Firtash and Kolomoisky will be robbed by the Office of the President
Do the new beneficiaries of the assets of Firtash and Kolomoisky have anti-corruption safeguards?
Just a few days ago, a historical turning point is taking place – Firtash is really being taken away by the flows of oblgas. For how long, time will tell. But what is being taken away is a fact, writes ZN.
So, the state decided to take away from the regional gas companies of Firtash (and a number of other small players) the pipelines through which gas is delivered to the homes of Ukrainians. And transfer them to the operation of LLC Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine, owned by the state-owned Naftogaz of Ukraine. This is formalized by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 1335 of November 25, 2022.
All this is due to the war and deep distrust of the pro-Russian oligarch, from whom blackmail can be expected at any moment. Because they are going to put him in an American prison, therefore it is possible that he will turn off the gas in Ukraine to protect against the United States so that Vladimir Zelensky asks Joe Biden not to touch “our son of a bitch.”
Therefore everything seems to be logical and justified.
But there is one thing.
Regional gas companies have always profited from a simple scheme. For years, they did not pay the state-owned “Operator of the Gas Transportation System of Ukraine” for gas, but collected money for it from consumers. Thus, debts constantly accumulated, which from time to time, as a result of agreements with the authorities, were simply written off. As of today, UAH 17 billion of such debts have accumulated.
The nuance is that oblgas companies have only one option to pay off these debts – to collect money from consumers for the delivery of gas through pipes. And now, when the pipes are taken away from them, they automatically lose even the theoretical opportunity to pay their debts to the state. This means that it becomes a bad debt, and the state will never receive UAH 17 billion and will not be able to spend it on repairing the gas transmission network and other energy security measures.
This decision looks illogical. Because if the goal of the state is to take the pipes away from Firtash away from sin, then why not work to pay off the debt to the state-owned company OGTSU? What difference does it make to the state in which pocket of the state coat the proceeds from gas distribution will be put?
And the difference may be this.
In recent years, OGTSU has been in the focus of attention of international lenders, so now there is not much going around in terms of withdrawing money through tenders.
And the withdrawal of money from the new LLC will be completely opaque. It will not be tendered at all in Prozorro, because our legislators decided this way: if your founder is not a state, but a company owned by the state, then you are not considered a customer in the understanding of the law. And you can buy from whomever you want, whatever you want and how much you want, and not even show your prices. And you can also twist Firtash's schemes, taking into account gas supplies.
So the only thing that can stop is the political will of the first persons of the state, expressed in the attention of law enforcement agencies. Or a controlled and transparent withdrawal of money from the company. Such that the head of LLC “Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine” Denis Mirgorodsky or the head of NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine” Oleksiy Chernyshov, or their roof in the office of President Andriy Yermak, could not even look at these billions without being noticed by Ukraine's international partners and donors.
Lawyer Denis Mirgorodsky (Dynasty law firm) has been appointed Director of OOOshka. He is a very well-known lawyer in Dnipro, he has defended many business stars in local courts, including the companies of Vadim Ermolaev and Igor Nikonov. It looks like he went to the team of the president's office for a new challenge.
Of course, his Dnipro origin gave rise to rumors that Kolomoisky's man was sitting on the oblgas.
But now it looks unlikely. There are already many signs that the toxic oligarch is being squeezed out of Ukrnafta’s flows. After Yermak’s people entered the supervisory board of the company, it was transferred to the Ministry of Defense, and it was decided to dismiss top managers who had been responsible for the enrichment of Kolomoisky for many years – Kartashov, Kusch, Lunev.
Firtash and Kolomoisky will rip off the Office of the President
Also, scratch cards (coupons), Avias fuel cards and the Energy mobile application are no longer valid at Ukrnafta gas stations. These are also parts of Kolomoisky's web around a semi-state company.
Of course, all these things can be rolled back after the victory. To return Kolomoisky's people to management, because they are not imprisoned, but only fired. Return Kolomoisky's cards, because the program at gas stations is not being liquidated, but “temporarily suspended” (this is exactly what the press release of the updated Ukrnafta says). Return the company from the Ministry of Defense to the old shareholders.
That is, it cannot be ruled out that after the war Ukrnafta will be returned at least partially to Kolomoisky “washed and repainted”. That is, with “solved” problems of criminal proceedings and cleared of debt obligations. But at least one thing can be said today: Kolomoisky is losing control of Ukrnafta’s cash flows in the fuel sector right now.
Yuriy Nikolov
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