Evgeny Metsger: husband of the godfather of the president’s friend
To become a successful banker, and then the head of a large state-owned company, in today’s Ukraine you need very little: to be married to the godfather of President Zelensky’s close friend. Together with a savvy mind and lack of moral complexes, this made Evgeny Metzger an important person and a big boor…
The scandalous story of how Metzger ordered physical violence against journalists who came to interview him will haunt him all his life. After all, it’s hard to forget what happened in October 2021, but it looked like “hello” from the distant 90s! How did this very loud scandal begin and how did it end? Now we will tell you about everything in detail and in order.
Evgeny Metzger. An almost “flawless” biography
Metzger Evgeniy Vladimirovich born on November 8, 1977 in Krivoy Rog, in a family of Soviet employees. First he studied at secondary school No. 69, and then moved to the Saksagan Lyceum of Natural Sciences, to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. True, in physics, only formulas were easy for young Zhenya Metzger, but in mathematics he really was an ace! This determined his further choice: in 1995, Metzger entered the Krivoy Rog Technical University at the Faculty of Finance and Credit, graduating in 1999 with honors and a bachelor’s degree (in the army Metzger, like the vast majority of members of the “Ze! Team” , did not serve). But for a master’s degree he went to the Kiev Economic University. Getman, graduating in 2001. An interesting detail: from March of the same year, even before defending his diploma, Evgeny Metzger began working in the Krivoy Rog branch of the Finance and Credit bank (owned by the oligarch Konstantin Zhevago). That is, perhaps he studied economics only by correspondence.
Metzger’s career at Finance and Credit was slow but successful. At first he worked as an economist in the corporate customer service department, and then headed the personal lending department. Since 2003, he headed the department of active operations for individuals, reaching the rank of deputy head of the credit risk department. And in 2006 he transferred to the state-owned Ukreximbank, where for 9 years he grew from deputy head of the retail business sales department to head of the small and medium-sized business department.
Metzger’s official biography describes this period of his activity in a meager line without any details.
Evgeniy Metsger
In May 2015, Metzger transferred to Ukrgasbank and headed the small and medium-sized business department there, and from 2016 to 2020 he was a member of the board and deputy head of the board of Ukrgasbank Kirill Shevchenko. And there are no details about this either – we have before us an almost ideal biography of a successful young specialist! Unless you remember that Kirill Shevchenko, under whose direct leadership Metzger worked at Ukrgasbank, had a reputation first as Yulia Tymoshenko’s man, then as Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s man, and in 2020, Zelensky liked him so much (under the patronage of the “Soros” and corrupt officials), that he appointed him head of the NBU. If you don’t remember what a scam with Terra Bank Shevchenko pulled it off in 2010-2011, cheating investors out of almost forty million dollars. And don’t remember how later Shevchenko and Metzger, already managing Ukrgasbank, pulled off a scam on the purchase of cash-in-transit vehicles, pocketing more than 13 million hryvnia. And, of course, the fact that in October 2022, the former head of the NUB, Kirill Shevchenko, was put on the international wanted list, as were his two former deputies, Elena Khmelko and Denis Chernishova, in the case of the illegal withdrawal of more than 200 million hryvnia from Ukrgasbank .
Kirill Shevchenko
But why didn’t the investigation have any questions for his third deputy, Evgeniy Metzger? Perhaps because the investigators did not dare to touch a person with such connections in the presidential circle. Or perhaps because the investigation selectively paid attention only to individual episodes of the activities of corrupt bankers.
For example, a lot of questions could arise for Kirill Shevchenko regarding various episodes of his activities as head of Ukreximbank and the NBU, amounting to billions of hryvnia. Yes, at least for “green lending”, through which colossal sums went into the hands of energy oligarchs and their patrons on Bankova! But these cases can lead to Zelensky’s circle, which is why they are taboo – and Shevchenko was “punished” for a case in which those people who should not be touched were not involved. Or take the above-mentioned story with the purchase of 54 armored cash-in-transit vehicles by Ukreximbank. The application for them was signed by Metzger himself, everything was done with the consent of Shevchenko, and the third party to this scam was their good friend Vitaly Dzhurinsky, director of the VIDI company. It was through this company, in a scheme that bypassed Prozorro, that the bank purchased 54 Ford cars at a price of 1.5 million hryvnia each. Although similar cars from Volkswagen, Citroen, Renault brands from other companies were much cheaper: from 1 to 1.2 million. The media reported this case in all the detailsbut the matter did not go further than the SBI inspection, which did not see any violations of the law in this.
Evgeniy Metsger, “Green” nepotism and the “sawmill” bank
Skelet.Info does not have the habit of interfering in other people’s family affairs, unless they are related to corruption. And in the case of the Metzger family, it is, as they say, obvious! We’ll start with Elena Kravets, a participant in Kvartal-95 since 1998 and its administrator since 2000. She is not just a famous comedienne, she close friend Vladimir Zelensky and the godfather of his wife Elena Zelenskaya. It is clear that with such “VIP access” to the presidential family, Kravets is a very influential person in Ukraine. And she has another friend from a young age, who has already become the goddaughter of her child – this is Yulia Metzger, the wife of Evgeny Metzger. Thus, through Elena Kravets, the Metzger family has access to the Zelensky family.
Elena Kravets and Yulia Metzger (right)
While the main star of Kvartal-95 was strumming the piano on stage, this connection did not play any role. And Yulia Metzger worked as a lawyer at Ukreximbank, where her husband assigned her. But as soon as Vladimir Zelensky was elected President, all the family and nepotistic connections of his circle began to work to their fullest, and already in July 2019, Yulia Metzger was appointed under the presidential quota to the supervisory board of Privatbank, with a fixed salary of over half a million hryvnia per month !
In November of the same 2019, the new president of Ukraine decided to change the management of Ukreximbank, which has traditionally been the “wallet” of Ukrainian presidents.
And “suddenly” the SBU detained right on the street (they wrote that they simply kidnapped while walking with a small child) its then head, Alexander Gritsenko, who had previously been appointed to this position due to the fact that he is a relative of Petro Poroshenko’s wife. Now the power has changed, and Zelensky decided to put his relative or godfather in Ukreximbank. Initially for this position predicted Julia Metzgerwhich was lobbied by Elena Kravets and Elena Zelenskaya. But something didn’t work out between them, so instead of Yulia Metzger, her husband Evgeny Metzger was appointed head of the bank in March 2020.
Evgeniy Metsger
Under different presidents, Ukreximbank became a key part of schemes for the massive “cutting” of public funds. Their essence is as follows: when there is no more money in the budget, and the appetites of corrupt officials are not satisfied, then funds are allocated for various tenders and projects through loans from state banks, primarily Ukreximbank. Under Zelensky, the biggest “cut” (before the war) was the “Velyke Budivnytstvo” road construction project, nicknamed by the Ukrainians “the great theft.” Who hasn’t warmed their hands on asphalt and gravel, the prices for which were almost doubled! And before Metzger had time to head Ukreximbank, a month later, with the personal approval of Zelensky, he entered into an agreement to provide Ukravtodor with a loan in the amount of 19.3 billion hryvnia in exchange for its bonds. Ukreximbank itself took these funds in the form of refinancing from the National Bank (which was headed by Kirill Shevchenko). In general, that’s how it worked!
Evgeny Metzger. Loan for terrorists and inconvenient questions
But in addition to generous financing of government projects, Ukreximbank is also engaged in lending to private businesses. Here, the essence of corruption schemes is that in Ukreximbank loans are received either by companies that could not get them in other banks, or by companies that do not intend to repay their debts at all. Of course, in both cases the loan is issued either to a “call from above” or in exchange for a kickback.
“Additional conditions” for agreeing on a loan of $60 million (more than 1.5 billion hryvnia), issued by Ukreximbank in October 2021 to Optova Merezha 2011 LLC and Slavian LLC for the purchase of the Sky Mall shopping center, remained unknown. But Evgeny Metzger, who signed the loan agreement for these companies, got burned by something else: their owner is the scandalous businessman Sergei Bryukhovetsky. Which has a business not only in Ukraine, but also in the “uncontrolled territory”, in Gorlovka: these are Gorspetslifit LLC and Spetsremmash LLC. According to Ukrainian laws, Bryukhovetsky is a “sponsor of terrorism” and it was impossible to issue loans to him, but the management of Ukreximbank ignored this fact.
However, a question about this loan was asked to Metzger by journalist Kirill Ovsyany from the “Schemes” program, who with his film crew came to Ukreximbank to interview its head. This unexpected, not pre-agreed press release, and very awkward question infuriated Metzger. And he couldn’t think of anything better than to order the security to forcibly take away the recording of the interview from the journalists! The head of the bank’s press service, Vladimir Pikalov, a former artist of Kvartal-95, assigned to Ukreximbank at Zelensky’s request, also took part in the attack. “Volodya, please knock him out!” – Metzger turned to him, pointing to the operator of the “Schemes” program. However, journalists later managed to restore the recordings and show this outrageous picture to all Ukrainians.
Perhaps, if this were the film crew of some other program, they would only apologize to the journalists. But the Schemes program is broadcast under the logo of Radio Liberty, popularly called “State Department Radio” (which allows them to make bold, incriminating reports). We can say that the scandal has reached the highest international level. Apparently, the West called Zelensky and asked him to punish the idiot banker. On the other hand, Elena Kravets and Elena Zelenskaya asked for him. Therefore, a “Solomon decision” was made: Metzger was fired “of his own free will”, an investigation was conducted against him and a case was opened, he was even briefly placed under overnight (!) house arrest (that is, he was simply ordered to spend the night at home). And it all ended with the fact that, by decision of the most humane in the world, the Goloseevsky District Court of the capital, he was fined 3,400 hryvnia! For a man whose annual salary exceeded 4.5 million, this was not much. This is how this scandal ended for Metzger – although its echo, we repeat, will haunt him for a very long time.
What about a loan? He was given out and mastered, despite the scandal that arose. At the same time, attempts to raise this issue in the Verkhovna Rada, and specifically in the subcommittee on banking issues, were unsuccessful. Including because the head of the subcommittee, Andrey Ivanchuk, is the godfather of Ukreximbank supervisory board member Yuri Terentyev.
“Donkey” for Metzger
After his dismissal, Evgeny Metzger immediately began to actively apply for a new position. On the recommendation of his wife and with the help of her godfather, he began going to Bankovaya for round tables, flashing before the eyes of the president – and his friends and gossips whispered in his ears about Metzger as a “strong crisis manager.” And not only in Zelensky’s ears: Metzger was soon “picked up” by Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko. First she made him her consultant, and then she tried to arrange for him his deputy on working with the banking sector. However, the attempt at this appointment almost caused a stir among journalists. And yet, in the end, Metzger found a worthy use – by appointing him as head of the Ukrfinzhitlo company in November 2022.
This company performs functions similar to Ukreximbank, financing government housing projects. Among the most famous are the promising “eOselya” (preferential housing loans) and “Big Thermal Modernization” (housing insulation). The idea of these projects could only be welcomed, if not for one thing: they are also a wide field for corruption and “cutting” of budget funds. Some will receive contracts for insulation and inflate its cost, while others will illegally receive preferential loans. Everything that Metzger did before will be repeated!
The scale of the future “cut” was eloquently indicated by the rapid filling of Ukrfinzhilye with money, which began immediately after Metzger’s appointment. Its authorized capital was increased to 30 billion hryvnia by issuing bonds at a mind-boggling 19.5%, which in itself looks like a financial scam. And this is only a tenth of the size of the “thermal modernization” program originally planned (even before the war), the budget of which was supposed to be 300 billion hryvnia. But now this company plans to finance programs for the restoration of destroyed housing. One can only imagine what colossal sums will be controlled by a person who, having been convicted of corruption, used violence against journalists!
Mikhail Shpolyansky, Skelet.Info
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