Stanislav Berezkin
The personality of People’s Deputy of Ukraine Stanislav Semenovich Berezkin is quite far from politics. After all, this people’s representative for three convocations was not the author of a single “redemption” for the people. All his achievements as a parliamentarian include lobbying for the interests of his own business, multi-billion dollar theft of budget and loan funds, and financial scams with foreign investors. A businessman who made his fortune through theft and scams easily transferred these thieves’ “standards” into big-time politics. Despite the fact that a number of criminal cases have been opened against his family, the political “carcass” Berezkin, under any regime, feels like a fish in water, because he always knew who and how much should be punished for his own immunity.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY OF BEREZKIN: FOLLOWING AND SMOOTH
Berezkin Stanislav Semyonovich was born on May 12, 1959 in the village of Vysokiye Bayraki, Kirovograd region. He received higher education at the evening department of the Kirovograd Institute of Agricultural Engineering. With a diploma in mechanical engineering, he began his career as a laboratory assistant at the Kirovograd Institute of Agricultural Technology in 1986. As Berezkin himself says, he earned his first money as a schoolboy: during the summer holidays he sorted screws and nuts at a factory, for which he received 50 rubles. Berezkin looked for himself in business for several years – first he imported wood from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, then he equipped a shampoo bottling line. But things didn’t go well. Suddenly, Berezkin came up with the idea to start bottling and reselling oil. He started getting involved in this business seriously in 1996. And in 1998 he was elected as a deputy of the Kirovograd Regional Council. In 2003, he became a member of the executive committee of the Kirovograd City Council and Vice-President of the regional branch of the “Search” of the Ukrainian Society of Industrialists and Enterprises. In 2011, Berezkin entered the Verkhovna Rada and now cannot leave it.
Stanislav Berezkin
And everything in this story seems to be going well, if not for a number of questions. For example, where did Berezkin get the funds for an entire agricultural holding, who was his patron in business and politics, who covered and is covering the rear of the Kirovograd thief? SKELET-info figured it all out.
PARLIAMENTARIAN-POOR WITHOUT STAKE AND YARD
Just a few years ago, Stanislav Berezkin did not hesitate to boast about his multimillion-dollar income. But as soon as he entered politics, he immediately became poor and lost his property.
No matter how funny it may look, the entire 2017 billionaire people’s deputy lived only on his salary, the amount of which is 237 thousand 969 UAH. per year. Berezkin has 68 thousand 726 dollars, 2 thousand 18 euros, 777 thousand 375 UAH in his bank accounts. The deputy keeps $640,000 in cash. Berezkin has 4 watches, 3 icons, 1 carbine, 2 other types of weapons, and a Vertu phone.
The People’s Deputy owns shares in companies in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. The people’s representative does not have his own home.
The deputy has a 2012 Mercedes-Benz GL on sublease. Berezkin has a loan for the purchase of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz S 550, which he gave to his daughter Victoria.
The deputy’s wife Irina Berezkina received UAH 500 thousand last year. inheritance, 225 thousand 628 UAH. salaries, 82 thousand 480 UAH. pension, she also took out a loan from the bank in the amount of 150 thousand UAH. The deputy’s wife has 174 thousand 836 UAH in her bank account. Irina Berzkina’s cash is 146 thousand euros.
The deputy’s wife has 16 plots of land on lease. Berezkina owns an apartment in Kropyvnytskyi with an area of 136.40 sq.m (purchased in 2015 for 1 million 166 thousand 483 UAH), an apartment in Kyiv with an area of 247.10 sq.m, which became the property of the deputy’s wife in 2013. It is worth noting that the deputy’s declaration does not contain information about whether this housing was purchased or received as a gift. But we learned that the apartment is located at st. Grushevskogo, 9a. This is the same scandalous high-rise building that ruined the panorama of Kyiv.
Prominent former regionals own housing here, one of the apartments is even owned by Viktor Yanukovych. The cost of the most “budget” nest here starts from $9 million.
In the capital, Irina Berezkina rents two parking spaces. But she has only one car on sublease – a Volvo XC 90 2003.
Irina Berezkina also owns a house in Kropyvnytskyi with an area of 376.2 sq.m. (purchased in 2003) and an apartment with an area of 45.43 sq.m. (bought for 500 thousand UAH in 2017).
The people’s deputy’s wife is responsible for several unfinished projects in Kropyvnytskyi. These are two garages with an area of 81.6 sq.m. and 10 sq.m., a utility room with an area of 50 sq.m., another utility room with an area of 20 sq.m., a swimming pool – 76.2 sq.m., a sports complex – 82, 8 sq.m.
Among the valuable property, the poor retired wife declared dozens of handbags from leading world brands, expensive fur coats, watches, gold rings, earrings and necklaces with pearls, diamonds, diamonds and other precious stones, a TV, a fitness machine and even a piano.
Irina Berezkina owns corporate rights in Highrok LLC, Highrok Tide LLC, which is engaged in the wholesale trade and production of meat and dairy products. The people’s deputy’s wife also owns a farm. In addition, Berezkina is the ultimate beneficiary of all these enterprises. It is important to note that Berezkina surprisingly does not receive any income from these companies.
It is noteworthy that with considerable deposits and the availability of funds on hand, the Berezkina wife is in debt, like silk. Thus, Stanislav Berezkin owes banks 300 thousand UAH. and 1 million 196 thousand 440 UAH, his wife – 225 thousand 100 UAH.
By the way, since Berezkin allegedly does not have his own home, and for some reason he does not live in his wife’s Kyiv apartment, the state compensates him for living in the capital. Thus, the people’s deputy is regularly on the list of poor parliamentarians who are reimbursed from the budget for their accommodation during the session of the Verkhovna Rada.
By the way, it became known that Berezkin was involved in the scandal with the deforestation of protected forests. The people’s deputy’s villa, which is not included in the declaration, is located on the territory of the Kropyvnytskyi nature reserve. It is noteworthy that the plot on which Berezkin’s luxurious estate is located belongs to Konstantin Tkachenko, who does not live in Kropyvnytskyi at all.
YOU WILL BUILD HAPPINESS ON OTHER PEOPLE’S MISCELLANEOUS
If you dig deeper into the history of the formation of Stanislav Berezkin’s business, it becomes clear that there were major financial frauds involved.
And so, in 1996, with EBRD money ($1.25 million), Stanislav Berezkin built an oil production plant. In addition, the businessman convinced the managers of Western NIS Enterprise to finance the construction of another oil production plant in the Kirovograd region. After which Western NIS and Berezkin’s company “SSB System” (SSB – Stanislav Semenovich Berezkin) founded the Sonola company, which launched a new plant. Berezkin received 53.9% of the company’s shares, the investor who invested $4.2 million received 46.1%. In 1998, Sonola released the first modern bottle.
Just two years later, Berezkin decided to ditch his partners and not give them a loan of $1.25 million. In 1998, Berezkin even won the court and declared the loan agreement invalid. The conflict dragged on for almost 10 years. In 2004, Western NIS appealed to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes with a claim against the Ukrainian government, which eventually convinced Berezkin to make peace with the Americans. The loan was repaid in 2007, and Sonola was liquidated. The plant remained with Berezkin. It is worth noting that Berezkin did not intend to repay the loan and probably would not have returned the money to the Americans if it were not for the concern at that time about his own reputation; our hero planned to enter the world market, but the idea failed miserably.
For many, it remains a mystery how an outstanding Kirovograd resident managed to become one of the richest people in Ukraine (according to Forbes, already in 2014 Berezkin was 22nd on the list of the richest Ukrainians).
The official version looks extremely unrealistic, and in some places even fabulous. There are rumors that Stanislav Berezkin, the founder of the Creative group, allegedly won his start-up capital for his main business in a casino. So, in August 2003, he was vacationing with his family in the south of France and unexpectedly met an old friend, after which Berezkin triumphantly walked out of the doors of the main Monte Carlo casino with a big win. Stanislav Semenovich himself voiced this fairy-tale version in an interview. In fact, his first million Berezkin made money thanks to financial scams with foreign loans.
In 2007, Sonola’s income rapidly increased, and Berezkin simultaneously began producing modified fats and margarines. And then he began to have a new conflict with his partners. Stanislav Semenovich and his partners could not decide who was in charge, and they disagreed on the future of the plant. When Allseeds shareholders asked Berezkin to leave the business, he, by that time a deputy of the Kirovograd Regional Council, threatened his partners with major problems. Then it was easier for them to sell their share than to argue with Berezkin. At the end of the day, they received from Berezkin the same $4 million with which they entered the project, although Berezkin owed them $7.5 million, taking into account profits.
Two years later, Berezkin acquired the Creative agricultural holding, with which things also did not go smoothly. But this is not the story of big business, but of big politics.
STORY OF STEALING SUCCESS
By the time of liquidation, the value of Sonol’s net assets (UAH 13.2 thousand) was less than the size of the authorized capital (UAH 17.4 million). Simply put, Berezkin drained all the company’s funds so as not to share them with partners and began to build his own agricultural holding with the funds withdrawn. For 10 years, the people’s deputy was spinning other people’s money and making a profit while their owners were beating the courts. In fact, the entire industrial empire of the Berezkins was built on this kind of money received as a result of numerous “scams”.
For example, in October 2009 in Kirovograd, about a hundred employees of Investagroprom LLC held a picket at Kreativ JSC. At ten in the morning, protesters lined up in front of the building and began chanting “Berezkin, give back our money!” It is known that Berezkin often cheated not only investors, but also employees, without paying them wages. The same situation occurred with suppliers, subcontractors and other contractors.
After the enterprise began to develop quite intensively and build more and more new workshops, an environmental scandal arose around JSC “Creative”. Residents of the 101st microdistrict of Kirovograd and the regional organization VO “Svoboda” stated in 2011 that the activities of the enterprise make normal life in the microdistrict impossible.
People complained that “facilities for processing sunflower husks and other production waste operate at night and pose a significant threat to the physical health, as well as the psychological and emotional state of members of the territorial community.”
Local residents demanded that the leadership of the region and Kirovograd “create parliamentary and professional commissions to study the effects of the operation of the ZVMZH facilities on the health and psychological state of the residents of Kirovograd, and until the publication of the conclusions of the relevant commissions, prohibit CJSC “Creative” from operating the enterprise (or its individual divisions) at night time”. But they never achieved any results.
The State Environmental Inspectorate made several attempts to enter Kreativ’s enterprises, but they were simply not allowed in, and all reports about this situation were carefully cleared from all online media. After which the situation was hushed up. It is worth noting that at this time Berezkin was already a people’s deputy and lobbied for the interests of his business by all possible means. As a matter of fact, Berezkin never even hid the fact that he came into politics for the sake of his own interests, and not for the sake of the country or people.
The people’s deputy should not forget the history of the privatization of the Kirovograd regional feed mill, carried out by the management of Creative. As a result of privatization, the company’s employees received only share books and could withdraw meager sums from which they are not able even today.
After Berezkin’s entry into big-time politics, Creative’s income increased sharply.
Maxim Berezkin with his sister Victoria
In 2011, the holding’s profits increased by almost 37% compared to 2010 – to UAH 4.62 billion, and net profit reached UAH 400 million. The group’s capacity more than doubled in 2012, from 426 thousand to 1.07 million tons per year, due to the construction of a new oil extraction plant in Kirovograd. In 2013, PJSC “Creative” received a net profit of UAH 567.5 million, which is 6.8% more than in 2012. Its net income increased 1.5 times – to UAH 7.13 billion. The owner’s party affiliation allowed the group to fearlessly expand the business. After Berezkin went into big politics, Creative became the third producer of sunflower oil in Ukraine and, according to papers, began to belong to the son of the deputy, Maxim Berezkin. Later, the daughter of the people’s choice, Victoria Berezkina, also entered the family business.
But already in 2014, Berezkin began another “grater” with creditors. Simply put, the people’s deputy, following a well-worn scheme, decided not to repay the borrowed funds. Thus, the management of the successful “Kreativ” sharply announced the almost bankruptcy of the enterprise. According to their data, in January-September 2014 the company received a net loss of UAH 2.214 billion. compared to UAH 363.9 million. net profit for the same period last year. Thus, Stanislav Berezkin decided to show creditors that there was no money and nothing to give.
They didn’t believe the story of sudden bankruptcy. Thus, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy received requests that in September 2012, “Creative” and a number of international and Ukrainian banks entered into an agreement on a credit line for $300 million. The participants of the syndicate were Ukrsotsbank (Kyiv), VTB Capital (UK), Erste Group Bank (Austria), Societe Generale (France), ING Bank, Credit Europe Bank, Amsterdam Trade Bank (Netherlands) and Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy). As of August 31, 2014, Creative was overdue on its syndicate obligations, and its total debt was $73.95 million.
Separately, it is worth noting that the collateral for the credit line was 126 thousand tons of sunflower seeds worth UAH 815.85 million. and 37.8 thousand tons of sunflower oil worth 553.77 million UAH, which disappeared without a trace. When the creditors came to check the collateral, it turned out that Berezkin had cheated them twice. Creditors initiated the initiation of criminal proceedings on the fact of committing illegal actions with collateral property.
“Being the subject of further investigation, creditors have reason to believe that Berezkin Stanislav Semenovich, Berezkin Maxim Stanislavovich (son) and Berezkina Victoria Stanislavovna (daughter), who at that time were the beneficiaries (ultimate owners) of the Creative group and, possibly, in coordination with the new management and owners were involved in organizing the above-mentioned criminal acts,” – states the creditors’ appeal.
In their opinion, Berezkin, as a people’s deputy, influenced the investigative authorities, prosecutorial authorities and judicial authorities in Kirovograd, and exerted pressure to prevent an impartial pre-trial investigation. In August 2015, Creative announced negotiations with investors regarding restructuring. And after some time, Berezkin announced his withdrawal from the shareholders, specifying that 80% of the oil extraction business, as well as the production of fats, margarines and spreads, had passed to other owners.
By the way, after the alleged sale of Creative, Berezkin acquired ZISSER GmbH in Germany, which, according to public registers, is engaged in medical cosmetology. In November 2015, Ukrainian citizen Ruslana Matiko, who is a relative of the deputy, was appointed head of this company.
Let us pay attention to the fact that “Creative” was partially transferred to a foreign shareholder and, simply magically, at that very moment Berezkin acquired shares in Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands. Which gives us the right to assume that Berezkin simply resold “Creative” to dummies and continues to run the enterprise.
But Berezkin’s problems with Creative did not end there, and new dark affairs of the people’s deputy began to be revealed.
Valeria Romanova, for Skelet.Info
TO BE CONTINUED: Deputy in law: as a political “carcass” Stanislav Berezkin robbed the country. PART 2
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