Onishchenko Oleksandr Romanovych
Biography
Education.
Born in the district center of Matveev Kurgan, Rostov Region, Russia, to a military family. In 1990, he graduated from the Kharkiv Military School of Logistics, qualifying as an officer of a higher military specialty with advanced knowledge of German and English.
In 2008, he received a second degree from the National Transport University, specializing in business economics. He is fluent in five languages.
Career.
- After graduating from college, from 1990 to 1997, Mr. Kovalchuk was engaged in business activities in the fuel and energy sector.
- In 1992-1997, he was involved in public activities as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Dniprovskyi District Branch of the Afghanistan Veterans Union in Kyiv.
- Since 2007, he has been an Assistant Minister of the Department for Support of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine.
- In 2009, he became a member of 100% of the authorized capital of Nadra Geocenter LLC, which was engaged in the search for gas fields, production and sale of natural gas. Before being elected to the Parliament of the VII convocation, he was a director of Nadra Geocenter LLC.
- In October 2010, he was elected to the Kyiv Regional Council from the Party of Regions.
- In 2011, he acquired a 90% stake in Plast Private Joint Stock Company (natural gas and condensate production, oil production, distribution and supply of natural gas).
- From December 2012 to November 2014, he was a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the VII convocation. He was elected as a nominee of the Party of Regions in constituency No. 93 (Kyiv region). Member of the Party of Regions. Member of the parliamentary group Economic Development. Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.
- In the early elections in the fall of 2014, he was elected to the Parliament as a self-nominated candidate in the same constituency No. 93. At the time of his election, he was non-partisan. Member of the Will of the People parliamentary group. Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.
- On June 9, 2017, Oleksandr Onyshchenko was expelled from the Will of the People parliamentary group.
Sports.
- In 1998, he was elected vice president of the all-Ukrainian sports public organization Equestrian Federation of Ukraine, and since 1999 has been participating in national and international competitions.
- In 2000, he became the owner of a horse farm in Belgium, and in the same year he launched a program to train reserve athletes of the national team abroad, providing them with financial support to train with the best specialists in Europe.
- In 2002-2013, he was the President of the Equestrian Federation of Ukraine, and then became a member of the Board of the Ukrainian Equestrian Federation, Head of the Show Jumping Department. He is an international master of sports in show jumping. He formed the composition of the national equestrian team and competed for Ukraine in the show jumping at the 2008 Olympic Games in China. In 2012, he took part in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the eventing competition (70th place).
- In 2013, Onishchenko bought the Kyiv football club Arsenal from Vadym Rabinovych. According to media reports, the deal cost Onyshchenko $20 million, but the team soon ceased to exist due to lack of funding.
Public activities
Since 2009, he has been the founder and president of the Batkivshchyna Charitable Foundation and the founder of the international philanthropic organization TOP Ukraine.
From 2010 to 2015, he was the owner of the Miss Ukraine beauty contest. Onishchenko has invited such stars as Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Jean-Claude Van Damme to join the jury.
He was repeatedly included in the rating of the “200 richest people in Ukraine” according to Focus magazine: in 2011 (182nd place, $37.7 million), 2012 (179th place, $37.7 million) and 2013 (146th place, $65.2 million).
Marital status.
He was married to a famous model, Miss Ukraine-1997 titleholder Ksenia Kuzmenko. He has a son.
In 2009, he was engaged to top model Snizhana Onopko, but the wedding never took place. According to other sources, they got married in secret. He divorced her in early 2010.
Compromising material
Disgraced member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Onyshchenko is known as a party animal, organizer of beauty contests, and a friend of Hollywood actors and Donald Trump. But in addition to all this, the scandalous MP is also a businessman whose origins, like those of many in Ukraine, are highly questionable.
A dark past
As you know, Oleksandr Onishchenko used to bear his father’s surname. Kadyrov Alexander Rajabovich (now Onishchenko Alexander Romanovich) is a native of the Rostov region. He received his higher education at the Kharkiv Higher Military School of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he studied to become an officer with an advanced knowledge of German.
After graduation, Kadyrov served in the Soviet army in Germany, where unreliable personnel were not sent. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the future oligarch did not get acquainted with the special services until now.
Our hero is a master of sports in boxing, which came in handy in his further “career” growth. According to rumors, Aleksandr Kadyrov was the “brigadier” of Kisel’s gang (an organized criminal group or OCG), which is remembered as the racketeers of the Volodymyrsky market in Kyiv. At that time, Kadyrov had the nickname “Tatar”. One of the investigations of the Nashi Hroshi program claimed that in 1991, Onishchenko-Kadyrov even received a suspended sentence of 3 years. Another rumor says that Onishchenko changed not only his surname but also his appearance (with the help of a plastic surgeon).
There is also an interesting story about Onishchenko’s father, who allegedly worked as deputy head of the operative unit of the Lukianivska SIZO in Kyiv, and for a long time was deputy head of the Uzbek Interior Ministry and headed the country’s penitentiary system. Probably, his father’s connections allowed Oleksandr Onyshchenko to establish the supply of Central Asian gas to Ukraine in the mid-1990s, which made him a millionaire.
Gas dealer and multimillionaire
In an interview, Onyshchenko described his business as follows: “In 1992, after my post-war service in Germany, I went into business: I had a car dealership, plus I developed a chain of cinemas. Since 1993, I have been in the gas business, working with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.”
At that time, he was able to secure barter food supplies in exchange for gas from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Also, the Orion-Kyiv company, owned by Oleksandr Onyshchenko, was the main gas trader in Kyiv region in the 1990s. According to media reports, he had a close relationship with the former deputy head of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine Serhiy Katsuba, which helped him establish the business from which he received his main income.
The companies Nadra Geocenter, Naftogazzbut, Gazcontinental, Gas Alliance Group, Plast, and many other companies are associated with him. Part of Onyshchenko’s business is registered to third parties or offshore companies. For example, in October 2012, Oleksandr Onyshchenko bought Plast, a company with three wells and several sites in Poltava region, from David Zhvania, which he now owns through a company registered in Cyprus.
According to Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, in 2013-2016, Onishchenko resold state gas through contracts between Karpaty Nadra Invest, Nadra Geocenter, and KhAS with the state-owned Ukrgazvydobuvannya and laundered the proceeds. Law enforcers insist that the state suffered losses of UAH 3 billion: UAH 1.6 billion of which was received as a result of reselling gas by intermediaries and withdrawn from the country, and UAH 1.3 billion was unpaid rent for the use of subsoil.
It is not surprising that Oleksandr Onyshchenko, the mastermind of multimillion-dollar gas schemes, is among the 100 richest people in Ukraine according to Forbes in 2015. In his tax return for 2015, he listed UAH 33.1 million as his official income alone. UAH 3,018,456 of Onyshchenko’s income is dividends, UAH 66,326 is his salary as a deputy, UAH 70,588 is income from the lease of property and UAH 30 million is income from the alienation of property.
It should be noted that the head of the NABU, Artem Sytnyk, had earlier announced the seizure of the MP’s property worth UAH 315 million: 42 premises, 10 apartments, 9 houses and 11 cars. This amount does not include Onishchenko’s personal property and funds.
Oleksandr Onyshchenko has created a scheme that allows him to make money from the state-owned gas production company
Broken and sealed door on the ground floor of an elite high-rise building in the very center of Kyiv, at 27b Khreshchatyk Street. The sign reads “Public reception of MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko. It was not thieves who did the work here: On June 15, employees of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) forced their way in.
The office was essentially a headquarters. Two dozen people were meeting and resolving issues there — they were making money from gas production and sales through joint venture agreements (JVAs) with the state-owned Ukrgazvydobuvannya (UGV), the largest producer of natural gas in the country.
On June 16, the Verkhovna Rada’s Regulatory Committee received an 85-page submission from the SAPO to lift the immunity and detain Onishchenko, the organizer of the entire gas scheme. “All questions are now to the MPs, we have done our job,” said Nazar Kholodnytsky, head of the special prosecutor’s office.
Five days later, Onishchenko, who was supposedly in Nice, came to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) himself, demanding evidence of his guilt. And later he even filed a lawsuit against the NABU and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Onishchenko has time to counterattack: at the time of delivery of the issue on June 22, the MPs who had taken a vacation had not had time to consider the SAPO’s motion to lift the immunity of their scandalous colleague. Therefore, the man accused of embezzling UAH 3 billion can put his affairs in order. And he has a lot of them.
Offshore companies
According to the NABU, starting in January 2013, the key assistants of the gas industry MP were his mother Inessa Kadyrova and Valeriy Pisnyi, a defendant in several gas cases. They also involved people who had previously worked extensively in the Security Service and the tax service.
To create the appearance of a transparent sale, Onishchenko and Co. persuaded the Lviv Universal Exchange and a local broker to participate in the gas schemes. Separately, they founded the Center exchange, specifically for the implementation of their deals.
Companies producing gas from UGV wells sold raw materials through these two exchanges using fictitious auctions. They received documents from the exchanges themselves, which they then brought to UGV and showed that the gas was sold cheaply, below the market price. For some reason, the state-owned company did not raise any questions about these documents, being satisfied with a small profit.
The NABU investigation showed that on average, gas was sold at a price of UAH 2.6 thousand per 1 thousand cubic meters. Onyshchenko continued to make money on it, as his own companies bought the natural gas: “Gas Trans Group, Kyivpromzbut, Exelent LTD, and others. Then they resold the gas to commercial consumers at UAH 6.9 thousand per 1 thousand cubic meters. The companies cashed out the difference — as much as UAH 1.6 billion over the three years from January 2013 to January 2016 — through non-commodity transactions with fictitious legal entities. The companies either did not pay taxes on all of this or paid only a part of it. Today, the debt of Onishchenko’s structures to the budget on rent for the use of subsoil exceeds UAH 1.3 billion, and part of the blame for this huge amount lies with the State Fiscal Service, which constantly met these companies halfway and granted them deferred payments.
If we take into account that UGV was supposed to receive at least 50% of its profits from gas sales, the total losses of the state from Onyshchenko’s activities amount to approximately UAH 2.1 billion. The SAPO, however, says UAH 3 billion, considering the entire amount of money withdrawn from gas trading — UAH 1.6 billion — to be state-owned. — as belonging to the state.
Now Onyshchenko, according to NABU head Artem Sytnyk, faces up to 12 years in prison. The MP himself calls the law enforcement suspicions an attempt to take away his business. Ten people have already been detained in the case, and the amount of bail set by the court is also large — about UAH 1 billion. Oleksandr Kharchenko, an expert at the Energy Research Center, recalls: “Onishchenko was not a major player, he only handed over papers.” And Oleksiy Kucherenko, who headed Bakai’s Intergaz company in the 1990s, admitted in a conversation with NV that he did not even remember the names Kadyrov or Onishchenko in the cases of those years.
Nevertheless, Onyshchenko’s acquaintance with Bakai did not go unnoticed: he gradually gained weight, which is why he entered politics. When Viktor Yanukovych came to power in 2010, the businessman became close to his Party of Regions, and in 2012 he was elected to the Rada on its list. He made his way there in 2014, winning a majority constituency in Kyiv region, largely “thanks” to Poroshenko: the presidential bloc, which was at the peak of its popularity at the time, did not even field a candidate in this constituency. In the new Rada convocation, Onyshchenko joined the Will of the People group, which was formed by Ihor Yeremieiev, a shareholder in the Continuum energy holding.
In the Rada, he skipped almost half of the plenary sessions and ignored the work of the Energy Committee, of which he was a member. “I don’t remember Onishchenko attending our meetings,” says Oleksandr Dombrovsky, first deputy chairman of the parliamentary body. Oleksiy Ryabchyn, who represents the Batkivshchyna faction in the committee, adds that even the odious BPP member and friend of the president, Ihor Kononenko, appeared there more often.
Onyshchenko submitted quite specific bills. In one, he proposed to nationalize the country’s largest bank, PrivatBank, owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who squeezed Onyshchenko out of Ukrnafta. He also wanted to introduce mandatory psychiatric and drug testing for parliamentary candidates. And he repeatedly tried to reduce the tax burden on the gas industry.
Onishchenko tries on the role of a politician
Even after the Maidan, the former Party of Regions member managed to get back into parliament — he had been feeding his constituency for a long time, even bringing his American “friend” Van Damme to visit.
A scandal accompanied his second election to the parliament: Onishchenko was not eligible to run for the Rada in 2014 because, according to the State Border Guard Service, he had not lived in Ukraine for two years. However, the CEC registered the businessman as a candidate anyway, following a court ruling, thus allowing him to run in the election and get back into the legislature. According to Yulia Mostova, this was done at the request of Petro Poroshenko.
In the Rada itself, no notable bills were registered for Onyshchenko. In the current Verkhovna Rada, he was a member of the “Will of the People” group together with Oles Dovhyi, whom he hurriedly turned in in the first dump of dirt. According to the fugitive MP, Dovhyi was a mediator between him and Poroshenko and tried to resolve their conflict.
Onyshchenko-Kadyrov’s experience in betraying fellow party members was present in his biography before: in a business conflict over gas business with ex-regionalist Nestor Shufrych, when he and Mykola Rudkovsky could not divide the gas business, Onyshchenko sided with Rudkovsky.
The name of Oleksandr Onyshchenko is also associated with the former Minister of Ecology Ihor Shevchenko, who formally belonged to the Batkivshchyna quota. Since then, Onyshchenko has been actively associated with Yulia Tymoshenko. By the way, Oleh Lyashko, a fan of Tymoshenko, demanded from the rostrum of the Rada to investigate her connection with her comrade Oleksandr Onyshchenko.
The clouds gathered over MP Onyshchenko when NABU became interested in him. The Anti-Corruption Bureau suspected the MP of creating an organized criminal group that caused damage to the state in the amount of more than UAH 3 billion through joint activities with Ukrgazvydobuvannya. The case also involves his elderly mother, who had a part of the gas business registered in her name.
“Onishchenko’s tapes”
In September 2016, Oleksandr Onyshchenko claimed that in 2015 he participated in negotiations on the purchase of 112 Ukraine TV channel on behalf of President Petro Poroshenko. He provided records of telephone conversations and scans of documents to support his claims. Representatives of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc denied the MP’s statement. The owner of 112 Ukraine, Andriy Podshchypkov, called Onyshchenko an independent buyer who acted on his own behalf. For his part, the former creative director of the TV channel, Viktor Zubrytskyi, confirmed the fact of the negotiations and Poroshenko’s status in them. Dmytro Nosykov, who was called in the media the ideologist of the creation of a media holding (which would include Channel 5, 112 Ukraine and NewsOne), believes that what is happening is a PR campaign to launder Mr. Onyshchenko. In December 2016, he told the press that he had been secretly recording his conversations with President Poroshenko on a wristwatch with a dictaphone for a year. The presidential administration used him to bribe MPs for certain votes, the money came from IMF loans; Petro Poroshenko controls all state-owned companies, laundered money through private companies, and then used the funds for political purposes; Onyshchenko’s companies regularly won tenders from the state-owned company Centrenergo for gas supplies because he gave part of the money to people from the president’s inner circle; at the request of an unnamed high-ranking official, he spent about $30 million on a money laundering campaign.
Bribery of voters
Oleksandr Onyshchenko financed the visit of Hollywood star Jean-Claude Van Damme to the city of Kaharlyk. In a photo published on the website of the Kaharlyk City Council, Onishchenko and Van Damme sit next to each other at a presentation of a movie featuring the star of The Expendables 2. Onishchenko has been previously noticed bribing voters with food packages. The website of the Kaharlyk City Council also posted an announcement that the city would host a “Karaoke on the Maidan” with Onyshchenko’s support.
Onishchenko is wanted
Onishchenko has been put on the wanted list in Ukraine. He is accused of abuse of office in the sale of natural gas produced in the framework of joint activities with Ukrgazvydobuvannya. In July 2016, he fled Ukraine.
On June 16, 2016, the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered a motion to lift the immunity, detain and arrest Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a member of parliament from the Will of the People group.
On June 17, 2016, the court ruled to arrest or release on bail in the amount of UAH 200 million one of the suspects in the case of Oleksandr Onyshchenko. On June 19, 2016, MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko (Will of the People group) stated that the criminal prosecution against him was related to an attempt to take away his business.
On June 22, 2016, Oleksandr Onyshchenko filed a lawsuit against the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, demanding a refutation of the statement by the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Nazar Kholodnytskyi, who called him the organizer of the criminal scheme.
On July 5, 2016, the Verkhovna Rada approved the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office to prosecute, detain and arrest Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a member of the “Will of the People” group.
He left Ukraine, hiding from prosecution.
The High Anti-Corruption Court sent a summons to Onyshchenko in Germany
“The HACC has sent a request for international legal assistance to Germany, namely, to serve a summons to appear in court to the accused in the case of “gas schemes”, who was detained late last year in Germany.”
The preparatory court hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on May 4, 2020 at 41 Peremohy Avenue. Reserve dates: May 05-08, 12-15, 18-22, 2020.
Also, the HACC is currently awaiting Germany’s decision to extradite the detained defendant to Ukraine.
In Germany, a court has refused to extradite Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a former non-factional member of the Verkhovna Rada and businessman, to Ukraine .
According to a release from the court in the German city of Oldenburg on May 27, the court released him from custody immediately after the verdict was announced.
Explaining their ruling, the judges noted that it is currently impossible to establish whether the prosecution of the former MP in Ukraine may have political motives.
“However, extradition is not possible because there are concrete grounds to suspect non-compliance with mandatory minimum standards in the field of international law,” the statement said.
It is also noted that the court asked the Ukrainian side to describe in detail the alleged conditions of detention of the defendant, but received “too general information”.
In a commentary to Strana.ua, Onishchenko himself also confirmed that he was at large.
“However, extradition is not possible, as there are concrete grounds to suspect non-compliance with mandatory minimum standards in the field of international law,” the statement reads.
It is also noted that the court asked the Ukrainian side to describe in detail the alleged conditions of detention of the defendant, but received “too general information”.
In a commentary to Strana.ua, Onishchenko himself also confirmed that he was at large. “The court ruled to cancel the arrest and release him from custody. This is the first thing. And the second is to refuse extradition. I feel good. Greetings and best wishes to everyone,” he said.
Kyiv has already reacted to the German court’s decision. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine (SAPO) posted this reaction on its Facebook page.
The agency expressed hope that Onishchenko would eventually be extradited based on new circumstances provided by the Ukrainian side as the investigation continues.
“Although the verdict does not provide for an appeal of this court decision, the case may still be reconsidered if new circumstances arise,” the SAPO press service said.
At the same time, prosecutors in Kyiv believe that the Oldenburg court’s decision will not affect the criminal prosecution of the former MP, who may be convicted in absentia.
“Currently, in the criminal proceedings against the ex-MP and his associates, a study has been conducted on the written evidence of the prosecution and 25 volumes of the criminal proceedings have already been examined,” the Ukrainian anti-corruption agency said.
Ex-Republican MP Onishchenko seeks asylum in Germany
Former member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Onyshchenko, who is in custody in Germany, has requested political asylum in Germany, as he fears returning to Ukraine. This was reported by his lawyer Ingo Minoggio in an interview with DW on Tuesday, February 11. “There is a danger to the life and health of my client in Ukraine,” the lawyer emphasized.
Minoggio drew attention to the “catastrophic conditions of detention in pre-trial detention centers in Ukraine” and the fact that Onishchenko’s main political opponent, ex-President Petro Poroshenko, “remains very influential even after losing power,” which poses a threat to the ex-deputy. To support the defense’s position, the court was provided with statements from a number of Ukrainian politicians, including MPs of the current and previous convocations, the lawyer said.
Models, horses and stars
Having earned his initial capital quite quickly, Onishchenko has long been addicted to the beautiful life: glamorous parties, beautiful women and horses have become integral attributes of his daily routine. By the way, according to the fugitive himself, it was horses that became the reason for his acquaintance with Donald Trump, who has the same passion.
Equestrianism is Onyshchenko’s longtime love. He was the chairman of the Ukrainian Equestrian Federation, owns his own stud farm in Belgium, and personally competes in international equestrian competitions. In 2012, he represented Ukraine at the London Olympics and took an honorable 70th place. Onyshchenko also planned to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but his plans were thwarted by criminal prosecution.
For a long time, Oleksandr Onyshchenko was the organizer of the Miss Ukraine contest and co-owner of a large modeling agency. According to rumors, the beauty pageant was also a front for making money from VIP prostitution.
He and his business partners allegedly supplied Ukrainian beauties even to the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In addition, Onishchenko liked to “shine” with celebrities — he brought Van Damme, Jason Statham, Anna Kournikova, Sylvester Stallone and Paris Hilton to Ukraine, and called himself a “patron” and sponsor.
In 2013, the odious businessman also owned the Kyiv football team Arsenal, having bought it from the now opposition MP Vadym Rabinovych (who later repaid him by voting). But unable to cope with the debts of the club left by the previous owner, Onishchenko soon gave up this illiquid “asset”.
In Kyiv, Oleksandr Onyshchenko lived in a luxurious mansion near the Lavra, but more often abroad — in his favorite Monaco, where the MP allegedly owns luxury real estate. Russian TV presenter, model and former contestant of the reality show «Dom-2» Victoria Bonia posted a picture on her Instagram with fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko. Soon after, the MP himself shared the same photo on his page.
«- I recently met my friend, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a fighter for the truth, because he is a handsome man, kind and generous and still unmarried! Girls, let’s find Sasha a worthy bride,» — Bonia wrote under the photo.
«- I met a friend. She is always in a good mood,» Onishchenko wrote under the photo.
“- I met a friend. She is always in a good mood,” Onishchenko wrote under the photo.
As in all other photos, the MP does not indicate the geolocation. It is also absent from Bona’s photo, although the girl always shares her location with her followers.
Judging by Bona’s Instagram, she has been in the United Arab Emirates since December 20, where she flew to celebrate the New Year holidays.
As for the MP’s personal life, apparently Bonya is not aware that on November 12, 2017, Ukrainian gymnast Anna Rizatdinova gave birth to a son, Roman, with Onyshchenko. And judging by the athlete’s recent interview, they are raising the child together.
Apartments, houses, cars and money
The Focus magazine twice included Oleksandr Onyshchenko’s name in the ranking of the 200 richest people in Ukraine: in 2011 (182nd place, $37.7 million) and in 2012 (179th place, $37.7 million). The MP himself officially declared UAH 33.1 million. The MP’s salary amounted to UAH 66.3 thousand. He received UAH 70.5 thousand from the lease of property, and income from the sale of property amounted to UAH 30 million. In the column “dividends and interest” he indicated UAH 3 million. Oleksandr Onyshchenko owns 4 land plots and a house of 1060.6 square meters. According to the documents, he drives a 2014 Mercedes-Benz S500. In addition, the MP keeps UAH 3 thousand in Privatbank and UAH 2 million in Diamantbank. Abroad, the MP keeps UAH 157.3 million on accounts in the Latvian bank Trasta Komercbanka. He also has a contribution to the authorized capital of an unnamed company in the amount of UAH 31.2 million.
Rizatdinova about Onyshchenko’s ex-husband
The fugitive MP was outraged by his ex-wife’s words, and she clarified that the phrase about household chores did not apply to him.
The other day, 26-year-old gymnast Anna Rizatdinova complained that journalists have recently been mentioning her only in connection with MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko. Moreover, they are no longer together, and she is still called his “wife.”
«I’m sorry that the press associates me with Onishchenko. I have achieved everything on my own. I think it’s inappropriate to link them. Oleksandr is the father of my child. We are not together. The man closed me out. I’m not ready to stay at home, ironing, cooking,» said Rizatdinova, 26, citing these circumstances as the reason for the divorce, and clarified that the dance project helped her start a new life from scratch. The athlete spoke about this in the video diary of the Dancing with the Stars TV show (1+1). The hosts clarified that life with her ex reminded her of a «golden cage». The show also showed footage of Rizatdinova crying and asking for support.
Fugitive Oleksandr Onyshchenko has found another wife
Ukrainian MP and businessman Oleksandr Onyshchenko, who is on the run from Ukrainian justice and has applied for German citizenship, has found a wife in Europe.
The oligarch, known for his love of models and beauty contestants, appears to have been married to a Croatian model.
This became known from court documents in Ukraine, blogger Iryna Saliy writes on Censor.Net.
In September of this year, the Podilsky Court received a lawsuit from Melita Onishchenko, who was divorcing Oleksandr Romanovych Onishchenko.
Melita Onishchenko is a 23-year-old Miss Universe Croatia 2013 who had the surname Fabečić in her maidenhood. Melita’s social media pages have been preserved, where she boasts of her new surname.
In September of this year, Croatian media reported that Melita had deleted her photo with Onishchenko from social media and returned to Zagreb. Journalists assumed that the beauty had broken up with the Ukrainian oligarch.
According to the local press, the girl met the then 45-year-old Onishchenko in 2016 in Dubai, and after a few weeks of dating, they got married in Kyiv.
Onyshchenko’s Rodyna Foundation
On Facebook, the main page of the Rodina Foundation has only a few posts. These include a video of a working visit to Bohuslav and two new sports grounds. This is the end of the charity.
Head of Onishchenko’s charity foundation fled and failed to lift the seizure of money
The Kyiv Court of Appeal has upheld the seizure of $600,000 belonging to Gennadiy Shamansky, the head of Oleksandr Onyshchenko’s Rodyna charitable foundation.
The money, which was seized from Shamansky’s bank account last summer, was seized on October 21.
Gennadiy Shamanskiy is a witness in the “gas case”.
He left Ukraine immediately after the detention of the defendants in the case.
According to the investigation, Shamansky was closely acquainted with the leader of the organization, MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko, and the organizer of the scheme, businessman Valeriy Postniy.
Since 2012, Shamanskyi has been the head of Onyshchenko’s Rodyna charitable foundation.
In addition, the MP issued Shamanskyi a general power of attorney for 100% of the corporate rights of Fastilo Trading Ltd (Cyprus). This is a company that owns a part of UAH 25.29 million in Nadra Geocenter LLC and a part of almost UAH 3 thousand in Karpatnadrainvest LLC. In 2013-2014, Fastilo Trading Ltd. also had a part of UAH 264 thousand in Firm Khas LLC.
To prove that Shamansky is not just a person familiar to Onishchenko and Postnyi, prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Andrii Perov told the following episode:
“According to the court verdict against former director of Karpatnadrainvest Fisun, when the process of actual seizure of this enterprise was taking place, it was Shamanskyi who asked at the general meeting to introduce the position of deputy director, to which the suspect Serhii Svichenko was appointed, who later made decisions on all prices at auctions, signed all documents, that is, actually managed this enterprise.”
According to the SFS certificate, between 2010 and 2016, Shamansky earned about UAH 17 thousand. In light of other circumstances, the investigation has reason to believe that the funds seized from his bank account are part of the money that was cashed out as part of the criminal organization led by Onishchenko.
In court, Shamansky’s defense counsel denied that the money was derived from criminal activity.
According to the investigation, between January 2013 and January 2016, Nadra Geocenter, Karpatnadrainvest and KhAS, which entered into joint venture agreements with PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannya, sold the extracted gas on commodity exchanges at reduced prices.
The buyers were a number of related entities that sold the gas to real sector companies at market prices. The difference in price was transferred to private individuals’ accounts through fictitious companies.
According to the investigation, the entire chain of intermediaries in the scheme was controlled by MP Onyshchenko.
To date, the investigation has concluded agreements with 7 suspects.
Fuchs is Onishchenko’s partner in buying out an offshore company from Yanukovych’s “mutual fund”, which the PGO secretly took away from NABU
The co-owners of the Cypriot company Quickpace Limited are MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko and Russian businessman Pavlo Fuks. This is evidenced by documents seized by NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors during searches in the “gas case” in the spring of 2016.
According to the State Register of Court Decisions, documents on the sale of Quickpace Limited in the fall of 2015 were seized during a search at 27b Khreshchatyk Street.
The court ruling states that the detectives found two agreements between A.R.O. and P.Y.F. (Alexander Romanovich Onishchenko and Pavel Yakovlevich Fuks) — one dated September 15 and the other October 6, 2015. The court ruling does not specify the differences between these agreements.
It is known that the seller was Prontoservus Limited, which, according to NABU, is controlled by Serhiy Arbuzov. The complex scheme of selling Quickpace involved the Fuchs-controlled offshore companies Evermore Property Holdings Ltd (Virgin) and Dorchester International Inc (Nevis), as well as the Onyshchenko-controlled company Fastilo Trading Ltd (Cyprus).
As a result of the transaction, the assets of Quickpace Limited are to be divided in half between Fastilo Trading Ltd and Dorchester International Inc. The assets in question are $157,240,000 and UAH 252,000 (the same amount was on the accounts at the time of the arrest) in the form of cash and government bonds on bank accounts (Oschadbank, Expobank and Ukreximbank).
For the purchase of Quickpace Limited, Onishchenko and Fuchs had to pay $ 29600000, according to the court register. That is, if the scheme to lift the arrest from the accounts of Quickpace Limited had been implemented, they would have received approximately $65 million each (the difference between the arrested funds and the amount of the company’s purchase from Arbuzov’s company).
The NABU found that Onishchenko and Fuchs took control of Quickpace Limited in April 2015. The purchase and sale of the company was completed on October 6 of the same year.
On May 24, 2016, at the request of the NABU, the court seized Quickpace Limited’s cash and domestic government bonds in three Ukrainian banks in the amount of $157,240,000 and UAH 252,000.
It is worth noting that these funds and government bonds had already been seized by the Prosecutor General’s Office in the so-called “Arbuzov case” regarding the infliction of UAH 220 million in damages to the state during the creation of Banking Television LLC.
This was known to the court, which stated that “presumably, the new owners (Onishchenko and Fuchs — ed.) plan to obtain a court decision according to which the arrest of Quickpace Limited’s accounts will be lifted, as the company will have no connection with Serhiy Arbuzov.” It is worth noting that in the spring of 2014, authorized representatives of Cypriot companies already tried to withdraw funds from the so-called Yanukovych’s “mutual fund” from banks.
Later, namely in November 2016, the said accounts of Quickpace Limited were re-arrested by the Prosecutor General’s Office in a new proceeding registered in October 2016. This proceeding investigates fraud with government bonds, which resulted in losses to the state in the amount of UAH 378,420,000 in 2011-2013, 159850000. USD and 1490000000. UAH, 1020000000. US dollars — in securities.
In March 2017, according to the verdict of the fictitious ex-director of GazUkraine-20202 LLC Arkadiy Kashkin, which was classified by the Prosecutor General’s Office, money from the accounts of Quickpace Limited, along with funds of other companies (the PGO called this money “the common pool of Yanukovych and his entourage”), was specially confiscated to the state budget. Today, seven Cypriot companies are appealing Kashkin’s verdict, pointing to the illegality of the special confiscation of funds.
The NABU notes that detectives have not found a single fact that would indicate a connection between Quickpace Limited and its seized assets and Kashkin. In addition, the seizure of Quickpace Limited’s assets imposed by the court in the gas case has not been canceled. According to the law, the PGO must ensure that this arrest is canceled.
Conspiracy against Poroshenko. Kolomoisky and Onishchenko made an alliance in Geneva
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoisky and Oleksandr Romanovych Onyshchenko met in Geneva, on the banks of the Lehman. Both are Ukrainian oligarchs. Both cooperated with Poroshenko. Both had a falling out with him. They both hate the current president and do not hide their desire to oust him.
Kolomoisky openly finances “anti-Poroshenko” events organized by Saakashvili, Sadovyi, and Tymoshenko. He does not hide the fact that he constantly hosts Ukrainian oligarchs, politicians, public figures, and senior officials in Geneva, forming a united front of the “anti-Poroshenko” opposition. However, two and a half years ago, when Poroshenko took away Ukrnafta from Kolomoisky and then, with the help of the US Embassy, forced the oligarch to resign as governor of Dnipro and leave the country, it was clear that if Kolomoisky was alive and free, he would definitely take revenge.
Onishchenko’s grievances are smaller (they only wanted to take away his business), but the situation is similar. He is also alive and at large. A few months ago, Onishchenko was actively publishing dirt on the president of Ukraine that he had taken with him abroad. After the first few installments, the publications stopped, but American government agencies are clearly using his materials. They have recently come to know too much about Poroshenko (US-organized leaks about his corruption schemes regularly reach the media). American politicians of all ranks are showing too much contempt for Petro Poroshenko.
The meeting between the two enemies of Poroshenko would be important in itself. But the eventual context in which it took place, as well as the fact of demonstrative openness, give it an additional charm.
Let’s start with the context. Onishchenko has been living outside of Ukraine (in Europe and the United States) for a year, does not hide his cooperation with the American special services, but acts as a lone wrestler. If he does hold consultative meetings with someone, he does not publicize the fact. He constantly sends signals to Kyiv that it is better to negotiate with him rather than to be at odds.
On September fourteen, he suddenly made a statement about his intention to run for president of Ukraine in 2019. At the time, he was in the United States. The media claimed that he was resting and having fun: fishing for sharks in Florida. Two weeks after this statement, Onishchenko is already in Geneva talking to Kolomoisky.
They have never been friends, have never crossed paths in business, and belong to different political camps. They both know how to value their time — they are engaged in too large-scale projects. And yet Onishchenko is flying across the ocean to meet in Geneva. So it’s worth it. They try to make the meeting as public as possible. Svitlana Kryukova, deputy editor-in-chief of the opposition but most popular in Ukraine, Strana.UA, is specially invited. Less than six months ago, the editor-in-chief of this publication, Ihor Guzhva, was accused of extortion by the Poroshenko-controlled Prosecutor General’s Office. Currently, he is involved (as a defendant and witness) in five criminal cases related to the publication of dirt on President Poroshenko provided by Onishchenko.
So, a journalist from a well-known publication that suffered from Poroshenko is specially taken to Geneva to meet with two oligarchs who are enemies of Poroshenko. And what was the result? A joint photo of the meeting participants (Kolomoisky, Onishchenko, Kryukova) was published. And a two-line quote from Kolomoisky: “Great minds discuss ideas. Medium minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. We went through all three levels. And from top to bottom.”
Journalists don’t fly to Geneva on business trips for this kind of information. All this can be sent by e-mail directly to the editorial office. So, Kolomoisky was interested in ensuring that his meeting with Onyshchenko was not just recorded, but recorded and documented by a witness who was present at the scene.
Usually, in such cases, Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians use a scheme: a journalist happened to be having lunch in the same restaurant, noticed them at a neighboring table and took a picture. In this case, it is emphasized that the journalist was invited on purpose.
In other words, Kolomoisky and Onishchenko are sending a signal that they have made an agreement. To whom are they sending it?
This signal has two recipients in Ukraine. Let’s start with the second. The second is the support groups of Kolomoisky and Onishchenko. It was mentioned above that they were never friends and belonged to different business and political camps. In the competitive Ukrainian environment, this means that their interests, and even more so the interests of their support groups, have repeatedly clashed. Obviously, the accumulated contradictions were difficult to resolve. The photo in an embrace and the meaningful phrase that they have discussed everything sends a signal to Kolomoisky and Onyshchenko’s vassals that the leaders have entered into an alliance and that they cannot fight each other anymore. They now have a common enemy — Poroshenko.
It is this common enemy that is the first recipient of the signal sent by Kolomoisky-Onishchenko. They say to Poroshenko: “You thought we would not agree. We have agreed. Tremble!” And Poroshenko will tremble. He knows very well that he has managed to stay in power so far only because his political opponents hated each other. This mutual hatred, based on specific financial and economic interests, prevented them from uniting against the president, and the lack of a united front allowed Poroshenko to survive.
A united political front began to form with Saakashvili’s “breakthrough” into Ukraine. Even then, it was not hidden that Kolomoisky was the organizational and financial center of the action. The meeting with Onishchenko showed that a united oligarchic front was being formed in parallel to the united political front.
This is much more serious. Public politicians, one way or another, express the interests of the financial and political groups behind them (in the vernacular of the oligarchs). They can rage as much as they want, but unless the oligarchs have agreed among themselves, a joint statement is impossible. But if a conspiracy has taken place, it becomes inevitable.
Onishchenko is not the only Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky has met with in recent months. But the rest of the meetings were not public. The fact that this one ended with a pre-prepared psychological attack on Poroshenko shows that events have moved to a qualitatively different level. This is no longer a conspiracy of oligarchs. This is almost an open rebellion of the “barons” who are sending the “king” one of the last hints that it is still possible to get away with it.
Why did Kolomoisky choose Onyshchenko for a public demonstration? Because Oleksandr Romanovych is under the full control of the Americans. If they had banned him, he would not have made a move, because he would have faced either extradition to Ukraine or prison in the United States. They know how to find excuses in America.
By publishing a photo of the meeting, Kolomoisky is showing everyone that Onishchenko is not afraid, they are not meeting in secret. The only conclusion to be drawn from this in Ukraine is that the Americans allowed Poroshenko to be finished off. Now his former cronies will start knocking on the doorsteps of people who have access to Kolomoisky or contacts with Onishchenko, with assurances of loyalty and requests not to forget when the next “bloody dictator” is forced to give way to the next “people’s president.”
Therefore, Russia should prepare for another destabilization of Ukraine with predictably negative consequences
On the Internet, you can also find Onishchenko’s book “Peter the Great”
American media: Russian special services are behind fugitive MP Onishchenko
American media believe that Oleksandr Onyshchenko is no stranger to Russia. His connections in the Russian Federal Security Service from his service in the USSR troops in the GDR, where he was recruited and where he met Vladimir Putin, provided him with a Russian passport.
This was reported by Fakty with reference to US journalists.
Thus, the American edition of Times Square Chronicles published an article Pro-Russian Oligarch Onyshchenko Could Help Destabilize Ukraine, in which journalist Vincent Steele analyzed the past of fugitive MP and businessman Oleksandr Onyshchenko.
“Russia is trying to undermine stability in Ukraine by using fake tapes and promoting a new presidential candidate. In the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine, the Kremlin has decided to play the criminal card again — as in the case of Yanukovych — by running a former member of the Party of Regions and a criminal authority with ties to the FSB, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, against President Poroshenko,” the article says.
Fugitive Onishchenko, who is hiding from Ukrainian justice in Spain, told the German newspaper Die Welt that he plans to run for president of Ukraine in 2019 in opposition to incumbent President Petro Poroshenko. Recently, he confirmed his intentions to become president to the Russian TV channel NTV.
According to the American media outlet, Onishchenko is not just a Ukrainian oligarch, but a man from the criminal world with a gangster past, which is why he had to completely change his name from Alexander Rajabovich Kadyrov to Alexander Romanovich Onishchenko. In the 90s, he was a criminal authority, he was in jail and received suspended sentences, the criminal police of Ukraine recall.
«Frequent visits to the aggressor country in the absence of official business there and the dispersal of his statements on Russian state television only emphasize the Kremlin’s handwriting to discredit the Ukrainian government. In particular, in recent years, it has become known for its «tapes» and blackmailing the new Ukrainian government that came after the Revolution of Dignity. The compromising material Onishchenko is being helped to collect in Russia,» the newspaper writes.
Conclusion.
A typical oligarch with connections. He acts in his own interests. Thanks to his “good connections,” he makes good money. If we talk about him as a person, not as an oligarch, there are few good things about him either. Apparently, for him, a woman is a temporary bedfellow who can be bought for any amount of money and then easily exchanged or sold. He’s a rich man, so he can afford to go out with his ill-gotten gains. Such people are dangerous to society, but unfortunately, they are the majority, and almost all of them are in power.
Сan afford to go out on their ill-gotten gains. These people are dangerous for society as a whole, but unfortunately there are a lot of them, and almost all of them are in power.