his numerous speeches, Oleksandr Mamay conveys the message that he does not have to report to anyone about anything. At the same time, he does not hesitate to use physical force and rude behavior against his direct opponents, pushing them, grabbing their body parts, tearing their clothes… In general, he demonstrates an example of behavior in resolving conflict situations.
In a conversation with one of the employees of the Department of Public Works, Mamai threatens him with physical violence, persecution with the aim of dismissal, demanding that the man assist in every way possible in shaping the positive image of the mayor.
Oleksandr Mamai has been systematically targeted by activists and the police for violating traffic laws.
While driving, Mamai does not pay attention to road signs and traffic lights, does not consider it necessary to turn on turn signals, etc.
For example, during one of his trips, a black Volkswagen Passat driven by Oleksandr Mamai was stopped by Poltava patrol police for running a red traffic light. Later, the police drew up a report of administrative offense against him for violating Article 122, Part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (exceeding the speed limits, driving through a prohibitive traffic signal, and violation of other traffic rules).
During an accident involving one of Mayor Mamay’s cars, a BMW X5, a journalist was injured and had to be protected by bystanders. The mayor, his deputy Stetsenko and another unidentified person reacted inadequately when Iryna Voloshyna, a journalist of Iskra prostykh lyudey (Spark of ordinary people), was making a photo report of the accident, attacked her, twisting her arms and snatching her camera. The attackers did not care about her shouts that she was a journalist. Later, when the activists and journalists approached the car in which the attackers were hiding, Mayor Mamai said that he would personally catch each of them… A report was drawn up on the fact of obstruction of journalistic activity and handed over to law enforcement agencies.
Oleksandr Mamay ‘s attitude towards activists has always been biased and arrogant. After another conversation with the activists in early spring 2018, the mayor even decided to impose labor punishment on them, demanding that they take part in clearing the city of snow, adding that he, as mayor, has every right to control it, pointing his finger at who should do what.
Such a position and rhetoric once again confirms the mayor’s overbearing, totalitarian stance.
The mayor’s declarations are full of chaos and confusion. Mayor Mamay is constantly seen and photographed driving a 2011 BMW X5, which, of course, belongs to his wife. He also uses a Lexus LX 570, which also belongs to his wife Lyudmyla. In 2014, it was Mamai who filed a complaint with law enforcement agencies about the theft of the Lexus, which was later found in Kharkiv.
The data on these cars and another BMW X5 made in 2007 can be found in the mayor’s declaration for 2012. In the same declaration, Mamai indicated over UAH 1 million in savings and $760 thousand in cash.
According to the same declaration, his 76-year-old mother Tamara, a person whose son spent half of his life as a janitor, painter, and loader, has accumulated savings of UAH 3.7 million and $870 thousand.
In 2013, in order to avoid officially reporting the income of his wife Lyudmila, they filed for divorce.
According to the law, Mamai had to file a declaration before he was fired.
for 2018, in which he indicated that he owns a Gazelle truck, as well as GAZ-69 (1967) and Volga GAZ-21 (1963) cars. There is no mention that he even uses the Lexus and BMW cars owned by Mamay’s wife. He also mentioned his mother Tamara and 4 young children. At the same time, he indicated that in 2018 he received a salary of UAH 648 thousand, has savings in the amount of UAH 920 thousand. 760 thousand dollars.
It is noteworthy that before his election, Mamai stated that he would work for 1 hryvnia, but in fact he receives one of the highest salaries among mayors in Ukraine! The facts about Mamai’s place of residence are also unreliable, since instead of the 47m2 apartment indicated in his declaration, Mamai’s family and he lived and still live in a modest 420m2 house, which also belongs to Mamai’s ex-wife, Lyudmyla.
In 2015, Mamai gave an image interview to journalists in this house, and one of Mamai’s sons also covered the house’s decoration on his social media. For example, everyone was interested in the full-fledged indoor pool.
By the way, activists and members of the Poltava City Council came to the same house to summon Mamai to work.
Also, according to the declaration, Mamay’s mother owns a non-residential building in Poltava with an area of 911 m2 and a land plot of almost 1500 m2 within the city.
In general, there is no point in discussing Mayor Mamai’s declaration, as it defies logic and has no proper form. However, it is clearly of interest to anti-corruption authorities.
To summarize
For Mamai, a successful business means less than the mayor’s chair, with a meager salary compared to the position of director. Being rude, threatening, bribing, and manipulating people is the norm for Poltava Mayor Mamai. The Mamai clan is firmly entrenched in Poltava, and the word “permissiveness” has become synonymous with its members.