Igor Shkirya: how to steal from your country and come to an agreement with Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). PART 1
Why do Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, which arrest “anti-Ukrainian bloggers” almost every day, turn a blind eye to the real accomplices of the separatists and sponsors of the Russian occupiers? Who, moreover, robbed the Ukrainian budget and state property for years, but instead of a term received a parliamentary mandate and the regalia of “successful businessmen.” Maybe because they keep sharing with the right people? Parsed by Skelet.Info.
On December 23, 2016, at a meeting of the Toretsk City Council, in which MP Igor Shkirya took part, a scandal involving a brawl occurred – which, thanks to the media, received wide resonance. The “pro-Ukrainian activist” Irina Kirikova, the chairman of the Public Council at the Donetsk Regional State Administration, who arrived at the meeting, jumped onto the stage of the presidium and tried to throw red paint on Shkirya, who was there, simultaneously shouting accusations at him of aiding the separatists and starting a war in the region. Then a complete mess began: deputies of the city council and “titushki” who had materialized from nowhere stood behind Shkirya, and her fellow “activists” stood behind Kirikova, and practically the sides went wall to wall.
Of course, one could not pay much attention to all this: just think, another clash between national patriots and regionalists, eternal political opponents – unfortunately, not the last! It would be possible, if not for two big “buts”. Firstly, during this conflict, one of Shkiri’s supporters, Irina Zavgorodnyaya, a local businesswoman (business lawyer), forgot about self-censorship and began shouting out what, obviously, had always been on her tongue. Some of the epithets she used were simply obscene, and phrases like “Ukraine is not a country, Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism) is a country” looked like enemy propaganda. However, there is no information that the relevant authorities even asked Zavgorodnya clarifying questions – it seems that she simply got away with it again. Again, because, according to witnesses, in 2014 Zavgorodnyaya participated in organizing a separatist referendum – and did not suffer any punishment for this. One of the sources even hinted that Zavgorodnya has “old acquaintances” in the SBU and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Secondly, despite the shocking behavior of Irina Kirikova (who openly disgraced the image of the “pro-Ukrainian activist”), her accusations were not at all in vain. Moreover, Kirikova did not voice even a tenth of those “feats” that follow Igor Shkirey like a long trail of scandals.
Dark 90s: shadows of the Donetsk massacre
Igor Nikolaevich Shkirya was born on August 20 in the village of Novgorodskoye, Donetsk region (called New York until 1951), which since the 70s has been administratively part of the city council of Dzerzhinsk (now Toretsk), being its suburb. At the same time, the village is equidistant from nearby Gorlovka, and the life and vigorous activity of Igor Shkiri is closely connected with these two cities.
After finishing eight grades, in 1980-84. Shkirya studied at the Dzerzhinsky Mining College, then served in the army (GSV in the GDR), after which he entered the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1989 with a diploma in mining engineering. However, even high miner’s earnings did not entice Shkirya to work in his specialty – he wanted much more at once. And so in 1990, the Ilitash software appeared, which Shkirya allegedly created with his fellow classmates (today he owns 99.52% of the enterprise). And then, according to the official biography of Igor Shkiri, he allegedly earned his first capital by selling Citizen calculators, bringing them to Donetsk from Moscow. In this beautiful story (almost “bought an apple, washed it, sold it”) Shkirya did not say much. For example, about who and how helped him organize the sale of office equipment to government agencies and enterprises in Donetsk and Gorlovka, who bought them by bank transfer at government expense. And when Shkirya recalled with sighs that his first commercial experience brought him a bill from the state for the payment of 80% tax on profits, after which he decided to “optimize taxes” in the future, he also remained silent about how exactly he did it. However, it is known that Igor Shkiri’s enterprises do not like to pay taxes to the state as well as salaries to their employees.
With the exception of a few broken lines, the dashing 90s are a gaping black void in the biography of Igor Shkiri. Here he is selling calculators, here he is in 1997 becoming a deputy of the Donetsk City Council and at the same time vice-president of the Shakhtar basketball club – and nothing more! Amazing modesty for a man who loves to boast about his achievements. Or does he have something to hide? It seems so, but despite his carefully cleaned up past, Shkirya still left enough imprints on it, which is still the subject of many rumors. For example, related to BC Shakhtar.
This club was famous Skelet.Info since Soviet times, and in the early 90s he was taken under the wing of businessman Alexander Shvedchenko (nickname “Schved”), who became the president of BC Shakhtar. Already forgotten today, in the mid-90s Shvedchenko was a very large figure in the “shadow economy” of Donetsk, and he was distinguished by business ties with a variety of, sometimes warring, factions (which was his undoing). According to information from the media, Shvedchenko was part of the Bragin-Akhmetov group, and had a common business with them in the enterprises of the Central Market of Donetsk – in particular in Scandin-Yug CJSC, one of the divisions of Yug LLC, which was owned by Akhmetov’s close friend Sergei Roman, but managed Boris Kolesnikov. But on the other hand, the independent Shvedchenko (he is the only one from Bragin’s organized crime group who allowed himself to openly love basketball, not football) was very close to Yevgeny Shcherban, they even had a common business. Considering that since 1989 Shcherban and Bragin also had some common business, this was not surprising. But in 1995, Bragin was killed, and the relationship between Akhmetov and Shcherban began to become complicated. And Skelet.Info There is information that it was Shcherban who persuaded Shvedchenko to head the Ukrainian branch of the Russian company Itera, which was engaged in gas supplies to Ukraine. However, this ran counter to the interests of competitors: both “UESU” Lazarenko and Tymoshenko, and the “Industrial Union of Donbass” Sergei Taruta And Vitaly Gaidukat that moment became Akhmetov’s business partners. And on March 25, 1996, just three weeks after Shvedchenko headed Itera-Ukraine and began concluding contracts, he was killed. And six months later, Yevgeny Shcherban was also killed. And although these contract killings were later “pinned” on Pavel Lazarenko, many said that the monstrous massacre of 1995-97. in the Donetsk region was also beneficial to Akhmetov, who then took over a lot of the capital and schemes of the victims.
Akhmetov’s entourage also profited from this, many received their shares – even those who did not have it before (like Boris Kolesnikov, who became a co-owner of Yug LLC in 1996). And now a logical question arises: if the property of the murdered Shvedchenko was divided between the Akhmetovites, and the Shakhtar basketball club was part of this inheritance, then what did Igor Shkirya have to do with all this? Undoubtedly, he had some, otherwise he would have gotten the ears of a donkey, and not Shakhtar: according to sources Skelet.Infobeing listed as the vice-president of the club, Shkirya was its financial manager. It is curious that all information about the activities of the club since 1997 seems to have been erased (although publications about it dating back to the 80s have been preserved); even the name of its next president has disappeared from all sources – if there was one at all. After all, its vice president also handled the financial activities of BC Shakhtar very well! And, starting in 1997, Shakhtar began to wither: the new owners stopped developing it as a sports club (players began to leave it, it stopped winning championships), but they began to use its preferential status as a sports institution in tax evasion and refund schemes VAT. This lasted three years, after which BC Shakhtar practically died, and in 2002 it officially ceased to exist. Only in 2006, several of his former players created a new basketball club under the new name “Donetsk”.
But by this time, Igor Shkirya had already become a respectable businessman and was elected to the Verkhovna Rada for the first time (from the “For EdU” bloc), where he then moved to the “Regions of Ukraine” faction.
Igor Shkirya: raider-savior
The acquisition of a deputy mandate brought Igor Shkirya out of the shadow economy: already in 2002, he introduced himself as the owner of PA Ilitash LLC and the subsidiary travel company Ilitash-Tour. True, he never clarified whether he really made his first million (and subsequent ones) from selling trips, and what he actually did in the 90s. Igor Shkiryu was always distinguished by his reluctance to answer pointed questions from journalists: he immediately interrupted the interview and either ran away or began to be rude.
A year has passed, and the name of Igor Shkiri, who lives on who knows what luxuries, has already begun to sound in a new way: now he has joined the ranks of the industrial oligarchs of Ukraine, although only of the “second guild”. It was then that he took over his first large facility – the Mironovsky Reinforced Concrete Structures Plant (ZBC). This enterprise in the village of Mironovsky (near Debaltsevo) specialized in the production of reinforced concrete supports for power lines – a very specific product. According to available Skelet.Info information, Shkirya agreed on its sale long after the acquisition of the plant: here his friendship with Rinat Akhmetov, who is actively privatizing oblenergos, and parliamentary connections with government officials from the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Transport came in handy. And then Mironovsky ZhBK (JSC of the labor collective) was seized according to the standard Donetsk “privatization” scheme: first, the Ilitash company began to provide the enterprise with “toll” raw materials and at the same time took control over the sales of products, which brought the plant to ruin, then shares were bought up in The shareholders included the people of Shkiri, and in 2003 they created the Beton Nova CJSC at the plant, into whose ownership all the main production capacities were transferred. Well, in the end, the owner of Beton Nova became the Ilitash company. In 2006, according to the same scheme, the Donetsk reinforced concrete construction complex became the property of Shkiri, which was seized through the creation of Central Stroy LLC. These two enterprises became the basis of Shkiri’s new, now public business – although it was involved in corruption, it was no longer hidden from everyone, like his dark affairs of the 90s. Moreover, already in 2005, the Ukrainian “king of reinforced concrete pillars” entered the Russian market, where he opened its branches: first Beton Nova OJSC, then Beton Nova Trading House.
It is very interesting that Igor Shkirya not only justified his raider takeovers of enterprises and facilities as completely legal and transparent acquisitions, but also claimed that by doing this he “saved them from death and being stolen away.” Apparently, Shkirya became so into the image of an “effective owner” that he began to sing his own praises.
Igor Shkirya diligently took into his hands everything that was “badly laid out,” that is, did not have a sufficiently significant “roof” to scare off raiders. So, in 2007, his company “Ilitash” arranged the seizure of a five-story office building (typical Soviet construction) in Donetsk at 7, Fallen Kommunary Avenue. At that time, the building was owned by OJSC “Don-InformCenter” (an enterprise created by former employees of the former institution, when then worked in this building), renting out most of the premises to various companies. Shkirya decided that it would be nice to receive this rent himself – and began a classic raider attack, first introducing his own people into the shareholders of Don-InformCenter OJSC, then arranging an additional issue of shares (25 times!), eroding the controlling stake of the main owners OJSC and taking the enterprise into its own ownership.
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Don-InformCenter building captured by Shkirey
But the scandal surrounding the Marat sanatorium (the village of Gaspra, Yalta) received the loudest publicity. This medical institution has been operating in Crimea since the times of the Russian Empire (since 1922 it was nationalized and named after the French revolutionary), it has been rebuilt more than once during its history, and in 1970 multi-storey residential buildings, a large swimming pool, and a club-dining room were erected there . The sanatorium was located on 15 hectares, including the beach and the famous Chair Park. Of course, such a tasty piece of resort real estate could not remain “nobody’s” for long. The first to try to privatize the sanatorium was Gennady Petrenko, a businessman from Dnepropetrovsk, appointed director of the sanatorium in 2001. To do this, he created the Marat Medical Complex LLC, to which he gradually began to transfer ownership of objects and territory. However, in 2004, Igor Shkirya appeared in Marat. Numerous sources Skelet.Info they claim that the way to the sanatorium was shown to him by Vasily Khara, the then head of the Donetsk Regional Trade Union Council and people’s deputy, who from the Communist Party of Ukraine defected to the “Regions of Ukraine” and became friends there with Igor Shkirey. Khara explained to Shkira what needed to be done.
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Vasily Khara
Petrenko’s mistake was that he first privatized the sanatorium as an institution, and then only tried to take over its land – which was challenged in court, not without the participation of the people of Shkiri. At the same time, Shkirya created his own LLC “Park Hotel “Marat” (owner – the company “Ilitash-Tour”), which entered the sanatorium first on a lease basis from the Petrenko company. However, in 2006, when an “anti-crisis location” was created in the Rada, and Yanukovych headed the government, not without the efforts of Shkiri and his connections, the actions of director Petrenko were recognized as violating the law, he went on the run – and the sanatorium fell into the possession of Shkiri’s company . Which, first of all, began to eliminate competitors – that is, those who privatized or leased part of the sanatorium during Petrenko’s directorship. Among them were very famous and influential people (for example, Anatoly Kashpirovsky) who did not give up theirs without a fight – so the war dragged on until 2010. Shkirya called this process “returning stolen property to the sanatorium” (again he presented himself as a benefactor and savior), but he kept silent about the fact that the owner of the sanatorium is now his company Park Hotel Marat LLC. It is curious that during the seizure of the sanatorium, Shkirya used decisions of the district and city courts of Donetsk! It turned out that the company “Park Hotel “Marat” was registered in Donetsk, that is, it did not even pay local taxes! Moreover, in 2011, employees of sanatoriums in Yalta and surrounding villages sent a letter to President Yanukovych, calling on him to stop the corrupt activities of Shkiri and Khara, who created “dubious schemes for selling vouchers.” As a result of this complaint, a criminal case was even opened, and Vasily Khare “got it in the nuts” – but Shkirya got out of it!
At the same time, Shkirya began a war with the local residents of the village of Gaspra: first, literally tearing out plots of land from communal property, and then organizing a real blockade of the village! For passage through the territory of the sanatorium, Shkirya demanded 150 hryvnia per person per month from the Gasprovites, then he began to bill them for the fact that communications (water supply, electricity) pass through the territory of the sanatorium to the village. In response, the Gazprovites even tried to bill Shkira for the fact that the sanatorium’s sewage system passes through their village! This conflict has long been an inexhaustible topic for journalists, and they also learned from local residents many interesting details about Shkir and his business methods.
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Igor Shkirya: how to steal from your country and come to an agreement with Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). PART 1
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Igor Shkirya: how to steal from your country and come to an agreement with Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). PART 1
This war has not stopped to this day, now in Russian Crimea. Here it must be emphasized that in 2014, Igor Shkirya re-registered Park Hotel Marat LLC under Russian law, now with Crimean “registration” – and his company pays taxes to the Russian budget. At the same time, Shkirya feels as confident in Crimea as he did before 2014 – and even threatens the residents of Gaspra that soon he “will be the master here everywhere.” It is also interesting that Shkira managed to safely avoid the wave of “great Crimean nationalization” that swept across the peninsula in 2015-2016 – although its neighbors (for example, the Dnepr sanatorium) were expropriated.
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Igor Shkiri’s car at the Marat site
Moreover, Shkirya has been regularly visiting Crimea for the last two years: either looking after business, or relaxing in her own sanatorium. His Audi car (number AA 3344 OA) is often seen at the Marat site, and local residents sometimes bother to see Shkirya himself, threatening them with heavenly punishments.
However, Shkirya does not want to tell journalists why the People’s Deputy of Ukraine regularly visits occupied Crimea and how he managed to negotiate the inviolability of his business with the Crimean authorities.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info
CONTINUATION: Igor Shkirya: how to steal from your country and come to an agreement with Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). PART 2
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