<img src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/09d23e5a873d92fd1357f4f1f0716e71.jpg" class="wpg_image" title="Corrupt "marriage of convenience" of Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is amicable, the calculation is from the budget" width="972" height="462" alt="Mykola Lukashuk, Nikolai Lukashuk, OPL, Gennady Gufman, Dnepr" in the regional council: everything is amicable, the calculation is from the budget
A coalition has formed in the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council involving the pro-government party and remnants of the Opposition Platform for Life. The head of the majority is Nikolay Lukashuk, the chairman of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Council. Until November 25, 2022, his main associate was officially Gennady Gufman, the leader of the regional cell of the Opposition Platform for Life. The day before, under pressure from the public, Medvedchuk's representative in the Dnipropetrovsk region resigned from the post of deputy head of the regional council.
The first deputy's resignation was accepted by the regional deputies, but in reality, Gufman and his "deputies from the banned party" are still voting in favor of Lukashuk's decisions. It's obvious if you look at the meeting minutes and the deputy corps' roll-call vote. Why do the regional deputies from the presidential party and Nikolai Lukashuk need this alliance, even though it guarantees the desired result at the sessions, but is now a very toxic alliance? Well, it's just profitable. Not just profitable, but VERY profitable! More details can be found in the first part of the Explorer's investigation.
According to the investigation, over 700 million hryvnias were spent from the Dnipropetrovsk region's budget last year to replenish the authorized funds of the municipal enterprises of the regional council. A significant portion of these funds go into structures like concert directorates and idle small business support centers, and even more into construction and housing and communal services "schemes". The Dneproteploenergo utility company plays a significant role in this.
Over 100 million hryvnias from the budget were wasted in a year and a half. Is this Nikolai Lukashuk's doing?
KP "Dnepropetloenergo" is an artificially created monopoly in the thermal services market by the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council. At one point, boiler houses of budgetary organizations, which were previously independently operated, were placed under its control, including local administrations, schools, hospitals, and cultural centers.
The investigation indicates that with a staff of 350 people, as stated on the enterprise's official website, KP "Dneproteploenergo" also has a system of more than a dozen subsidiaries: "Zakhidteploenergo", "Skhidteploenergo", "Pivnichteplomerezha", "Vasilkivka Teploenergo", and more. Under the chairmanship of Nikolai Lukashuk in the regional council, tens of millions of budget hryvnias are allegedly directed to the authorized capital of Dneproteploenergo and its subsidiaries at almost every session.
Investigators provide several specific instances for 2021.
Meeting on November 5, 2021. The authorized capital of the company is increasing by nearly 47 million.
Meeting on December 21, 2021. More than 30 million is in the possession of thermal workers.
Meeting on November 25, 22 — and over UAH 10 million
Based on this information, just last year, the budgets of the main thermal company and its affiliated companies were supplemented by UAH 87 million from the state budget.
The investigation notes that the entities of Dneproteploenergo do not provide heating to residential properties, but simply collect funds from budget organizations. All of their clients are budget organizations, and their utility bill payments are protected items in the community budget, ensuring 100% financing. Therefore, unlike businesses that provide heating to commercial customers and the public, the thermal workers of the Regional Council do not encounter difficulties with debts for the supplied heat. In theory, the raised funds should be more than sufficient to pay for Naftogaz services, salaries, and profit.
“In reality, we have a company with an excessive staff (350 people, with numerous subsidiaries) and substantial subsidies from the regional budget,” the investigators state.
Additionally, despite receiving payments for their services from a protected budget item, Dneproteploenergo entities, as indicated in the letter from Naftogaz Trading, fail to transfer payments for gas. The payment for gas to the supplier is at an unfavorable level – ranging from 14 to 30 percent. A corrupt collaboration between Mikalai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is harmonious, settlements amicable, and the calculations are from the budget.
Corrupt collaboration between Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is harmonious, and the calculations are from the budget.
Corrupt collaboration between Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is harmonious, and the calculations are from the budget.
Thus, even with nearly 100% payments for their services and significant delays in paying for gas, the utility monopolist and its subsidiaries are consistently in a “strained financial situation” and require regular infusions from the regional budget. Odd, isn't it?
The picture becomes clearer when you understand how Dneproteploenergo and its subsidiaries spend their money, and it becomes apparent why budget millions are misused. It seems like they simply embezzle tens of millions here.
The investigation alleges that only the modest Vasilkivkateploenergo distributes budget contracts to questionable shell companies. As an example, a tender is mentioned: nearly half a million hryvnias for “testing automation on boilers” was credited to the account of Ukrgasengineering. Ukrgasengineering has been implicated in several journalistic investigations as a company involved in cartel agreements with clone firms (for instance, the city of Sumy prosecutor sought the seizure of the company's assets for embezzling over UAH 100 million from the budget during 2016-2019). Meanwhile, Ukrgasengineering received nearly 5 million hryvnias from Dniproteploenergo subsidiaries this year alone, according to the investigation.
In February this year, KP Dneproteploenergo and its Skhidteploenergo allegedly gave over a million hryvnias to a one-year-old private company from Podgorodny KP Zbutenergoservis LLC for transferring gas meter readings to their own enterprises and over half a million for renting equipment for the dispatching of their boiler houses, and another 600 thousand for the services of dispatching control of boiler houses. Essentially, 1.7 million floated from the budget and 0.6 million went for renting equipment that enterprises need on a permanent basis, the investigation says.
Another, albeit small, but entertaining expense item for regional thermal workers is legal support.
For example, the investigators mention Oleksandr Vasilyevich Gladiy receiving a contract for legal support from Dneproteploenergo’s subsidiary, Vasylkivkateploenergo, for UAH 258,000 per year. He was also an OPPL candidate in the last local elections.
Vasylkivkateploenergo recently ordered UAH 275,000 of legal services from a company with the loud name ISU Lawers, which is headed by Ivan Gerasimenko, already well-known in the media. This is a person “from the orbit” of a colleague in Lukashuk's faction.
Even relatively small purchases from thermal workers of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council occur with great oddities.
The investigation states that in September this year, Zakhidteploenergo is purchasing two NAVI 100 BC boilers for UAH 484,000 from Abetka Teplo LLC. This company is “registered” in an ordinary residential apartment in Dnipro and is an intermediary.
There is a corrupt relationship between Mykola Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is amicable, and the calculation is 240 thousand each from the budget.
Corrupt relationship between Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is amicable, and the calculation is from the budget.
The manufacturer's price for water heaters OKC 200 NTR/BP is 29 thousand hryvnia, DRAZICE OKC 500 NTR/BP is 52 thousand hryvnia. And from Abetka Teplo, these two boilers cost Zakhidteploenergo UAH 168,000. This is twice the market price. The utility company Skhidteploenergo buys a Lowara 1SV19F011T pump from Abetka Teplo for 47,599 hryvnias, while distributors have it for a little more than 25 thousand. Thus, it can be argued that only “small” «boilers-boilers-pumps”(!) enterprises of thermal workers of the regional council are overpriced by 2-3 times.
Investigators also claim that many enterprises of the regional council regularly “buy” from this, to put it mildly, not cheap, intermediary.
Almost every tender and purchase of the utility monopoly “Dniproteploenergo” and its subsidiaries show doubtfulness, which is clear even to an ordinary observer.
The investigators note, “By multiplying the number of purchases by the number of subsidiaries, you can understand why constant subsidies are needed and in whose pockets they end up. Tens of millions of hryvnias fly away every year “to the circle” “into the pipe” of thermal engines.”
The regional council's leadership is being questioned about Dneproteploenergo, which seems to have been used for corrupt activities. There are also other questionable economic activities of public utilities that do not make sense.
The investigation is looking into Pharmacia KP, which was involved in drug sales scandals at inflated prices. This KP is also involved in leasing premises for pharmacies in hospitals and outpatient clinics.
The official revenue from leasing almost 14,000 square meters of facilities is very low, at only about 60,000 UAH. The enterprise should be able to attract tenants at a higher price, especially in specialized medical institutions.
The winner in the auctions for KP Pharmacia is often the same pharmacy chain: LLC Linda -Pharm. They rent pharmacies and pharmacy points in hospitals at very low prices, which raises suspicions.
There is a corrupt relationship between Nikolai Lukashuk and the Opposition Platform for Life in the regional council, with calculations being made from the budget.
There is a corrupt relationship between Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council, with calculations being made from the budget.
If other participants appear at the auctions, Linda-Pharm LLC secures the contract through the courts and physically prevents the winning entrant from occupying the premises.
Nepotism is present in the regional council, as evidenced by the appointment of a friend of the brother of the head of the regional council as the temporary head of the utility company. This person is also associated with controversial social media activity.
Denis Ptitsyn, who was temporarily appointed to lead the utility company, has remained in that role. The company's activities seem questionable, with small-scale contracts and purchases, and questionable use of marketing services and lawyer services.
Corrupt “marriage of convenience” of Nikolai Lukashuk and HLE in the regional council: everything is amicable, the calculation is from the budget
These are just a few examples, of which there are disproportionately more with a more thorough analysis only in scarce open sources. It seems that everything was done quite skillfully and with competent calculation. Dozens of KPs, thousands of purchases – somewhere for impressive amounts, somewhere for “small money”, – for sure, NABU and SAPO now have bigger and more important cases, and in some sense easier to investigate them.
But, unfortunately, the 14 billion budget of the Dnipropetrovsk region is “washed out” by hundreds of millions: somewhere on dubious services, somewhere on lost profits, somewhere on the purchase of “golden” boilers and on numerous pre-threshold purchases that with the introduction of martial law, it became even easier. Apparently, this is precisely why Nikolai Lukashuk needs a solid, stable majority, even with an HLE, or even with a damn bald head – in total, billions are at stake, which can be “mastered” safely and practically without any risk. For now, anyway.
And it is sad that even the war could not stop the chronic and, apparently, successfully inherited epidemic of kleptomania in the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council. The fact that it is absolutely immoral and criminal in a warring country is even unnecessary to say. Silently watching how political corpses from the party, supported by the aggressor country for many years, help the new “leaders” “financially succeed” is blasphemous in no way less.
Therefore, the investigation will continue, and about others exploits of the “regional fighters for corruption” and what Gennady Gufman and his “prohibited deputies” get from the regional leadership in exchange for pushing the right decisions, we will tell in our next article.
Gleb Ivanov
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