Trukhanov is next? On the detention of Kaufman-Granovsky
A new NABU case has put pressure on Gennady Trukhanov, the mayor of Odessa, according to reports from Strana.
Yesterday, Odessa was heavily affected by a new rocket attack on Ukrainian cities, causing disruptions to electricity, water, and heat in the city.
Simultaneously with the Russian missiles hitting Odessa, a significant criminal-political intrigue unfolded.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) carried out extensive searches, leading to the arrest of prominent local businessmen Boris Kaufman and Alexander Granovsky.
Kaufman is known to have close ties to Odessa's mayor Gennady Trukhanov, who is also under close scrutiny by NABU. This has led to speculation that Trukhanov could be the next target.
Allegedly, the Mayor of Odessa is also implicated in the new investigation by NABU. Bureau representatives conducted searches at the city hall, as well as at Trukhanov and his deputies' offices, as reported by local media.
In political circles, Kaufman is believed to be a point of contact from the President’s Office for the Odessa region, maintaining communication with Mayor Trukhanov, among other things.
Trukhanov may be next? Another visit from the mayor.
Despite the threat and actual missile attack on December 5, NABU continued its series of searches in Odessa, including at the City Council. According to Dumskaya, bureau representatives seized documents in the legal and financial departments, as well as at the offices of Mayor Gennady Trukhanov and his deputies, as reported by “Strana” and law enforcement agencies.
Even more unexpectedly, NAB officers visited other addresses in Odessa, resulting in the detention of three individuals on suspicion of creating a “criminal organization and committing corruption crimes,” as later confirmed by the Bureau.
According to NABU, the investigation revealed that a new criminal organization emerged in the city in the fall of 2021, specializing in corruption schemes for the illegal transfer of property from the communal property of Odessa.
“This criminal organization took control of almost all issues of the economic life of the city, among which [were] interaction with developers, purchases at the expense of the local budget, the activities of public utilities, and other aspects of interaction with business. To ensure the uninterrupted implementation of the goals set, the organizers have established a process of systemic bribery of officials and deputies of the local council, as evidenced by the evidence obtained by NABU and SAPO during the investigation,” the Bureau said.
They specified that the detainees are two organizers of the scheme and their confidant. The charges include part 1 of Art. 255 “Creation, management of a criminal community or a criminal organization, as well as participation in it” (punishable by imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with confiscation of property) and part 3 of Art. 369 “Offering, promising, or providing an unlawful benefit to an official” (punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to eight years with or without confiscation of property) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Simultaneously, the investigation is also identifying other individuals involved in the criminal organization.
As per the information from a source in law enforcement agencies at Strana, two arrested 'organizers of the scheme' (according to NABU) are big businessman Boris Kaufman and his business partner Alexander Granovsky.
NABU agent Yevgeny Shevchenko confirmed the news of Kaufman's detention on his Facebook page.
A friend of the presidents
Why is this an important matter, which in peacetime could well become news No. 1 exactly in Odessa , and, perhaps, in the country?
Here you need to understand who Boris Kaufman is and what is his role in the Odessa political and business layouts.
Kaufman is the beneficiary of the Vertex United group (interests include, in particular, the hotel business in Odessa and Kyiv, Odessa Airport) and the majority owner of the largest cigarette distributor in Ukraine TEDIS Ukraine, which is considered the main asset of the businessman.
In 2021 Kaufman, with a fortune of $220 million, took 46th place in the list of 100 richest Ukrainians, according to the Ukrainian version of Forbes magazine. One of the keys to his success was the ability to negotiate with any Ukrainian authorities.
He was in contact with the team of Viktor Yanukovych, then found a common language with Petro Poroshenko.
And since 2019, Kaufman, according to a widespread opinion in political circles, has established strong contacts with the team of the new President Vladimir Zelensky and, especially, with Andrei Yermak.
And, from about the same time, Kaufman began to be considered the main Mayor Trukhanov's support both in the urban business environment and at the national political level.
“After Trukhanov had disagreements with Galanternik (an influential Odessa businessman Vladimir Galanternik, on whom Trukhanov relied in his first term as mayor – Ed.), it was believed that it was Kaufman and Granovsky who sponsored Trukhanov's election campaign in 2020. That is, this situation directly concerns the mayor, even if he is not yet mentioned in this story, ”comments the head of the Odessa branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) Anatoly Boyko to the Strana.
An interlocutor from Odessa people’s deputies calls Kaufman and Granovsky “the architects of Trukhanov's victory” in the last mayoral elections.
In addition, as they say in the Odessa political party, it was through Kaufman that Trukhanov maintained communications with the OP. Moreover, the businessman was considered an unspoken representative of the Presidential Office in Odessa.
“Apparently, Kaufman and Granovsky were in close contact with high-ranking people in the OP. What they have been doing and saying lately testified that they were completely executors of the will of the Presidential Office in Odessa. And, thanks to this, they had a very great influence on Mayor Trukhanov, on his personnel policy and on business layouts in the city, ”one of the Odessa parliamentarians tells Strana.
Boris Kaufman The detention of businessman Boris Kaufman may lead to fundamental changes in the system of control over Odessa. Trukhanov next? photo: facebook.com/leshchenko.ukraine
It is not surprising that Kaufman's detention raised logical questions about the background of NABU's actions and their consequences.
There are three main versions. According to one of them, Trukhanov was the main target of the search. Trukhanov is suspected to be next. According to another version, the main blow is directed at the Office of the President (through Kaufman's connections with Yermak). According to the third version, it's a combination of the first and second versions.
The question also arises – who started these actions.
"The main question is who initiated the searches and arrests. If NABU took the initiative, then it's one scenario. If it was a team from the OP – it's another scenario. In the second case, it may signify the start of a power shift in Odessa, which means that Trukhanov has something to worry about. Were there signs of conflict between the mayor and the OP? Considering his relations with the Servant of the People factions in the city council and the regional council, everything seemed to be quite harmonious – at least on the surface," commented the head of the Odessa branch of the CVU Boyko.
However, it's important to mention that NABU has been investigating Trukhanov for a long time. The mayor has faced serious allegations multiple times, such as involvement in land fraud in the city. He is a defendant in various criminal cases, which are still under investigation. Furthermore, the initiation of criminal cases against Trukhanov has been ongoing for five years, and NABU has been the initiator in almost all cases.
As Strana has already reported, according to one of the versions, this is because of the political stance of the Americans (supporters of the Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies), who aim to remove Trukhanov due to suspected ties to organized crime in the United States. However, Trukhanov has consistently found support from the country's top political leadership – first from Poroshenko and thus from Zelensky (through Kaufman). This has been one of the main reasons why the mayor has not been removed so far.
Therefore, there is a version suggesting that the current increased attention from NABU towards Trukhanov was not initiated by the President's Office, but rather the desire to disrupt the mayor of Odessa's significant connections with Bankova (to make it easier to hold him accountable for criminal activities), while possibly paving the way for an attack on the leadership of the OP.
At least, this conclusion is implied by the Facebook message of the NABU agent Shevchenko, who was the first to announce Kaufman's arrest to the public. He states that this occurred as part of an investigation into "corruption schemes involving not only the mayor and other officials from Odessa, but also some highly respected individuals from Bankova."
“To be continued”, – Shevchenko ended his post with these words.
It's worth noting that similar threats were present in his posts about the NABU investigation into the theft of foreign humanitarian aid, which has been ongoing since the end of August. Representatives of the presidential vertical in the regions, as well as high-ranking officials, including those close to the OP, were implicated, leading to the suspicion that Trukhanov could be the next target.
All this falls into the trend we wrote about: the anti-corruption vertical, patronized by the West, represented by NABU and SAPO, is gradually approaching the key members of Zelensky’s team. This is accompanied by a media company (in particular, publications in the media about the possible frauds of the Dnepropetrovsk governor Valentin Reznichenko with road construction and about cars and houses of the deputy head of the President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko).
So far, however, this process is proceeding rather cautiously, adjusted for the wartime situation, when, including Western structures, they are not much interested in “shaking the boat”. On the other hand, the “shells” for anti-corruption investigations, figuratively speaking, fall closer to the country's leadership, which creates the potential for major corruption scandals that can seriously hit the positions of the current government.
Therefore, the reaction will be indicative Bankova to the current criminal cases against Kaufman and Granovsky.
However, there are many options here. From providing tacit support to them in the current situation and trying to put the brakes on the case (as has happened more than once in cases related to Trukhanov). Before trying to “lead the process”, prompting Mayor Trukhanov to resign from his post against the backdrop of yet another criminal trial. In this case, acting Igor Koval, the current secretary of the City Council from the Servant of the People, will become the mayor, which will significantly strengthen the control of the Office of the President over the processes in the city.
We recall that such a scheme was discussed in political circles even before the start of the war.</p
But, of course, wartime can amend all these alignments – it’s not a fact that Kyiv will want to take such drastic steps in a city of strategic importance.
Denis Rafalsky
DOSSIER: Gennady Trukhanov: governor of the Odessa mafia. Part 1
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Trukhanov's obligations in the case of the activities of a criminal organization were extended
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