Alexey Vadatursky
On August 21, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced that it would provide a loan to the Ukrainian agricultural company Nibulon.. In this regard, the name of the billionaire, the richest man in our country and Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Vadatursky has surfaced. In narrow circles, he has been nicknamed the Kolkhoz Billionaire. For what merits does the largest of the world structures give money to a private Ukrainian company? And how did this billionaire earn his billions?
Oleksiy Vadatursky is not a public person. He does not like to give interviews, does not appear at receptions and parties, does not shout about his patronage of the arts, does not open art centers and does not support football teams. Although he could afford it. He is the owner of one of the most successful agricultural companies called Nibulon. This company has 45 branches in different regions of Ukraine, its own cargo fleet. The company controls about 70,000 hectares of land, and the export potential of Nibulon’s grain is estimated at 4-5 million tons, and reaches 20% of Ukraine’s grain exports. But, apparently, Oleksiy Afanasievich has reasons “to keep a low profile.” Or maybe he is just a very modest person?
It is hardly possible to call a man modest who received the following orders: Hero of Ukraine and Vladimir, as well as a bunch of Certificates of Honor and various “Golden Mercurys” and “Best Leaders”. According to some sources, in 1970 he was recruited by the KGB and had the nickname “Pakhtakor”. There is no direct evidence of this; in the nineties, documents tended to disappear. But the fact is that in the same nineties he combined the management of the then relatively small firm Nibulon and the post of deputy chairman of the Nikolaev regional department of grain products. That is, he did not just have his own man in the agricultural establishment who could lobby his interests. He himself was this “own man”. This is the dream of any businessman making a gesheft on the privatization of collective farm property.
In the mid-90s, apparently, the need for personal presence in government agencies disappeared. Most likely, this is connected with the appointment of Nikolay Kruglov first to the post of deputy head of the Nikolaev regional executive committee, and then to the post of governor of the Nikolaev region. Vadatursky never denied his connection with him. And the first enterprise privatized by Alexey Afanasievich was a collective farm in the village of Lidievka. It was brought to bankruptcy and seized for debts. Later, the company absorbed about a dozen more similar collective farms. It is clear that without the help or at least the tacit consent of the governor, such “operations” are not possible.
Nikolay Kruglov
In addition, it was Kruglov who helped Vadatursky acquire 7 hectares of land in the Nikolaev SEZ. The lease of the sea area was added to this. A terminal with two grain storage facilities was built. And Nibulon’s own personal customs office was opened on the territory of the terminal. Thus, Vadatursky built his own scheme – grain grown in the collective farms privatized by him, having tax benefits in the SEZ, went abroad through his terminal and his customs office. It is no wonder that in 2012, Alexey Afanasyevich entered the “Golden Hundred” of the Korrespondent magazine and took 14th place in it.
Not long ago, Vadatursky carried out the bankruptcy procedure with the Nikolaev port. He signed an agreement with it to load his vessel. The vessel was unable to enter the port due to draft. The port director offered reasonable solutions – to load the vessel at anchor or at another berth. But Alexey Afanasyevich was not interested in the ship, but in the entire port. The port tried to fight back, even carrying out dredging operations for 12 million hryvnia. But this did not save it: through the Antimonopoly Committee and the Kyiv Commercial Court, Nibulon demanded 120 million hryvnia from the Nikolaev port to compensate for its “losses”. And this, in fact, is the bankruptcy of the port. And it is clear to whom it will pass, and most likely, management has already passed.
Until 2010, Nibulon somehow happily avoided any inspections. Perhaps, the officials trusted Alexey Afanasyevich too much. Or maybe it was the powerful Kiev lobby. Vadatursky generally likes to deal with national-conscious politicians. He is friends with Anatoly Matviyenko, and he received the title Hero of Ukraine from the hands of Viktor Yushchenko. When the “Donetsk guys” came to power, Alexey Vadatursky started having problems. They tried to take Nibulon away from him in favor of the then all-powerful Yuriy Ivanyushchenko. And there was a reason for it. The fact is that the company used the so-called “Dutch sandwich” to evade taxes – money was transferred to Holland, and from there to the offshore Antilles. In addition, the company shipped grain without the appropriate certificates, the grain was not checked at all, not even for GMO content. It was stored in a common heap, without division into classes. In 2010, the “free ride” ended, and Nibulon was taken over by the competent authorities, including the SBU.
But the dominance of the “regionals” did not last long. And after Euromaidan, Alexey Afanasyevich, apparently realizing the transience and changeability of life, “sponsored” checkpoints and volunteer territorial battalions in his native Mykolaiv region. He even promised a reward for Russian saboteurs. In general, he behaved like Kolomoisky, only he did not advertise much and did not hold the governor’s position.
Andrey Vadatursky
Today, the people in power are the “right” ones for Alexey Afanasievich. His son, Andrey, who owns 20% of Nibulon shares, is a people’s deputy and is part of the presidential bloc. This means that in the near and medium term, the affairs of Vadatursky and his company will go uphill. Apparently, this is what they understood at the European Bank and, having calculated the benefits, gave money to this non-public enterprise with a dark past. Well, the Europeans will most likely get their profit from this enterprise, and money, as they say, does not stink.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info