The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is investigating an embezzlement, abuse of power and forgery case into Kyiv’s Rybalsky Kuznya shipyard, which is owned by President Petro Poroshenko and his top ally and lawmaker Ihor Kononenko.
Rybalsky Kuznya on Nov. 4 denied accusations of corruption and supplying overpriced equipment to the state.
Kyiv’s Solomyansky Court on Oct. 18 allowed the NABU to access documents from Rybalsky Kuznya, formerly known as Leninska Kuznya, according to a court warrant published in the official court register.
The Border Guard concluded a contract in 2015 to buy Triton mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles worth Hr 59 million from Rybalsky Kuznya and received four of the vehicles in 2015 to 2016.
According to a 2015 decision by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Kharkiv Oblast branch of Ukraine’s Border Guard was expected to buy 34 remote weapon stations worth Hr 161.5 million, or Hr 4.75 million per station. However, de facto the price of each remote weapon station supplied by Rybalsky Kuznya amounted to Hr 14.9 million, the NABU said.
The NABU also said that the vehicles supplied by Rybalsky Kuznya had not been used for their intended purposes and that they could not properly function due to their ineffectiveness.
The Rybalsky Kuznia shipyard won government contracts, including military ones, worth $2.5 million in 2016 and contracts worth $560,000 in 2017, public data shows.
In October the NABU arrested Ihor Pavlovsky, a deputy of Poroshenko’s protege and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, and three other military officials in a $5.5 million embezzlement case. The investigation involves Trade Commodity, a firm financed by businessman Andriy Adamovsky, a business partner of Poroshenko’s top ally and lawmaker Oleksandr Hranovsky.
Oleh Hladkovsky, Poroshenko’s business partner and a deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said on Oct. 12 he was ready to vouch for Pavlovsky during a court hearing.
Hladkovsky is linked to Cyprus-registered company HUDC Holding Limited, which sold four allegedly overpriced armored Toyota Land Cruiser V8 cars worth $428,000 to state-owned defense company SpecTechnoEksport in May.
Hladkovsky’s office confirmed that he “used to have a connection to HUDC Holding Limited” but said he was not currently involved in managing it.
Hladkovsky has also managed to receive several lucrative military contracts for his automaker Bohdan, which was formerly co-owned by Poroshenko.
In 2016 ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili also accused Hladkovsky of covering up for an allegedly corrupt scheme to supply engines for BTR-80 armored vehicles to Ukraine’s military. Hladkovsky denies the accusations.
Under the scheme, businessman Shirin Nabiyev buys BTR-80 engines at 5,725 euros per item in Moldova and later sells them to Ukraine at 15,000 euros per item, Saakashvili said.
Meanwhile, Roman Romanov, a former Bohdan dealer and a political associate of Poroshenko, heads state defense firm Ukroboronprom.
Veterans of Ukraine’s volunteer Donbas Battalion and other units on Oct. 28 said they would start a boycott and blockade of Poroshenko’s businessses, including his alleged corruption schemes. They said it was a response to Poroshenko’s failure to comply with their ultimatum for him to submit by late Oct. 27 a bill allowing presidents to be impeached, and a bill on the creation of an anti-corruption court.
Demonstrators demanding an anti-corruption court have camped out and rallied in front of the Verkhovna Rada since Oct. 17, when thousands protested and set up more than 50 tents there. They also demand the lifting of lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution and a fairer electoral law.
