Zlochevsky Mykola Vladyslavovych
Former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources
Related parties
Education.
Kyiv Higher Radio Engineering School of Air Defense named after Marshal Pokryshkin, 1988, radio engineer of electronic equipment.
International University of Business and Law, 2002, accounting and auditing.
Family ties. Married. Two daughters: Karina (born in 1991) and Anna (born in 1999).
Career
- 1983-1991 — service in the army.
- 1991-1995 — Deputy Director, Infox LLC.
- 1995 — 1997 — advertising agent, Ukroptservice LLC.
- 1997 — 1999 — Deputy Director, Infox LLC.
- 1999 — 2000 — Chairman of the Board, CJSC Ukrnaftoservice.
- 2000 — 2002 — Vice President, Infox LLC.
- 2002 — 2004 — Member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 4th convocation.
- 2003 — 2005 — Chairman of the State Committee for Natural Resources of Ukraine.
- 2005 — 2006 — Vice President of the International Charitable Foundation of Lawyers of Ukraine.
- 2006 — Member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 5th convocation.
- Since 2007 — Member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 6th convocation, member of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget.
- 03.2010 — 07.2010 г. — Chairman of the State Committee of Ukraine for Material Reserve
- 2010 г. — Minister of Environmental Protection of Ukraine.
- 2010 — 2012 — Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
- 05.04.2012 г. — 26.02.2014 г. — Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine.
Compromising information
Mykola Zlochevsky is a former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Mykola Azarov’s government (2010-2012) and the owner of Burisma, the largest private gas production company in Ukraine. He is currently in hiding abroad, as criminal cases have been opened against him in Ukraine.
In July, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau put Zlochevsky on the wanted list. He is accused of offering, promising or giving an unlawful benefit to an official holding a particularly responsible position.
Zlochevsky re-registered gas business to his daughters
Former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykola Zlochevsky has re-registered his mining companies to his two daughters Anna and Karina.
This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine based on the results of monitoring the register of the Ministry of Justice.
It is noted that Anna and Karina, through a number of Cypriot companies, are the beneficiaries of 13 companies that were part of the Burisma Group
Information from Wikipedia on the activities of Burisma and Zlochevsky:
At the same time, the Burisma Group’s website and Facebook page have not been updated or functioning since at least early 2021.
In particular, Zlochevskyi has transferred the following companies to his daughters: “Esko-North, Kub-Gaz, Pari, First Ukrainian Oil and Gas Company, System Engineering, Nadragaz, Aldea-Ukraine, Burisma Service… , Technokomservis, Nadragazvydobuvannya, Gazoilinvest, GeoUnit, and Neftegazopromyslova Geologiya.
Briefing by Oleksiy Danilov, in which he tells more about the activities of Burisma and Zlochevsky:
Bribe for 6 million
On June 12, NABU detectives documented the fact that a former high-ranking official of the previous government provided an undue benefit to the NABU leadership and the head of the SAPO, Nazar Kholodnytskyi, in the amount of $6 million.
The bribe was given for closing the case against Burisma Holdings, former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevskyi ($5 million was supposed to be paid directly for closing the case and $1 million for “consulting services”). USD 1 million for “consulting services” to the intermediary). Three people were detained in this case.
Official confirmation of this fact can be found on the SAPO Facebook page:
According to NABU Director Artem Sytnyk, the attackers’ demand was to close the proceedings against Zlochevsky by June 14, his birthday.
The energy company Burisma Group, of which Zlochevsky is president, said that neither the company nor its owner was involved in the attempt to bribe the leadership of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.
The summons was taken from the NABU’s official website: Fugitive ex-environment minister Zlochevsky owns a fashion boutique in Kyiv
The former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of this country, Mykola Zlochevsky, who is wanted in Ukraine, is apparently involved in the ownership of an exclusive fashion boutique in the center of Kyiv. These are the conclusions of a journalistic investigation by Radio Liberty / Free Europe. The shopping center where the boutique is located:
An underground shopping center in Kyiv. The boutique under the Zlocci sign sells men’s shoes and various fashion accessories made of crocodile, ostrich, abalone, deer and lizard skin.
For example, a crocodile leather belt was offered to a journalist from Radio Liberty for 60,000 hryvnias ($2,844) with a discount.
The logo of Zlochevsky’s boutique on Kyiv city lights:
The fact that the 49-year-old Zlochevsky may be profiting from such a business is causing a rather sharp reaction in Ukraine. The reason is that the ex-minister is accused of abuse of power, embezzlement on a particularly large scale and illicit enrichment in 2010-2012, when he was in the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
«Real Bank.
The criminal proceedings on suspicion of Mykola Zlochevskyi of involvement in the misappropriation of the National Bank’s stabilization loan (Article 28(4), Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code) issued by Real Bank and legalization of these funds (Article 28(4), Article 209(3) of the Criminal Code) were opened in November 2014. He was served with a notice of suspicion five years later:
According to the NABU, the scheme of the crime was as follows: in September 2013, Real Bank provided loans to several commercial companies controlled by a criminal organization created by former President Viktor Yanukovych. The latter, through fictitious companies, transferred the funds to the accounts of two other companies, which put the money on a term deposit in the same Real Bank with the right to terminate the agreement and withdraw the funds within five business days of the application.
SAP confirmation:
This incident was also reported in the Prosecutor General’s telegram channel:
A month later, the bank’s management filed an application for early termination of the deposit agreement and further withdrawal of funds. This situation, according to the investigation, became the formal basis for the bank’s request for support from the NBU, which provided it with stabilization loans totaling UAH 787 million secured by property, the value of which, as the investigation later established, was overstated by seven times.
The management of Real Bank, in collusion with other members of the criminal organization, withdrew the funds received from the NBU through fictitious companies and cashed them in, NABU reports. So far, the court has heard the case against only one head of such a company, Mykola Lobenko, who heads Yurai LLC.
The case has been under consideration by the High Anti-Corruption Court since November 2020. According to information in the Unified Register of Court Decisions, the investigation of the criminal proceedings on suspicion of Zlochevskyi was separated separately, suspended and resumed eight times due to the absence of the suspect in Ukraine.
And on October 1, 2020, Judge Iryna Lytvynova of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, following a complaint from the former minister’s lawyer, ordered the prosecutor to close the criminal proceedings due to the expiration of the pre-trial investigation. Although such decisions are not subject to appeal, both Zlochevsky’s lawyers and the prosecutor’s office filed appeals. But the decision was not changed:
Dr. Zlo(chevsky). The return of the empire of the fugitive minister
At the beginning of the year, everyone thought that former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky was on the run. In fact, last September he was taken off the wanted list. In February, the news was shocking: all criminal cases were closed and the ex-minister returned to Kyiv. However, if we look at how his business developed in exile, it seems that Zlochevsky never ran away.
Lutsenko on the searches of Zlochevsky’s house:
Zlochevsky was a three-time member of parliament, from 2010 to 2012. Minister of Ecology, and from 2012 until the Maidan, he was the head of the Economic Security Department of the National Security and Defense Council. In business, he is best known for Burisma, Ukraine’s third-largest gas producer, and the Infox company, which controls the Odesa water utility. Zlochevsky was considered one of the richest ministers, with his monster estate on the Kyiv Reservoir Dam alone.
After the Maidan, the ex-minister became the hero of 6 criminal cases. He was put on the wanted list. He flees the country. It took law enforcement a lot of effort to bury them in just 4 years. But they did it.
Article from the official website of the NABU:
A fun funeral
After the Revolution, British law enforcement officers found money of unclear origin in the accounts of Zlochevsky’s companies — $23 million. The British noticed that Zlochevsky received the money from Serhiy Kurchenko. The odious “young oligarch” was already under EU sanctions, and his money could not be considered clean. That’s when the British Anti-Fraud Office turned to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office for help.
After the British letter, the PGO also opened its own proceedings against the former minister. The reasons are the same: illicit enrichment and money laundering.
Meanwhile, the British Bureau is waiting for a response. And it gets it… two days before the trial in London. The GPU under Vitaliy Yarema sends a short answer to London — officially, Zlochevsky is not under suspicion. This response ruins the British case. The London court lifts the arrest from the accounts.
Immediately, the PGO notifies Zlochevsky of suspicion and develops demonstrative activity, and his palace houses are seized. In addition to his personal illicit enrichment, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the SFS begin to investigate his main business, Burisma, a group of gas production companies (producing more than a billion cubic meters of gas per year).
In the summer of 2015, the GPU, already under Shokin’s leadership, opened a case on the group’s illegal receipt of special permits for gas production. Everything should be simple. Here is Minister Zlochevsky, here is the State Service of Geology, which he coordinates, here is the service issuing permits for gas production to the companies of… the minister himself.
For about a year, the PGO has been investigating both illegal licenses and illegal enrichment in parallel.
In 2016, the Prosecutor General’s Office is headed by Yuriy Lutsenko. The PGO transfers the case of illegal licenses to the newly created National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
But Zlochevskyi’s illicit enrichment remains with the prosecutors, and a strange metamorphosis takes place: the proceedings on illicit enrichment of Zlochevskyi personally turn into proceedings on tax evasion by the accountant of Zlochevskyi’s company Esko-Seven.
In other words, the PGO has to investigate the legality of the origin of Zlochevsky’s wealth. But it quickly forgot about the origin and switched to the question of whether he paid taxes on his income. Zlochevsky himself will quietly disappear from the case.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General convenes a briefing and says that the PGO has opened a new case: “Investigation of a criminal tax evasion scheme worth about a billion hryvnias over the past two years.”
The summer and fall of 2016 are spent in anticipation of paying a billion in additional taxes.
Yuriy Lutsenko’s briefing, where he raised the issue of Zlochevsky’s tax evasion:
During this wait, the PGO finally loses interest in Zlochevsky himself. The case against him personally was closed in November 2016. A month after the case was closed, a man who looked remarkably like Zlochevsky was spotted in a restaurant in Vienna with Poroshenko’s right-hand man, Ihor Kononenko.
Zlochevsky and Kononenko having lunch at a restaurant in Vienna:
And if there is a connection between this meeting and subsequent events, the dinner between the ex-minister and the President’s friend cost about 800 million hryvnias.
After all, in February 2017, Lutsenko reported that everything was confirmed. Zlochevsky paid additional taxes: “All 160 million hryvnias were paid to the budget a week after the expert report was released.”
Calculations based on the court registry lead us to a slightly lower amount — UAH 130 million. At a briefing, Lutsenko said it was UAH 160 million. In its response to a written request, the PGO says UAH 180 million. But even if Burisma did pay 180 million, the difference between Lutsenko’s statements is striking.
It is not known how the billion hryvnias “dried up” fivefold, as the case was not heard in court. The PGO and Burisma agreed to pay additional taxes between them.
Meanwhile, the NABU offices were conducting a criminal investigation into Burisma’s obtaining of mining licenses. NABU detectives investigated this case for a year and a half, but in August 2017, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office decided to close the case.
“The fact of the crime has not been proven,” the SAPO briefly commented on the closure.
After the failure of the “criminal” format, they tried to at least take away production licenses from Zlochevsky’s companies (Pari, Technoresurs and Nadragaz). After all, Burisma failed to execute all the necessary documents when it received them. The NABU detectives established this violation and submitted the materials to the SAPO.
By law, prosecutors had 6 months to file a lawsuit. The SAPO did it in 7. And it lost all three instances.
The last criminal proceeding against Zlochevsky’s business was opened and closed by the PGO so quickly that no one even heard about its existence. It concerns the Kherson oil transshipment. It was for it that Kurchenko paid Zlochevsky millions of dollars, which interested British law enforcement. Three years after the British letter, the PGO wondered how Zlochevsky himself got this transshipment, once state-owned, and how it was obtained.
Photo from the journalists’ investigation. Kherson oil transshipment complex:
The scheme was classic. Zlochevsky and the state set up a joint venture. The state contributed an oil transshipment facility valued at UAH 9 million. Zlochevsky was supposed to contribute real money — UAH 28 million — to gain control of the enterprise and develop it. In reality, Zlochevsky paid only 9 million. But as soon as he gained control, he used this asset to run a chain of resales between his own companies. At the end of the chain, Kurchenko got the transshipment for UAH 256 million:
This case was quietly opened. And soon it was also quietly closed. They accused me of misappropriation of property, but did not find any evidence of a crime. It is unclear why it was opened at all. Two more criminal proceedings are still under investigation:
The NABU is investigating the story of the Ministry of Ecology’s embezzlement of UAH 50 million during the procurement of services for the sensing of nature reserves, and the PGO is investigating the case of joint activities of Burisma group companies with the state-owned Ukrgazvydobuvannya.
But it is more accurate to say that these cases exist. Firstly, there is no outstanding activity in relation to them, and secondly, Zlochevsky personally is not threatened by them: the first one mentioned so far concerns his former subordinates (the tender contract was signed not by the minister, but by his deputy), and the second one concerns companies. That is, out of the 6 cases against Zlochevsky, both we and Zlochevsky himself can consider all 6 buried.
And according to the fugitive ex-MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Zlochevsky coordinated this funeral with the same Kononenko with whom the ex-minister was photographed in Vienna.
“Zlochevsky complained to me: “Can you imagine, Kononenko is flying, I ask him, they get money there, do nothing, it’s beneficial for them to have me sitting somewhere far away, and to take a million a month from me and not let me go. I want to solve everything globally, to close the case so that I can return normally,”
Onishchenko says in a recording aired on the program ”What Was It?” Onishchenko estimated the price of the “solution” at $100 million.
Half a dozen criminal proceedings, several years of loud statements. Today, Zlochevsky is not just doing well. He is doing even better than he was before.
Новий бізнес старої гвардії
Odesa region. Small Adzhalyk estuary. Its entire coastline is the port of Yuzhny.
Both private terminals of the TIS group and the state-owned enterprise of the same name, Yuzhny Sea Port, handle cargo here. In all likelihood, these powerful port groups will soon be joined by another one — Zlochevsky’s.
And it will grow on the berth of the state port: «Sandy Pier,» officially «38th,» the «orphan» of Yuzhny port. The port’s five main berths are on the right bank of the estuary. Sandy berth is on the left. It was built in the 70s to receive sand for the needs of the port itself. In 2014, while criminal proceedings were being opened against Zlochevsky, companies associated with him were concentrating land around the pier. 80 hectares, designated as «for maritime transport facilities,» are bought or leased by 5 companies.
The owners of these companies are hidden in offshore companies. But the management, addresses and phone numbers lead to Zlochevsky: the companies are headed or were headed by Zlochevsky’s managers, some of them are registered in the main nest of Zlochevsky’s business — at 10 Ryleeva Street in Kyiv, some have the Infox reception number as a contact phone number.
After Zlochevsky’s land is encircled by a ring around the pier, the Ministry of Infrastructure has an idea. To lease it out. «To anyone.» In February 2016, the Ministry asked the port for data on the berth.
After this sudden interest, the Ministry’s interest disappears for a year and a half. Meanwhile, the state-owned port develops the berth on its own and receives more than a million hryvnias in revenue. But in November of last year, the Ministry approved the Strategic Development Plan for the Yuzhnyi Sea Port. One of only three points of the «strategy» is to lease the «sand terminal». A terminal literally surrounded by Zlochevsky’s people. It is already clear who would benefit from renting it.
The state-owned port wants to continue operating the facility itself: it is expected to generate up to UAH 17 million in additional revenue per year. That’s why in February this year, it asked the Ministry to suspend the procedure for leasing the berth. It is not known what was decided at the top, but neither the companies from the ex-minister’s group nor the Ministry of Infrastructure commented on the issue of interest in the port’s berth.
The port in Yuzhne is not the only project of Zlochevsky’s group that was unfrozen last fall, when the former minister and his b
usiness were «let off the hook.» A 118-hectare plot of land on the outskirts of the village of Novi Petrivtsi has been leased to the Kyivshchyna company for 10 years. Novi Petrivtsi:
For 10 years, nothing had happened here, but, as in the case of the port, last fall, it started to stir. In September 2017, PJSC Kyivshchyna approved the concept of an industrial park. It is a territory with infrastructure customized to accommodate various enterprises. A month later, the Ministry of Economy officially included Kyivshchyna in the official register. This means that the company will enjoy tax benefits, minimal land rent, no import duties on equipment, interest-free loans from the budget, and budget financing.
A controlling stake of 86% in the future industrial park through two companies — KAM LLC and Stalion Georesurs LLC — leads us back in a very short way to the headquarters of Zlochevsky, not a fugitive minister, but a solid businessman and progressive investor. He will have room to expand — Kyivshchyna in Petrivtsi still has a neighboring 65-hectare plot under lease, and after the Revolution of Dignity, companies from Zlochevsky’s orbit bought land around the future industrial giant, bringing the total area to 222 hectares.
The Petrivtsi village council claims that this is not the first time they have heard Zlochevsky’s name. But when we asked them to contact a representative of the company, they gave us the contact of Mykola Herasymchuk. He is the CEO of Zlochevsky’s main company, Infox.
The journalists of Nashi Hroshi tell us more about everything:
Several other managers of Zlochevsky’s have construction projects in the Kyiv region. For example, in Shpytky, next to the estates of Energoatom vice president Aydyn Aisin and former Ukravtodor deputy head Volodymyr Halushko, the company Zlatohrad-Invest LLC owns an 8-hectare field on the lake. Previously, Zlochevsky’s wife and father were listed as founders, but now the company is registered to Mykola Gerasymchuk, the aforementioned director of Infox. The land in the cadastre is marked as a cottage community.
Another 10 hectares are in the neighboring village of Kapitanivka, where the foundations of a dozen cottages have already been laid. Here, three plots of land are leased by Real Estate Service Ltd. and Ukrsoyuzkontrakt LLC. The owner is Marat Akhmedov, Zlochevsky’s manager. Marat Akhmedov came to light when Zlochevsky was Minister of Ecology, when Akhmedov’s company, Ukrainian Space Technologies LLC, supplied equipment to the Ministry of Ecology.
The same company was involved in a scandalous tender for the procurement of land sensing services, the same one that led to the opening of a criminal investigation that is still being investigated by the NABU. Akhmedov is also associated with another scandalous episode during Zlochevsky’s “escape” when, after the Maidan, his structures tried to get land two steps away from the Maidan itself.
The only non-profit project of Zlochevsky’s and the only project in which the ex-minister’s involvement does not need to be clarified by unraveling the tangle of companies and managers is the Epiphany Church Complex near Kyiv (of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate, of course). Here, right on the cross near the church, it says that it was built at the expense of the Zlochevsky family.
Epiphany Church Complex:
«In 1926, two shepherds tending a flock of cows had a vision of the Lord on this spot. In 2011, the Zlochevsky family decided to build a church here. Why on this spot: one of the shepherds was Mykola, and Zlochevsky was Mykola Vladyslavovych,» says the rector of the church, Father Oleh.
The church is still being completed: painting is underway, and the iconostasis is being assembled. The plans include expansion: the foundations have already been laid for a monastery or almshouse for elderly priests.
Speaking of places of worship. In 2014, an expensive shoe store appeared on Khreshchatyk. Here, as in a church, Zlochevsky’s name is right at the entrance. The store is called ZLOCCI.
Back then, three years ago, the store seemed unacceptable. How can a fugitive do business in a country after the revolution? Technically, it’s easy. The shoes are sold through an individual entrepreneur, Valeriy Tkach. Tkach is a former Infox employee and now the director of several security firms and the owner of the same house on the outskirts of Kyiv from which the guards for Zlochevsky’s estates on the dam are picked up every morning.
But it was not about the technical side, but about the ideological side: how can a fugitive do business in a country after the revolution? A man who was considered a fugitive was at the same time negotiating the purchase of land for a port, gas fields, and projects for an industrial park. And if Onyshchenko is to be believed, he was buying his own criminal cases.
Status and sources of income
According to his 2009 declaration, Mykola Zlochevskyi’s income amounted to almost 245,000 hryvnias. The official received most of this money as a deputy’s salary and almost 35,000 hryvnias as financial aid from the state.
In addition, the businessman declared a land plot of 2,230 square meters, a private house of 922 square meters, an apartment of 265.6 square meters and a prestigious Rolls-Royce car.
His wife’s income in 2009 was over UAH 18,000. She also owned a 78-square-meter apartment and two BMW and a Bentley.
Zlochevsky’s castle:
Zlochevsky’s business activities are connected with the Infox company, thanks to which the businessman became a member of the so-called «Kyiv Seven». In the early 2000s, together with Mykola Lisin (Viktor Medvedchuk’s partner), he traded in oil products and developed one of Ukraine’s largest fields, Sakhalin.
In 2011, the Korrespondent magazine listed the businessman among the top 100 richest Ukrainians, placing him at 42nd place. In the same year, Focus magazine ranked Zlochevsky 32nd in its ranking of the Ukrainian rich. Already in 2017, analysts of the Novoe Vremya magazine estimated the Kyiv businessman’s wealth at $535 million. Currently, Forbes magazine estimates his net worth at $97 million.
The stolen Bentley with the Minister’s license plate
New details have emerged in the story of the Bentley stolen in Milan, which belongs to the Italian Inter forward Samuel Eto’o.
The name of the Minister of Environmental Protection, Mykola Zlochevsky, has been implicated in the scandal involving the car theft, which was committed by Ukrainians. When the car was detained on the Serbian border by Hungarian border guards, it had Ukrainian license plates, which were registered in the name of the minister’s wife.
A parliamentary bouncer
“It was not a fight. It was a real beating of our MPs. This is confirmed by more than a dozen victims from our side. And the Party of Regions had real militants. If you look at the names, these are people who usually do not go to parliament, who have never spoken or introduced bills. These people were included in the Party of Regions’ lists solely to perform special tasks. For example, to beat someone up. To show their necessity, it was the Party of Regions militants who were involved in this situation, and they are clearly visible in all the pictures. These are the current minister Mykola Zlochevsky and the head of Ukrspetsexport, which trades in arms, Dmytro Salamatin.”
The fight in the Verkhovna Rada with Mykola Zlochevsky:
As you know, a fight between members of the opposition and pro-government parties broke out on December 17, 2010, after the opposition blocked the work of the parliament for a whole day, protesting against the initiation of a criminal case against the leader of the Batkivshchyna party, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Five MPs from the opposition faction “BYUT-Batkivshchyna” were injured in the fight with the ruling Party of Regions, two of them in serious condition (victims: Mykhailo Volynets, Vasyl Kravchuk, Yuriy Hnatkevych and Yevhen Suslov. “The Party of Regions hit Volodymyr Bondarenko with a chair and broke his arm, Volynets’ jaw was broken, Yuriy Hnatkevych and Vasyl Kravchuk suffered concussions).
At least 100 MPs from the Party of Regions took part in the fight. A number of opposition MPs believe that the incident was planned in advance. Before the fight in the parliament, the first deputy head of the Party of Regions faction, Mykhailo Chechetov, said that his faction would “take control of the situation” on Friday.
The Party of Regions members involved in the brawl were part-time MPs (“deputies on call”), officials Zlochevsky and Salamatin (Ukspetsexport).
The most violent participants in the fight were Party of Regions members Salamatin, Tsarev, Volkov, Zlochevsky and Petro Tsyurko.
The evil genius of the State Reserve Committee
One can get an idea of how Zlochevsky intends to “reform” the system of managing the country’s strategic reserves by looking at the situation with the litigation between the State Reserve Committee and the State Joint Stock Company “Khlib Ukrainy”.
The state-owned grain market operator has lost its main grain export facilities following a decision by the Supreme Administrative Court to transfer five elevators of Khlib Ukrainy to the State Reserve. The production facilities were transferred to Zlochevsky’s department to pay off the state-owned company’s debt of UAH 267 million. The State Reserve became the happy owner of the Odesa Port, Krasnoperekopsk, Nyzhnohirsk, and Uman elevators, as well as the Chernyakhivsky Bakery Plant.
In fact, such a scenario could mean nothing less than the demise of Khlib Ukrainy and significant losses for the state budget. Given such prospects, the persistence of the head of the State Reserve Committee is surprising. It seems that, in addition to public interests, someone’s private interests are involved in this case. It is quite possible that the head of the State Reserve Committee is trying to gain control of elevators in order to be able to store and transship grain that the Committee will purchase from agricultural enterprises in difficult periods for them (when farmers are in dire need of funds for harvesting, sowing and purchasing fuel and lubricants).
This will result in nothing less than the tacit liquidation of the state operator in the grain market: “Khlib Ukrainy” will become nothing more than a mere ‘signboard’ on Saksahanskoho Street, 1 in Kyiv (the company’s headquarters is located at this address).
Oil and gas baron
Mykola Zlochevsky’s fate is linked to the fate of the legendary Infox company and the so-called “Kyiv Seven,” a group of influential Socialist-Revolutionary Party businessmen in the early 2000s. Back then, Zlochevsky, along with Mykola Lisin, was considered one of Viktor Medvedchuk’s junior partners. Their interests were concentrated in the transportation of oil products and the development of Ukraine’s largest Sakhalin field (Kharkiv region).
Companies owned by Zlochevsky:
The Ministry of Ecology, where Zlochevsky was appointed, is an important factor in the prosperity of his business. His “specialization” is the extraction of domestic minerals, namely oil and gas in Poltava and Kharkiv regions.
It should be recalled that in 2003-2005, Zlochevsky was already the head of the State Committee for Natural Resources of Ukraine. At that time, licenses for the development of fields were always granted to structures close to him, by a strange coincidence.
Even before he became minister, in April 2010, Zlochevsky managed to lobby for a license to develop the richest Sakhalin field for his company Ukrnaftoburinnya. Once in office, it is logical to assume that he will limit his appetites to taking into account the interests and wishes of his associates who are also involved in this business. We are talking about Nestor Shufrych, Dmytro Firtash, and Vasyl Dzharta.
Former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky built two luxury mansions near Kyiv
Mykola Zlochevsky has built two fortresses for private use. This was reported by journalists of the Schemes program, according to the Press of Ukraine news outlet.
It is worth noting that this land plot belongs to the Velyki Klyuchi company, co-founded by former Minister Mykola Zlochevskyi himself.
Real estate of Mykola Zlochevsky:
The land plot of almost 4.5 hectares is located between Vyshhorod and the village of Khononivka. In addition to two identical mansions, there is a bathhouse, a garage and fountains on the territory.
In turn, local residents complain that the armed guards of the “palace” prohibit them from swimming to the shore. Although two years ago it was possible to fish and relax.
As a reminder, Mykola Zlochevsky is the owner of the gas production company Burisma Holdings. In 2010-2012, he was the Minister of Environmental Protection of Ukraine.
Read more about Mykola Zlochevsky’s real estate here:
Daughter of ex-environmental minister Zlochevsky has unseized apartment in the center of Kyiv
Karina Zlochevska, the daughter of the wanted former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky, owns an apartment in an elite high-rise building in the center of Kyiv. The estimated price of her apartment is UAH 16 million.
KyivVlada learned about this from a report by the Nashi Hroshi portal, citing data from the Register of Property Rights to Real Estate.
“We are talking about an apartment in the Botanic Towers residential complex (built in 2008) at 121 Saksahanskoho Street, not far from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and next to the botanical garden. Zlochevska’s premises have a total area of 237 square meters, of which the living area is about 118 square meters,” the statement said.
The daughter of the former minister, Karina Zlochevska, became the owner of the apartment under a gift agreement on October 10, 2014. At the same time, the property also belonged to the Zlochevsky family: the document states that in 2007 a mortgage was imposed on the apartment, while Zlochevsky himself was registered as a loan debtor, and his daughter was registered as a person whose property was encumbered.
As for the value of the real estate, the apartment was valued at UAH 8.90 million when the mortgage was issued. At the same time, apartments in this building are currently sold for $2-3 thousand per square meter, for example, a similarly sized apartment was put up for sale in September for $750 thousand, or approximately UAH 16 million.
As a reminder, Mykola Zlochevskyi was put on the wanted list on December 29, 2014, and the Pechersk District Court decided to seize his property in the framework of criminal proceedings only on February 2, 2015. For example, the arrest of the estate in the village of Ivankovychi near Kyiv was avoided: between the announcement of Zlochevskyi’s wanted list and the arrest order, the house and the land were re-registered to the fugitive minister’s wife, Natalia Zlochevska.
“Kyiv Group” and the murder of Lisin
Not so long ago, a new fashion brand Zlocci appeared in Ukraine. Its billboards and city lights now cover the entire center of Kyiv. This brand produces mainly belts and shoes made of leather from various African and other exotic animals.
But do these guys with a specific taste know that the golden Zlocci plaque on their belt is not the name of an Italian designer (like Gucci or Zegna), but the name of a Ukrainian official?
And he started his career when the Donetsk boys who wear crocodile leather shoes today were still young “lookouts” in the neighborhoods or opening their first stalls. In other words, back in the late 90s, Zlocci, oh, I’m sorry, Mykola Vladyslavovych Zlochevsky was already a member of the so-called “Kyiv group,” and his partners were Viktor Medvedchuk and Hryhoriy Surkis.
The same group that was involved in many different interesting projects. For example, such trusts as Ometa or Ometa-Inster, as they were called then. In fact, these were ordinary pyramid schemes that cheated tens of thousands of people out of their money. But there is no direct evidence that Zlochevsky was involved, just as there is no evidence that Surkis and a number of other senior officials were involved. Be that as it may, it was Nikolai Vladislavovich, as well as his friend Nikolai Lisin and their company Infox, who were considered junior partners of the then insanely influential Medvedchuk.
The deceased Mykola Lisin:
The partners were engaged in oil transportation and development of the Sakhalin field in the Kharkiv region. Then Lisin drove his Lamborghini at 200 km/h into the price tag of a gas station and Zlochevsky remained the sole owner of the business. Surprisingly, there has been no investigation into the death of MP Lisin. Many say that he was not a street racer or a fan of fast driving.
“Schemes”, investigations: Mykola Zlochevskyi’s VIP clients
Mykola Zlochevsky is one of those who got fabulously rich during Yanukovych’s presidency. As the Minister of Ecology, he scaled his business to the size of the largest private gas production company in the country. Licenses to develop gas fields for Zlochevsky’s firms were approved by the ministry he headed. After the Maidan, he fled the country. But three years later, his business is still running like clockwork. Zlochevsky himself has been removed from the wanted list, and criminal cases have been closed one by one. Such decisions are usually not made in Ukraine without the consent of the top leadership of the state. If this is an agreement, what is it about? Gas market participants speculate that Zlochevsky could have given up part of his business in exchange for immunity.
Read more about the business of Zlochevskyi and his accomplices in the investigation by journalists of the program “Schemes. Corruption in Detail program:
But an analysis of the public ownership structure of his companies does not yet confirm these rumors. For what other reason could it be beneficial for the president’s entourage to ensure that Zlochevsky’s business, the legality of which remains in question, continues to produce and sell gas in Ukraine without interruption? Perhaps they buy this gas themselves for the needs of their business? We got access to the reports of Burisma Group companies for 2016 and analyzed who buys gas from Zlochevsky’s companies. And our hypothesis was confirmed.
Investigation by Oleksandr Chernovalov. The program “Schemes. Corruption in Detail is a television program of investigative journalism. A joint project of Radio Liberty and UA:Pershyi:
Conclusions
Mykola Zlochevsky is a typical oligarch for whom the laws of Ukraine do not exist. He is an oil and gas baron who lives to his heart’s content, leaving the country without money and taxes. And any problems that arise on his way are solved by a couple of million dollars to the “right” people.