10.06.2024 Investigations

Is Ukraine’s gas in the hands of supporters of the “Russian world”? Katsuby: Defense Industry Seizure Sponsored by Shariy, Fast Loans?

Vladimir Mikhailovich Katsuba is a native of Russia and a former member of the Party of Regions. His sons, Sergiy and Oleksandr, held key positions in Ukraine’s strategic enterprises at a very young age. The elder Sergiy once served as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine and, like his father, was a member of the Party of Regions. Later, the younger Oleksandr inherited his brother’s position at Naftogaz and continued the family business… of robbing

The case of Naftogaz

In 2016, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (now the Office of the Prosecutor General) detained Oleksandr Katsuba, a former deputy chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine. The latter was accused of corruption schemes on a particularly large scale. According to the investigation, the younger Katsuba stole more than USD 150 million from the state and its citizens. Subsequently, the amount of losses increased to 220 million dollars.

Katsuba’s lawyers tried several times to close the case. They even concluded a deal with the investigation, which ultimately gave the defendant in the criminal investigation a chance to spend 4 years behind bars instead of 12.

At the same time, in 2022, the criminal case against Oleksandr Katsuba was reopened. In response to journalistic inquiries, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the case was not closed. However, law enforcement officials do not provide any further information. Obviously, both sides have something to hide. That’s why there are fewer and fewer publications about Katsuba’s manipulations at Naftogaz in the public space. And there is no information about the status of the investigation at all.

Where is Katsuba now?

It is known that Oleksandr Katsuba, being a person liable for military service, left Ukraine immediately after the Russian invasion began. He managed to withdraw more than $20 million from the country. Some of his accounts in the EU were blocked at the request of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine and the international FATF program.

Over the past year, Oleksandr Katsuba has been actively investing millions in whitewashing his reputation. According to the media, one of the most expensive publications in the world, the Daily Mail, published an article about the man’s figure marked “advertising”. When asked, the Daily Mail responded that the article was marked as an advertisement as part of a commercial arrangement with Oleksandr Katsuba’s PR agent.

“We would never have published an article about a corrupt official without an advertising label. This article was published in a special paid section and was not available to our readers by subscription. It was published to reduce the weight of the negative publicity about Oleksandr Katsuba, a person involved in criminal cases in Ukraine. We are not the only publication that has published whitewashing information about Oleksandr Katsuba, and a lot of money is being spent on his behalf, because with his reputation it is difficult to have bank cards and offshore accounts without fear of account seizures,” commented the Daily Mail.

The article is currently unavailable, so unfortunately, we were unable to read it.

Shariy and MyCredit

MyCredit was one of the most successful microfinance organizations in Ukraine. Its revenue in 2019 amounted to UAH 1.3 billion.

The organization has three ultimate beneficiaries: Kharkiv-based Natalia Gordienko, Olena Katerynchyk, and banker Sergiy Tigipko. The Kharkiv woman controls 82% of MyCredit, while Tigipko controls 18%.

In two days in July 2019, Katerynchyk received UAH 1 million from Shariy’s party for posting campaign materials on social media and websites. Hordiienko, on the other hand, is the ex-wife of Volodymyr Katsuba and was the head of the Kharkiv regional branch of the Shariy Party, the same propagandist who has long promoted pro-Rashid narratives. In one of the materials, we also came across a quote from Ms. Hordienko, according to which she has known Anatoliy Shariy and his wife Olha “for a long time and very closely.” In addition, according to the article: “the woman calls the blogger a friend of her youngest son, Oleksandr Katsuba.”

Shariy himself also did not hide his acquaintance with the Katsubas. For example, he posted photos of their vacation on Instagram. However, the blogger reacted negatively to the assumptions and accusations that the Katsubas allegedly financed Shariy’s party.

There is no direct evidence to prove that the Katsubs were Shariy’s sponsors. However, an analysis of the connections of Kharkiv donors to his party showed that these people are connected to each other, to the Katsubs’ business, and directly to Natalia Hordienko through a number of private enterprises.

Novoselivske Mining and Processing Plant and mining operations

The Katsub family continues to control mining in Ukraine. In particular, the head of the family, Volodymyr, controls Novoselivka Mining and Processing Plant, which operates in the village of Novoselivka, Kharkiv region.

The raw materials extracted and enriched at the company’s facilities are used to make optical, wave, art and medical glass, assorted glassware, showcase, lighting and signal glass, and glass products with a wide range of applications in machine and instrumentation engineering, etc. Also, according to open sources, the company is consistently re-equipping its production facilities and improving its technology, expanding the range of products. In particular, the company has launched the production of ground quartz of grade A, which is used for the manufacture of fiberglass, dry building mixtures, varnishes and adhesives.

Therefore, we have an obvious conclusion – the raw materials and products of Novoselovsky Mining and Processing Plant have the potential to be used in the defense industry.

Interestingly, according to open registers, the head of Novoselovsky Mining and Processing Plant is Mr. M.V. Osedets, a graduate of the Moscow Mining Institute.

According to public data, the company’s financial statements for 2023 are as follows:

  • Revenue – UAH 150,977,000;
  • Net profit – UAH 17,854,000;
  • Assets – UAH 117,899,000;
  • Liabilities – UAH 14,499,000.

At the same time, in just one year there was a sharp increase in income (almost 2 times) (in 2022 it was UAH 83,579,000).

We assume that such actions are due to the resumption of active supply and cooperation with Russia, which involves gasket companies in the EU.

We are actively investigating the issue of Katsub’s involvement in mining in Ukraine, as well as the activities of the Novoselivskyi mining and processing plant. We have sent an information request to the regulatory authorities to obtain information on:

  1. granting of a special permit for the use of subsoil and other permits for special use of natural resources to Novoselivsky Mining and Processing Plant.
  2.  Dates and periods during which Novoselivskyi Mining and Processing Plant did not have the right to extract minerals.
  3. complaints received against Novoselovsky Mining and Processing Plant, in particular regarding violations of legislation in the field of subsoil use and environmental protection.
  4. inspections conducted, measures to control the use of a special permit for subsoil use, and compliance with the legislation by the subsoil user in carrying out its business activities.
  5. complaints or reports of violations of the special subsoil use permit granted to Novoselovsky Mining and Processing Plant in the course of its business activities.
  6. and other issues.

We will inform you about each stage of the investigation.

Report known schemes, violations and corruption involving the Katsubs to the chatbot or by e-mail to info.nonstopukraine@gmail.com

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