Yatsenyuk said – Yatsenyuk did: he ensured the holding of a meeting of shareholders of the country’s largest oil producing company, PJSC Ukrnafta, and received almost UAH 1.9 billion in dividends for the state stake. At first glance, this tone of news can be regarded as nothing other than a victory for Arseniy Petrovich. But if you look at it, the other side is the winner – the minority shareholder, the Privat group led by Igor Kolomoisky. For the opportunity to receive the money due by law, the prime minister turned a blind eye to the catastrophic situation in the production and finances of Ukrnafta, as well as to outright schemes to rob it. Considering that the company’s management has remained the same, we can assume that the tested schemes will continue to work. Yatsenyuk had to simply agree with this. In modern jargon this is called “draining”.
The operation was carried out according to a template first developed and applied in 2010. And, admittedly, it was implemented brilliantly. Igor Kolomoisky made full use of the eternal need of the government and the next prime minister for money and PR.
There was no confidence in holding the meeting of shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta on October 10 until the last day. The splits that Kolomoisky put Yatsenyuk on allowed him to achieve his desired goals. But first, a few words about the layouts.
Formally, the state owns a controlling stake in Ukrnafta – 50% + 1 share. However, the government does not really take any part in the management of the company, and has not for a very long time. Since 2003, the board has been headed by proteges of the Privat group, which, according to various sources, consolidated from 43% to 48% of Ukrnafta shares. This allows the group to block the holding of a meeting of shareholders, since by law a quorum is required for its holding, i.e. presence of holders of at least 60% of shares.
In the winter of 2010, the residents of Dnepropetrovsk cemented their positions even more strongly, for the first time enchantingly playing on the election needs of politicians. Between the two rounds of the presidential elections, Kolomoisky’s comrades achieved the signing of a shareholder agreement on mutual understanding and cooperation with Naftogaz of Ukraine (which formally manages the state stake in Ukrnafta). According to this document, “private” shareholders received the right to form the board of a PJSC, the competence of which was at the same time significantly expanded. Formally, Naftogaz of Ukraine received a majority in the supervisory board – 6 out of 11 members and the seat of its chairman. However, firstly, the supervisory board is in many ways a “wedding” body, and secondly, minority shareholders only need to enlist the sympathy of one or two members of the supervisory board from the state side – and the majority is already on their side.
The latest example: in 2010, Naftogaz appointed Valentin Franchuk, a long-term manager of Privat enterprises, to the supervisory board. In general, he is known as a classmate and close friend of Igor Palitsa and Alexander Lazorko, the most prominent “oil and gas” chicks from the nest of the Dnepropetrovsk business group. As a token of gratitude for the shareholder agreement, the government of presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko reported a “victory”, i.e. on the distribution of net profit of UAH 5.09 billion for 2006-2008. As we can see, the scenario implemented by Kolomoisky in October 2014 is identical to the 2010 operation, even in terms of the period of accumulation of retained earnings – three years.
But what did Kolomoisky bargain for himself this time? Or what kindness did Yatsenyuk show to the “Privatovites” in order to receive money that already belonged to the state? Let’s start with the fact that the government abandoned its initiative to change the head of the board of Ukrnafta, Peter Van Hecke. Today, everything is clear with the preferences of the Belgian, who started in 2011 as an independent candidate. According to sources in Naftogaz, Mr. Van Hecke has practically not appeared in Ukraine for a couple of years now, running his own football club in his native Belgium. Meanwhile, the official salary of the top manager of the half-state company alone is reportedly $2 million a year.
But the health of the company entrusted to this citizen is much worse, as eloquently evidenced by the financial and production indicators of Ukrnafta over the past three years (see table).
Noteworthy is the fact that against the backdrop of a 10% drop in oil production and a 14% decrease in net income, the net profit figure in 2013 fell 11.5 times compared to 2011. Strange, isn’t it?
As stated in the materials of the special group involved in preparation for the meeting of shareholders of Ukrnafta, PJSC Ukrnafta and its structural division NGDU Poltavanaftogaz carried out in 2012-2014. purchase of geological and thematic works from PJSC “Carpathian Department of Geophysical Works” for a total amount of 2.262 billion UAH… Today, the fiscal service authorities are conducting a pre-trial investigation in a criminal case regarding the transfer of funds to PJSC “Carpathian Department of Geophysical Works” for geological and thematic works in favor of LLC “ BC “Hephaestus Alliance” (subcontractor), which has signs of fictitiousness,” says the note prepared by the department of economic, information, industrial security and risk management of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine.
According to data from other sources, it became known that in 2011-2013. Ukrnafta also received a loss of UAH 1.136 billion from the sale of petroleum products through its network of gas stations. Everything ingenious is simple: the level of gross profit amounted to UAH 568.3 million, which could not cover sales costs in the amount of UAH 1,704.7 million. Wholesale trade in fuel brought another UAH 439 million in losses to Ukrnafta. The secret of success is still simple: sales were carried out at prices lower than the purchase price. For reference: Ukrnafta purchases all petroleum products for wholesale and retail sales from companies within the Privat orbit.
Only the two mentioned “pieces” – fictitious costs and artificial losses – weigh
3.9 billion UAH of Ukrnafta’s income in 2011-2013. But there are still incomprehensible operations with food, ferroalloys, urea, which for some reason Ukrnafta buys from “Privat” companies and subsequently exports to some offshore companies. This also means that 50% of the income is withdrawn from Ukrnafta. Accordingly, the state at the shareholders meeting on October 10 received, at best, half of the actual dividends. It is known for certain that Yatsenyuk was informed about this situation.
“At the general meeting of shareholders on October 10, it is necessary to consider the issue of the effectiveness of managing the financial and economic activities of Ukrnafta, as well as conduct a comprehensive audit. It is necessary to completely change the composition of the board and the supervisory board… The profit results for 2013 should not be approved, the profit for 2013 should not be distributed, an independent audit of financial activities based on the results of 2013 should be appointed,” these were the conclusions and recommendations of the special group involved in preparing for meeting of shareholders of Ukrnafta.
The October 10 meeting is in the past, the issue of 2013 was not raised, Pieter Van Hecke remains in his place. NJSC introduced a new team to the supervisory board headed by its leader – the head of Naftogaz of Ukraine Andrey Kobolev (Read more about him in the article by Andrey Kobolev. An inconspicuous “veteran” of the gas pipe). But they are unlikely to be able to change anything. Especially considering that after the upcoming elections there is a high probability that Nakovo officials will lose their positions, and this will automatically turn them into “carcasses” for buying up their votes in favor of a minority shareholder.
To ensure the final defeat of the conditional enemy, on the eve of the shareholders’ meeting, Igor Valerievich used a new “weapon”. It became known that Ukrnafta refuses to pay rent for oil and gas production, having accumulated a debt of over UAH 1 billion in two months. An excellent example for the country’s taxpayers, whose arms have recently been twisted by the fiscal service for every thousand hryvnia…
Be that as it may, the meeting of shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta took place. As a result, Arseniy Yatsenyuk received only pre-election PR (it is not yet clear when the money will be available; this issue is still controlled by Privat). And Igor Kolomoisky, with his characteristic modesty, received everything: another patriotic PR (he helped the country with its own money), legally received his dividends from Ukrnafta, legalized the “effective” work of his management in 2011-2013, and most importantly, retained all positions in the company. Soon there will probably be a new prime minister and he, too, will be ready to turn a blind eye to everything just to receive the coveted dividends.
Sergey Kuyun, ZN