The topic of the scandalous appointment of a modest American employee, Igor Smelyansky, to the position of General Director of UP should begin with the events that made it possible to hold a competition for this position completely behind closed doors.
In December, without observing the regulatory procedure and public discussion, changes were secretly made to the procedure for the competitive selection of managers of enterprises that are especially important for the economy, which made the work of the selection commissions closed and excluded control from the public and the media. These changes were hidden from the public for two months and were published only just before the competition – in March. All this was done clearly in order to get the right candidates through without any problems.
In addition, the state selection commission was headed by the director of the HR agency Talent Advisors, Alexey Komlichenko, who, as will be shown below, was looking for a job for Smelyansky.
Why did you choose Smelyansky??
Experts analyzed Smelyansky’s competitive proposal in sufficient detail. They did not find specific numbers and indicators in the winner’s program, but highlighted key promises. Smilyansky promised to create a postal bank, reduce staff and the number of directorates, raise tariffs, privatize 25% of the enterprise and sell off excess assets.
Anyone who believes that an absolutely inconspicuous manager with no experience as a head of an enterprise can come from the street, give an absolutely unimpressive presentation and instantly win a competition for the position of head of one of the largest state-owned enterprises in Ukraine is naive. It is obvious that in a closed competition he was chosen not for banal proposals to reduce-create-raise, which hundreds of Ukrainians could implement in this position, but to implement a specific task. But which one?
Creation of a postal bank? Today, no one will allow the creation of another state bank in conditions when the three existing state banks are suffering colossal losses and are about to be privatized. If Smilyansky does not understand this, he is an unsuccessful strategist. If the selection committee did not understand that he is not a strategist, it is clearly incompetent or it was interested in something completely different.
Increasing the profitability of an enterprise by simply raising tariffs and cutting staff is also not the best solution. It is unlikely that it “distinguishes Smilyansky favorably from other competitors.” Regulated tariffs cannot be raised so easily, and their increase may not provide the desired increase in income, since the laws of the market will work and the volume of postal services will fall. If everything were so simple, wouldn’t the current leadership have increased them?
Another trivial proposal by Smelyansky – staff reduction could lead to a social explosion and failure to fully fulfill the functions of the state postal operator, which threatens a serious scandal.
There are still two key proposals from Smelyansky – the privatization of 25% of the enterprise and the sale of “extra” assets. And if all of Smelyansky’s other proposals and his experience did not allow him to apply for the position of general director of Ukrposhta, then in this direction he apparently fully complies with the requirements of the commission.
The fact is that Smelyansky’s previous activities were related to consulting in the field of asset management for various companies – financial, tourism. As a rule, he advised how assets should be absorbed, merged (in the sense of integrated), withdrawn, etc. There is also information on the Internet that Smelyansky specializes in minimizing taxation, including moving capital offshore and issuing fictitious (junk) securities. Of course, such a consultant knows perfectly well how to work with “extra” assets of Ukrposhta. Most likely, it was precisely this knowledge of consultant Smilyansky that the commission considered most necessary.
For these skills, former minister Abromavicius, after the competition, promised Smilyansky an annual salary of 16 million hryvnia per year (the current leader receives about 200 thousand per year). Ukrposhta finished 2015 with a net profit of 41 million hryvnia. This means that in order to justify his salary, Smelyansky will need to increase profits to at least 100 million, which is impossible, especially for a person who does not understand postal technologies and is not familiar with the team. This means that he will “earn” this money on someone else. There is only one other thing – the assets of the enterprise.
Where did Smelyansky come from?
After the commission selected Smilyansky’s candidacy behind closed doors, advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure Alexey Sobolev spilled the beans on March 28 and wrote on his Facebook: “Alexey Komlichenko is a hero who found excellent candidates.”
So, according to Sobolev, Alexey Komlichenko simultaneously acted in two guises: as the director of the HR agency Talent Advisors, he was looking for work for his clients, and as the head of a state commission with a casting vote, he provided them with this work. Of course, there is some corruption visible here, but it is not a hindrance for young technocrats.
This unusual commission, headed by the director of a commercial agency, was created by order of the 1st Deputy Minister of Economic Development Yulia Kovaliv.
Groysman was given a test
But let’s return to the assets of Ukrposhta. Who was so interested in them that it was decided to lawlessly push a specialist in merging assets and moving them offshore to the position of head of Ukrposhta?
On March 28, when the commission decided to employ Smilyansky, Alexey Sobolev posted the entire company on Facebook.
In a post entitled “Groysman’s test,” he writes, “A new head of Ukrposhta has been appointed, it looks like the test has been passed.” and adds “I have hope that the premiership is more important than the post office.”
On April 20, the Cabinet of Ministers approved Smilyansky’s candidacy, and Sobolev wrote: “The new prime minister passed his first test. Yesterday everything was hanging by a thread, but it ended well: today the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a new head of Ukrposhta.” Dragon Capital employees happily like the post of an employee of the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The “Groysman Test” is happily liked by a group of ministry employees and their commercial partners interested in Smilyansky (the list of company members to the right of Sobolev’s entry).
A company is like a company, you say. But no, these people were united not only by the “Groysman test”. In July 2015, in Ukrainska Pravda, political commentator Dmitry Tuzov, in his article “Who is torpedoing transparent competitions?” reported that the Ministry of Infrastructure had created an unofficial system of additional material incentives for civil servants.
A photocopy of the list of payments in envelopes was later made public. Surprisingly, many names in both lists coincide, including Sobolev himself. Those who “fed” this technocratic company can easily be found on the Internet using the search phrase “shadow payments to the Ministry of Infrastructure.”
Ukrposhta assets
As soon as Andrei Pivovarsky, a native of Dragon Capital, headed the Ministry of Infrastructure (read more about Andrei Pivvovarsky in the article Andrei Pivovarsky. Minister of Infrastructure Collapse), he invited “volunteers” from investment companies, mainly from Dragon Capital, to take an inventory of the industry’s assets. They say that they sat with the balance sheets of enterprises on all the window sills of the ministry – and rewrote, rewrote…
“Volunteer” Alexey Sobolev also came from Dragon Capital, who, according to the statement, was paid an additional $2,000 in an envelope for volunteering. By the way, he still works as a volunteer advisor and is most worried about the head of Ukrposhta, arranging tests for the Prime Minister. He addressed a post on Facebook about the “Groysman Test” and his hope that “the premiership will be more important than mail” to his former colleague at Dragon Capital Alexey Furse. Of course, what could be more important for mergers and acquisitions specialists than Ukrposhta during the period when it is necessary to withdraw its “extra” assets?
In general, volunteer Alexey Sobolev suggested how to assemble the “Smilyansky at Ukrposhta” puzzle. The key word is “assets”.
Naturally, the question arises, what is, say, the interest of people from the list in alienating these assets – after all, the “volunteers” do not have the money to acquire them? The answer is simple: firstly, they need to earn “envelopes” from those who have this money, and secondly, when there is alienation, merger and absorption of assets, any investment company hopes to grab its fat piece. That’s why Dragon Capital specialists, who already have all the balances of Ukrposhta in their hands, are nervously asking their volunteers on Facebook when, finally, an understanding person will head the company and start working with assets.
In addition, knowing the habits of investment volunteers, it is possible that they agreed with Smilyansky on a kickback from his multimillion-dollar salary. Judging by the secrecy in which the commission was created and made decisions, it is possible that they chose the one who offered the commission members a 50% kickback – 8 million hryvnia per year. Agree, for the sake of 8 million a year, in our country they could choose the devil, and not just an American asset specialist.
To put the whole puzzle together, it remains to answer the question: will Smelyansky be able to reform Ukrposhta? The answer will be clear and convincing – no. Firstly, because he does not have the necessary knowledge and skills for this. Secondly, judging by who and how the competition in which he was chosen was held, such a task was not even set before him.
Daria Kuznetsova, for SKELET-info
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