Konstantin Grigorishin. Honored oligarch of Ukraine and Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)
Recently, the half-forgotten name of the Russian-Ukrainian oligarch Konstantin Ivanovich Grigorishin began to emerge in the information space of Ukraine. Moreover, which is typical, his name is recalled either by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, declaring that Grigorishin is an FSB agent. Or members of his team, the same Arsen Avakov (read more about him in the article Arsen Avakov: the criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs), who accuses the oligarch of participating in opaque tenders. In January of this year alone, Konstantin Ivanovich was attacked by: the State Fiscal Service, as we already wrote about, the SBU, the Ministry of Internal Affairs represented by its head and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Several criminal proceedings have allegedly been opened against Konstantin Grigorishin. And the already mentioned Arsen Avakov accuses journalist-deputy Sergei Leshchenko of receiving money from Grigorishin at the cash register. Let’s remember who this oligarch is and try to understand why the prime minister’s team hates him so much.
Konstantin Grigorishin. Veteran of the oligarchic movement
Until the nineties Grigorishin Konstantin Ivanovich nothing special stood out. He comes from Ukraine, from Zaporozhye. In 1987 he graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in the USSR – Moscow Physics and Technology (MIPT) with a degree in physics engineer. In 1991 he graduated from graduate school at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. He worked at the Institute of Spectroscopy of the USSR Academy of Sciences. That is, he built a career as an ordinary desk scientist in one of the research institutes, of which there were hundreds throughout the country. He was not noticed to be overly enthusiastic about communist ideology or connections with the KGB. I started business around 1994-1995. At first he sold computers at the Tushinsky market in Moscow, but later turned his attention to metallurgy. Then the technological, trade and raw material “chains” between Ukrainian and Russian enterprises were broken, and many enterprising people profited from this.
It is worth mentioning that many of them have already died, often not by natural causes, and those who remained alive have retired. Grigorishin is perhaps the last of the “heavyweights” of those years still alive and still in business. But let’s go back to the nineties. So, in 1994 or 1995, Konstantin Grigorishin, together with his partners Evgeny Ageevetsky and Alexander Pashonin, opened the Central Wholesale Metal Depot company in Moscow. At the same time, in Zaporozhye, former classmates of the future oligarch Andrei Nemzer, Igor Boyko and Leonid Pivovarov opened a private enterprise “Zaporozhye Metal”, which was connected with the monster of the Ukrainian economy – the Zaporizhstal association – through Lydia Arsiriy, the deputy director of this association for sales and foreign economic activity. And the business started. The partners started with barter schemes – metal in exchange for consumer goods, food, raw materials, fuel and other necessary goods. But later they expanded their activities. According to Konstantin Ivanovich himself, they sent the currency through banks, with a 50-70% kickback, and then started buying up the debts of enterprises.
Konstantin Grigorishin. Honored oligarch of Ukraine and Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)
Konstantin Grigorishin. “Father” of offshore schemes
It is believed that it was Grigorishin who came up with a number of business schemes aimed at both acquiring companies and managing them, which make it possible to “optimize” taxation. Later, these schemes would be called “offshore” and are still used by all or almost all serious market players to this day. Konstantin Grigorishin can easily be called the pioneer of these schemes. In particular, in 1996-97 he created several offshore companies in Cyprus, as well as in the Virgin Islands. Through them, the businessman began to buy Ukrainian enterprises: energy companies, Zaporozhye and Stakhanov ferroalloy plants, Dneprospetsstal. Although the oligarch himself says that he is not interested in politics, it is clear that such schemes cannot work without support from the very top. At a minimum, we need an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation with Cyprus. The Soviet Union signed such an agreement, but Ukraine refused to denounce it. Moreover, it was in 1997 that the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs began negotiations on concluding a new agreement between our country and the offshore island. So there was a political roof here, and the best roof in those years was Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko.
Grigorishin thoughtful
Connection with Lazarenko
At the end of the 90s of the last century, Grigorishin became a business partner of Pyotr Kirichenko, the odious accomplice of Pavel Ivanovich Lazarenko. It was then that he gained control of a third of Ukraine’s energy supply companies. At the same time, he received another profitable business – the removal and disposal of nuclear waste from Ukrainian nuclear power plants. It is clear that he could not get to strategic sites without the “highest” protection. In total, during the collaboration between Lazarenko and Grigorishin, about twenty enterprises fell into the hands of the latter, among which were a number of regional power companies. But their mutually beneficial cooperation did not last long. In 1998, Lazarenko was removed from power, and in 1999 he was arrested in the United States. In the same year, Kirichenko was also arrested; in fact, he handed over his boss “without giblets”. For Konstantin Ivanovich, this situation was to his advantage – his partners were arrested, the business could be safely taken over. And only many years later, Pyotr Kirichenko realized that Grigorishin had simply robbed him and demanded that the $42.5 million he had invested be returned to him.
After all, in almost every offshore company of Konstantin Ivanovich, his partner Kirichenko had 51%. It was both his money and Lazarenko’s money.
During negotiations with the oligarch, this amount decreased to $14.5 million, which was paid. Better than nothing. Apparently then Grigorishin thought that he had closed Lazarenko’s page in his biography and had paid off Pyotr Kirichenko. But in 2010, Kirichenko received information that Grigorishin’s assets, purchased with Lazarenko’s money, were already worth $300 million. And Pavel Ivanovich’s adviser, again feeling deceived, went to the American court. Currently, his case is being prepared for consideration by the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service. If Kirichenko wins arbitration, he has every chance of winning the case in a full-fledged court. But in those years, Konstantin Grigorishin could hardly have imagined that things would take such a turn. And he had no time to think about it, he was intensely looking for a new roof and soon found it in the person of the so-called “Kyiv group”, which was gaining strength in those years.
Pavel Lazarenko and Petr Kirichenko
Konstantin Grigorishin and “football lawyers”
So, while Lazarenko and Kirichenko were under the watchful eye of American justice, Grigorishin was forced to look for new patrons and partners. And such were found in the person of Viktor Medvedchuk, the Surkis brothers and the SDPU(o) party. Actually, they began to get closer back in 1998, when Lazarenko left the government offices and took up his own party “Hromada”. But they finally became close in 1999. In an interview with Ukrainian media, Grigorishin said that he gave the Surkis 50% of the profits for “protection.”
As a result of fruitful cooperation in 2001, Grigorishin controls 5 regional power companies and receives stakes in another 11, in addition, he acquires assets in metallurgy and mechanical engineering. He also bought a 20% stake in the Dynamo football club (Kyiv). Blocks of shares in key oblenergos were distributed between Grigorishin, the Surkis brothers and Igor Kolomoisky. But in the same 2001, the partners began to have conflicts, and they decided to separate. By the way, this conflict is called one of the most protracted oligarchic wars in Ukraine, which officially ended only in 2010… through the exchange of stakes in oblenergos.
However, at the beginning of the 2000s, conflicts continued – the parliamentary elections of 2002 demonstrated the insatiable appetites of the SDPU(o).
They demanded $50 million from Grigorishin for the election campaign. Apparently, in order to save money? Konstantin Petrovich takes on Mikhail Brodsky and his party Yabloko, but Yabloko does not get into parliament, that is, the money goes down the drain. And the conflict with the Surkises led to the fact that after the elections he loses control over the oblenergo, control over the Tavrichesky Mining and Processing Plant and sells the Zaporozhye Ferroalloy Plant, and then Dneprospetsstal. And on the night of October 12, 2002, he was rudely, with the use of force, detained near the Egoist restaurant by employees of the special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Sokol”. A pistol was found in Grigorishin’s pocket and he was taken in handcuffs to the Pechersk regional police department. Later the case was closed, but I had to leave Ukraine.
Konstantin Grigorishin one of the main sponsors of the first Maidan
During the 2004 presidential elections, Konstantin Grigorishin sponsored the Orange Revolution. During litigation with Igor Kolomoisky for allegedly unsold stakes in five regional power companies, the latter reported in a London court that it was Grigorishin who gave $12 million to the “Orange Revolution”, becoming, after the late Boris Berezovsky, the second largest sponsor of the victory of President Viktor Yushchenko. However, disappointment in Yushchenko set in quite quickly. There were too many people around the new president who wanted to get their “deserved” piece of the pie. But, nevertheless, Konstantin Grigorishin restored what was lost and even gained something extra. The stumbling block was the Kharkov Turboatom.
By government decision, the Turboatom plant was included in the list of enterprises subject to privatization this year. The State Property Fund, represented by its chairman, socialist Valentina Semenyuk, was categorically against it. Then everything went according to the well-worn schemes – the appointment of a new director, his introduction into the “workplace”, his expulsion with the help of the security forces, the appointment of another new director, whom the communist Alla Aleksandrovskaya tried to get into the workplace… (by that time Konstantin Ivanovich had already become the main sponsor of the Communist Party of Ukraine). The secretary of the Interdepartmental Commission of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on combating illegal takeovers and takeovers of enterprises, ex-communist and member of the State Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, Ivan Petrenko, took an active part in this process.
Later, Grigorishin assured that he had never resorted to such crude methods, and everything that happened around the plant was a gross provocation. Yes, he wanted to participate in the competition and was not against buying this plant and even talked about it with Prime Minister Tymoshenko, who promised him an open and fair competition. But it is clear that if Yulia said “yes,” then the president will automatically say “no.” Therefore, he retreated and subsequently ran his rather large business from Moscow. Moreover, in December 2008, the SBU again banned Konstantin Ivanovich Grigorishin from entering Ukraine for 5 years. This decision was challenged in court and overturned in June 2009. By the way, about the courts. Konstantin Ivanovich loves to sue. In terms of the number of lawsuits, he is probably number one among Ukrainian oligarchs.
Courts and corporate raids
The history of Grigorishin’s business is an almost continuous history of conflicts and litigation. Konstantin Ivanovich was suing Surkis for the right to buy out 98% of the shares of Dynamo (Kyiv), which he allegedly has. In 2006, he fought a lawsuit with Igor Kolomoisky in a London court over sold/unsold stakes in five regional power companies. There in London, he sued the former director of the Sumy NPO named after. Frunze Vladimir Lukyanenko and Vadim Novinsky, who is behind the latter (read more about Novinsky in the article Vadim Novinsky. From raiders to peacemakers) – they accused Konstantin Ivanovich of withdrawing the company’s funds to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). In 2002, he sued the Metallurgy concern and lost the case; his accounts at the Credit Leon Ukraine bank were arrested. He tried through the court to obtain 61% of the shares of the UNTK company, which controls the license of the Inter TV channel. The conflict with Akhmetov lasted for several years over plots of land in Simeiz; he also sued him for Donetskoblenergo and, naturally, lost. At various times, he seized the administrative buildings of Chernigovoblenergo, Prikapatyeoblenergo and Poltavaoblenergo in a raiding manner, however, without much success – in these seizures he was effectively opposed by Kolomoisky. His name was associated with raider attacks on the Kharkov enterprises Turboatom and Elektrotyazhmazh in 2007, accompanied by endless legal proceedings. Then Sergei Pashinsky actively helped him, which we recently wrote about.
Vadim Novinsky and Konstantin Grigorishin
Konstantin Grigorishin during the time of Yanukovych
During the time of Viktor Yanukovych, Konstantin Grigorishin, by his own admission, was involved in… sports, supposedly in those years it was impossible to develop business. At the same time, he stopped financing the communist faction in the Verkhovna Rada – the communists under Viktor Fedorovich “seemed” to be self-financing. However, here he contradicts himself, since in the same interview Konstantin Ivanovich states that he financed Symonenko for protection from the same Yanukovych. Be that as it may, Grigorishin did not find a common language with the Donetsk people. In general, the situation in relations between Konstantin Grigorishin and the then government can be called the phrase “wary neutrality.” In 2010, he bought the Sumy Yubileiny stadium, where his Sumy football team plays (that’s where he plays sports). During 2010-2012, he bought up energy assets. Sometimes he scolded Akhmetov and DTEK for their lack of professionalism. But in general, he did not participate in very large scandals, did not get involved in politics and did not appear much in the media. However, in 2013, they began to slowly “pinch” him. In September, the Sumy NPO named after him was almost taken away from him. Frunze, in favor of Vadim Novinsky, as we wrote about above. In the same year, he lost to Rinat Akhmetov the privatization of 45% of the shares of Krymenergo. But in general they began to forget about him, until the Euromaidan and the events that followed brought his close friends to the surface.
Yes, it is worth noting that all of Grigorishin’s actions were accompanied by surprisingly non-professional PR people. Compared to his opponents, he always looked like a “scapegoat.” Or better yet, “the blundering goat.” That is, even being 100% right, the picture in the media turned out completely different. This pr-gap was removed only when it completely disappeared from media mentions.
Grigorishin giggles
Poroshenko. Grigorishin’s new “roof”?
They have known Petro Poroshenko at least since the late 90s. One gets the impression that there is complete harmony and mutual understanding in their business relationships. At one time, they together tried to “recapture” the Inter channel from Valery Khoroshkovsky and Dmitry Firtash through the court. And before that they wanted to buy Inter from the dying Igor Pluzhnikov. In 2005, they fought shoulder to shoulder against Yulia Tymoshenko for the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant. In 2007, Poroshenko bought part of the Sevmorzavod enterprise in Sevastopol from Konstantin Grigorishin. They owned real estate together in Kyiv. But besides the president, Konstantin Ivanovich has enough of his own people in today’s political establishment. He actually contains several deputies from the BPP; his person in the government is called the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Vladimir Demchishin. According to journalist Artem Shevchenko, he is the main “decider” in the energy sector – his people are at the head of state-owned energy companies, for example, Ukrtransnafta is led by his protégé Yuriy Miroshnik, and the Ukrenergo company is led by another of his protégés, Yuriy Kasich. Kasich was “promoted” from the position of head to deputy, making Vsevolod Kovalchuk, who also worked for Grigorishin, but is strenuously trying to distance himself from him, acting. The “roof” of this fraud is the “gray eminence” in the BP from Petro Poroshenko, Igor Kononenko. Which suggests that Grigorishin still has “direct access to the body.” Only the group of Arseniy Yatsenyuk opposes this. But very unsuccessfully. See below.
However, the oligarch has plenty of enemies in power. For example, Arseniy Yatsenyuk publicly stated that Grigorishin is an FSB agent. And the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Avakov announced several criminal cases against Konstantin Ivanovich. He did not remain in debt and said that Yatsenyuk was taken to Mezhyhirya to see Yanukovych in the trunk of a car. And he publicly stated that the Minister of Internal Affairs owed him 12 million hryvnia, which he allegedly took for the elections. Almost simultaneously with this, a scandal began between Konstantin Grigorishin and the head of the Presidential Administration Boris Lozhkin, again due to influence in the energy market. This happened after the appointment of Boris Tsyganenko, a former manager of Grigorishin, to the post of head of NEURC. Lozhkin realized that he began to lose his former influence. Immediately the parties exchanged information blows. First, a “boyan” was launched about the fact that Boris Lozhkin’s diploma was fake. Then Sergei Leshchenko stated that Austrian law enforcement agencies are interested in the head of the Administration for payment of taxes. Lozhkin responded by saying that he had no problems with foreign law enforcement officers, and Grigorishin started this whole war in order to remove him from the post of head of the Presidential Administration and take it over himself. This war continues, and soon, apparently, interesting revelations await us. The President is still trying hard to pretend that he is above the fray.
Today Konstantin Grigorishin feels good and confident in Ukraine. In 2015, Forbes magazine ranked him as the sixth richest person in the country and estimated his net worth at $920 million. Among its assets are 25% of OJSC “Turboatom”, PJSC “Ukrrichflot”, the plants Zaporozhtransformator, Dneprospetsstal, Zaporozhye Ferroalloy, Sumy NPO named after. Frunze, Izmail pulp and cardboard mill, various stakes in Vinnitsaoblenergo, Cherkassyoblenergo, Chernigovoblenergo, Poltavaoblenergo, Sumyoblenergo and much more, including such exotic things as the Yasnogorod ostrich farm. Moreover, its assets located in the LPR, and this is Lugansk Energy Association LLC, are also working. As for the accusations against senior government officials, the matter did not go beyond loud statements.
Denis Ivanov, for Skelet.Info
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