Borislav Rosenblat. Favorite of the amber mafia. PART 1

Ex-People’s Deputy from the BPP Borislav Rosenblat is a well-known developer and agrarian in Zhitomir. However, many Ukrainians hardly knew him before he became involved in a high-profile corruption scandal: his security guard was detained with a bribe of 200 thousand dollars. And then things started to spiral: a special operation with the FBI, secret agents and sex, lifting immunity, the “Burshtynov mafia.”

So, who is Borislav Rosenblat, who got into a high-profile corruption scandal?

Borislav Rosenblat. Amber for a deputy

Sunstone is massively mined in the Rivne and Zhytomyr regions. Here everything happens in the best gangster traditions – entire clans control the deposits, the workers, the so-called diggers and washers, have a “roof”, and in order for a new person to get into the business, you need to pay a membership fee for each day of work. Rates are announced in dollars, earnings are exorbitant, and bloody skirmishes break out from time to time. Law enforcement officers denied the problem for a long time, but because they took it on, heads rolled.

In July 2016, Ukraine was “struck” by the “Yantar” special operation in the Rivne region to detain the organizers of the “Burshtynov mafia.” Just think: 300 security forces, 123 searches, 160 thousand dollars and Kalashnikovs… It turned out that the criminal group included the first deputy prosecutor of the Rivne region (Andrey Borovik), current and former police and SBU employees, as well as representatives of criminals. Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and SBU head Vasily Gritsak personally came to detain them, and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted a traditional photo report on Facebook.

It would seem that such an operation should cause a stir, and those responsible should be punished. As a result, a year later almost all of the detainees were released. Two completely logical questions arise: who is digging amber today and who is protecting them?

June 19, 2017. Elite metropolitan restaurant “Three Forks” in the city center on Vladimirskaya Street. Here, employees of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau detained the security guard of the people’s deputy from the BPP, Borislav Rosenblat, on suspicion of taking a bribe. They found 200 thousand dollars in his possession, which were allegedly intended for Rosenblatt himself and another official. The people’s deputy from the BPP immediately disowned the money, saying that this was the machinations of “enemies” who were taking revenge for his activities in legalizing amber mining, or more precisely, for writing a law that would allow him to restore order in the chaotic industry.

NABU Director Artem Sytnik undertook to explain the situation. According to him, for the first time the anti-corruption bureau teamed up with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct an “amber operation.” It meant the exposure of a criminal scheme for the extraction of valuable stones, in which people’s deputies Borislav Rosenblat and Maxim Polyakov from the Popular Front were involved.

Representatives of NABU and SAPO “led” the officials for about a year. An undercover agent, Ekaterina, with whom Rosenblatt, it seems, even had an intimate relationship, took part in the special operation. Skelet.Info tells the details of the operation, like something out of a movie.

Episode No. 1. Underground plan

In September 2016, the head of the secretariat of the inter-factional parliamentary association “Deputy Control” Vadim Rudenko asked Maxim Polyakov for a “favor”. We need to help the foreign company Fujairah, which would like to mine amber in Ukraine. The representative of the company was Ekaterina, a businesswoman from the UAE. She stated that the company is ready to invest in legal mining and legal export of amber. Polyakov was required to make changes to the legislation. After some time, the fish bit and Ekaterina received a call from Tatyana, who introduced herself as Polyakov’s assistant. She said the deputy was ready to help. He can amend the draft law “On the extraction and sale of amber” (registered in the Verkhovna Rada on December 26, 2014), authored by Borislav Rosenblat.

Episode No. 2. Conspiracy of people’s deputies

Polyakov turns to Rosenblatt and talks about “profitable” cooperation. People’s deputies decide not to make amendments, but to register two new bills. They become the initiators of bills No. 5436 “On amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine” (regarding the specifics of taxation of activities related to the extraction of amber) and No. 5437 “On amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine” (regarding the exemption from taxation of operations for the import of equipment into the territory of Ukraine for industrial extraction of amber). Thanks to these documents, if adopted, the rent for amber mining would be reduced from 25 to 5%.

For the “initiative” on the bills, Catherine paid Rosenblatt and Polyakov $7.5 thousand each. The money was transferred exclusively through intermediaries – Polyakov’s assistant Tatyana and security guard Rosenblat.

Episode No. 3. An unexpected climax

In November 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution according to which it organized a pilot project for the reclamation of forest lands in the Zhytomyr and Rivne regions disturbed due to illegal amber mining. In February 2017, the resolution came into force.

Borislav Rosenblat quickly got his bearings. He suggested that Catherine not wait for the consideration of the bills introduced by him and Polyakov in the Rada, but to create a new company in Ukraine. The newly created company would engage in stone mining through a subsidiary of Ukrburshtin – OJSC State Joint-Stock Company Ukrainian Polymetals. The agent agrees and Ukrtehdobych LLC is registered on January 28, 2017. The People’s Deputy promised the “business lady” to sign a 5-year contract between the company and the state enterprise responsible for the pilot project for land reclamation. According to Rosenblatt’s idea, 60% of the amber was given to the state, and 40% remained at the enterprise. The company would sell part of the stone through an intermediary at a price close to the market price in Arab countries. The money would be divided equally, but it would end up in an offshore zone. The people’s deputy instructed Ekaterina to create a company in the United States, the founder of which was his sister Elena, a deputy of the Novograd-Volynsky district council.

In March 2017, the State Forestry Agency allocated forest land for amber extraction. However, it turns out that these lands already have owners with special permits and potential “burshtyn” diggers. But Borislav is not at a loss; he assures Catherine that he can influence the prosecutor’s office and judges by extracting from them permission to use the subsoil of this land. Naturally, in the future he will transfer the permit to a foreign company from the UAE.

The deputy was unable to conclude an agreement between the newly formed Ukrtechdobych LLC and the State Enterprise Ukrburshtin of the Ukrainian Polymetals State Joint Stock Company, so he offered Ekaterina a so-called turnkey project. The company must purchase 30 hectares of state land and a permit to use subsoil. Rosenblat was responsible for all the “technical issues” – bribery of government services. For “services” he demanded 285 thousand dollars – 85 thousand were previously handed over to the guards, and the remaining 200 thousand became ill-fated.

Episode No. 4. Summing up

From November 2016 to June 2017, agent Ekaterina gave six bribes to deputies in the amount of 311 thousand dollars. NABU even drew up a scheme for a tranche of money. It is noted that all money flows are connected to Rosenblatt.

– 10 and 20 thousand dollars went to officials of the State Forestry Agency and the State GeoCadastre for the “correct” decision – to extract amber under the guise of land reclamation;

– 55 thousand dollars for employees of the prosecutor’s office to obtain permission to use subsoil;

– 200 thousand dollars – for licenses for the extraction of amber from the State Geological Fund for Ukrtehdobych LLC.

Episode No. 5 What’s left behind the scenes

After the details of the case were disclosed, information appeared online that the relationship between Borislav Rosenblat and Ekaterina’s agent went beyond business. The girl entered into a sexual relationship with the people’s deputy. Allegedly, NABU has an intimate video at its disposal. Political strategist Taras Berezovets stated this on Channel 5.

In turn, Rosenblat neither denied nor confirmed this information. Although he later added “There was no intimacy.”

And then things began to unfold according to the well-trodden pattern: the Prosecutor General’s Office approached the Verkhovna Rada with a proposal for permission to prosecute Borislav Rosenblat. The people’s deputy himself spoke in front of his colleagues and asked to remove his immunity so that he could “defend his honor in court.” The deputies thought and said “yes” to Rosenblatt 296.

But the most interesting thing is that the officials did not give permission for his detention and arrest. 183 officials were in favor of the arrest, but only 181 agreed to the arrest.

Episode #6 Not yet an epilogue

Soon the case was sent to the Solomensky Court of the capital, which assigned Rosenblat a bail of 7 million hryvnia, and also ordered him to wear an electronic bracelet, surrender his international passports, and not leave Kyiv and Zhitomir without permission.

In the courtroom, the accused sadly stated that he did not have the money to pay bail. However, after a couple of days they were found. The people’s deputy’s freedom was bought by his sister Elena. Exactly the one to which the offshore company in the USA was registered. Interesting fact: the day before, a relative borrowed 6.9 million hryvnia from the parliamentarian’s wife Zhanna. True, this fact immediately brought into declaration. In particular, on July 28, Elena received a loan of 4.4 million hryvnia, and on August 3 – 2.5 million hryvnia. At the same time, the people’s deputy’s sister received a gift from her brother – half of a house in the Zhytomyr region, which had already been arrested by court decision.

The cost of the present is 98.5 thousand hryvnia.

Once free, Rosenblat first went to one of the most expensive restaurants in Kyiv, “Caravan,” which, by the way, is located just 1 km from the building of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Visitors to the establishment noticed him. There, the people’s deputy smoked a hookah, drank wine and had a pleasant conversation with his long-legged companion.

Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Info

CONTINUATION: Borislav Rosenblat. Favorite of the amber mafia. PART 2

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