The state Agency for Retrieving and Managing Stolen Assets, or ARMA, said on May 29 that they had chosen the winner of a tender to manage Mezhyhirya, the former luxury estate of Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, ousted by the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014.
But the selected company, Skompani, has connections to Yevheny Murayev, a former lawmaker for Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
Yanukovych’s lavish, 140-hectare estate had been a mystery to Ukrainian society until he fled the country in 2014.
Journalists, activists and other citizens flocked to the residence as soon as Yanukovych left. A group of activists that formed a non-profit organization in 2015 has been taking care of the residence since 2014. Later, Mezhyhirya was turned into a national park and now serves as a museum.
ARMA, which was created to search for and manage assets derived from corruption and other crimes, started a tender to find a new manager for Mezhyhirya around half a year ago.
The tender was extended several times as, according to Anton Yanchuk, head of ARMA, there was “little interest from businesses to manage this object.”
Three participants applied to run Mezhyhirya in the last round of the tender. They were the non-profit organization that has been taking care of the park for five years, called Ukraine’s National Park Mezhyhirya, the firm Skompani and an entrepreneur, Hennadii Haianskyi.
But there was actually little competition, as the Mezhyhirya non-profit couldn’t win the tender in the first place.
According to Yanchuk, the Civil Code of Ukraine rules that a non-profit organization is not a business entity, and is therefore legally banned from taking part in the tender.
Ironically, the new manager of the estate, Skompani, might have links to its former owner Yanukovych.
The company’s director Oleksii Voronenko used to serve as an aide to Murayev in 2017. Murayev had been a lawmaker for Yanukovych’s Party of Regions between 2012 and 2014. He was re-elected as a lawmaker in 2014 and was a member of several parties made up of former members of the Party of Regions.
The Kyiv Post couldn’t reach Voronenko for comment. Voronenko speaks critically of Murayev on his Facebook page.
Denys Tarakhkotelyk, a former EuroMaidan Revolution activist and the head of the Mezhyhirya non-profit, says that the tender was executed with violations. He says that the tender commission was biased with in favor of Skompani.
According to Tarakhkotelyk, the commission members helped Skompani to answer the questions they themselves asked.
“It’s a carve-up,” Tarakhkotelyk told the Kyiv Post.
ARMA’s press person said the agency couldn’t immediately comment on the matter.
Tarakhkotelyk says that their non-profit didn’t want to win the tender as they don’t have plans “to manage Mezhyhirya forever.” However, he says that they wanted the competition to be fair, as the residence has a huge value for Ukrainian society.
Tarakhkotelyk says that his non-profit will challenge ARMA’s decision in court.
According to Tarakhkotelyk, there could also be a raider seizure of Mezhyhirya.
He said on May 29 that he received a phone call that day from a man who warned Tarakhkotelyk about the possible raider attack. The man said he was one of the hundreds hired thugs gathered in Kyiv to head to Mezhyhirya but felt the need to warn Tarakhkotelyk.
Amid the talks about the possible attack, the non-profit has closed the residence’s territory and doesn’t let visitors in today for safety reasons.
