Key persons of a high-profile scam in the Ukrainian agricultural sector or who is behind Agroinvestgroup

Agroinvestgroup holding is known for its specialization in the cultivation of grains and oilseeds with their subsequent sale on the domestic market of Ukraine and for export, writes Anticorrosive.

Such an official description can be found on the Internet, while it is important to remember that any official description has a real background. In this article, we propose to plunge a little into the history of one of the most high-profile scams in recent years in the agricultural sector of Ukraine, and see where all this will lead us, and most importantly, not where, but to whom.

In 2008, Nikolay Kucherenko created Agroinvestgroup, a conglomerate of agro-industrial companies. By the beginning of 2019, it employed more than 300 people. The company’s land bank was 32,000 hectares, located in the Odessa region, which allowed it to enter the top 55 agricultural enterprises in terms of land bank size and become one of the largest agricultural holdings in southern Ukraine. Thanks to its advantageous position, with access to the largest seaports, the company could save on logistics. The company owned its own fleet of machinery and more than 20 silos.

In late January – early February 2019, there were reports that Agroinvestgroup had ceased to fulfill contracts with its counterparties. The owners and directors failed to meet the obligations, and the staff was fired. After that, the banks said that the agricultural holding stopped fulfilling its financial obligations and went into obscurity. The total debt amounted to about $70 million.

Agroinvestgroup. As the saying goes: “Something went wrong…”

The bankruptcy of one of the key players shook up the agricultural sector throughout Ukraine, at one point leaving many individuals and legal entities in an extremely difficult situation, because the total loss as of 2019 amounted to 200 million US dollars.

What could bring such a giant of the market to this state? The correct answer is not what, but who.

Nikolai Kucherenko and his business partners – Ivan Lefi, Vladimir Bograd, Vasily Kalashnik and a certain Vitaly Masyura, who will turn out to be one of the most interesting “characters” of this story.

A lot has actually been said about all these comrades and what happened. Nikolai Kucherenko himself many times spoke with public statements, where he addressed his partners, who decided to publicly disown him when this situation occurred, and said that they would all have to sit.

So, why should they sit and why are some of the partners still firmly convinced that not everyone will have to sit?

The thing is that the comrades “shareholders” lived very beautifully and deeply in debt for many years. There was no financial planning and accounting, the money was withdrawn from the holding for their own needs according to the scheme “Vitalik, tell Lena that you need money.and beautifully spent on fixed and “necessary” expenses. The most necessary are expensive cars, good rest and purchase seats in political parties.

Gentlemen simply did not like to count, well, or did not want to. Considering that they did not work in a street stall, but managed one of the largest holdings in the south of Ukraine, this looks at least strange, don’t you think?

However, it is at this moment that the most logical question arises: “Did they really manage, or did they just systematically lead to controlled bankruptcy?”

The sphere of influence of the agricultural holding “Agroinvestgroup” includes PJSC “Ilyichevsk Oil and Fat Plant”, LLC “Ilyichevsk Grain Port”, PJSC “Odessa Oil and Fat Plant”.

After analyzing the judicial practice, it becomes crystal clear that the problem with the unprofitability of the agricultural holding did not arise out of the blue, but began to be created artificially since 2016 (our editors suspect that from an even earlier period of time).

PJSC Ilyichevsk Oil and Fat Plant, bankruptcy case No. 916/80/16. By the decision of the Economic Court of the Odessa Region dated October 07, 2021, PJSC “Ilyichevsk Oil and Fat Plant” was declared bankrupt, a liquidation procedure was opened. The legal case began in 2016.

Ilyichevsk Grain Port LLC, bankruptcy case No. 910/18929/16, by the decision of the Economic Court of the city of Kyiv dated October 24, 2016, proceedings were opened on the case, after 8 years no decision was made in this case.

PJSC “Odessa Oil and Fat Plant” bankruptcy case No. 916/4933/15, by the Decree of the Economic Court of Odessa Region dated November 15, 2017, PJSC “Odesa Oil and Fat Plant” was declared bankrupt, a liquidation procedure was opened.

Three cases of bankruptcy of enterprises included in the orbit of influence of Agroivestgroup, which have been dragging on for more than 8 years and someone wants to say that gentlemen “partners” or “non-partners”, as they prefer to call themselves, did not know why they are doing this and are now trying to whom – to sell the “bike”, that we just took the money and that’s it? They didn’t just take money. They took money and implemented a “scheme” so that they could get away with it in the end.

For more than 8 years, the controlled bankruptcy of the three largest enterprises in the Odessa region has been dragging on, and they want to convince someone that the word “controlled” is superfluous here?

After all, for all these 8 years, the key persons of the scam have been earning money. Bankruptcy existed only so that these very persons could continue to live beautifully, while the company’s creditors vainly beat back the thresholds of the Ukrainian judicial and law enforcement system, trying to achieve justice and compensation due to them.

Last, but not least, is to identify the main “conductors” of this process.

Vitaly Masyura. Yes, the one we mentioned at the beginning of the article. The one that rarely appears in the publication in the same text with the case of Agroinvestgroup and the Kucherenko family, the same one that Kucherenko Jr. first mentions in his posts, and then edits them so that Masyura’s surname successfully disappears.

Vitaly Masyura is not just an acting conductor of the process of bankruptcy of the enterprises of the agricultural holding. He is a real “professional” in his field with a great deal of experience, previously with experience in the banking sector, namely with one closed “case” on illegal appropriation $50 million as a top manager of Delta-Bank, put on the wanted list in 2016.

Hiding from Kyiv, changing his activity from a banker to agrarian (a very entertaining career growth), Mr. Masyura moved to the Odessa region and began to oversee the process of bankruptcy of Agroinvestgroup enterprises, in order to hide all those countless violations and abuses that had previously been committed by Kucherenko and Co. and the key goal is to make this process as long and difficult for all its participants as possible, while earning maximum funds along the way.

Vitaliy Masiura is an experienced person who previously withdrew money from banks, having connected to this process, he built it in such a way that, as of today, he actually manages these enterprises, continues to benefit for himself and his close associate Ivan Lefi (yes, the one who was the original partner, non-partner of Kucherenko Sr.). Meanwhile, dozens of creditors continue to be left with nothing, many are still making ends meet in order to close all the obligations that arose against the backdrop of the Agroinvestgroup scam, which many have managed to safely forget about.

Of course, it would be wrong not to say a few words about Ivan Lefi, who, together with Masyura, continue to derive personal benefit and block all litigation at enterprises as much as possible, it would be wrong.

Interesting fact: Ivan Lefi and Vitaly Masiura, among other things, are connected by one bank, namely the previously mentioned Delta-Bank. Only Vitaly, being a top manager, successfully withdrew money from him, and Mr. Lefi, having a substantial amount of credit debts to the bank, successfully managed not to give them back, illegally removed bank property from mortgage collateral and continued to build his own business on other people’s money. Such as Lefi and Masyura eventually led many Ukrainian banks to bankruptcy and the global crisis of the Ukrainian banking system.

I wonder if the modern Ukrainian society and the modern Ukrainian judicial system will once again “crank out such a scam”, only this time in the agricultural sector?

Our editors do not forget, but continue to ask other important questions: “How long will comrades like Masyura, Lefi and the Kucherenko family continue to go unpunished? How long do creditors have to wait for the situation in the courts to get off the ground so that they can legally get what belongs to them, how long do other honest businessmen in the agricultural sector have to sort out the consequences of this situation?”

And of course, the key, last question is “Will everyone really have to sit?”, because it is important to consider that such a long and difficult scheme, which was organized by the main beneficiaries of the entire process, Vitaliy Masyura and Ivan Lefi, covers “high positions” among law enforcement agencies of Ukraine , as well as top officials. We are already preparing material to reveal individual details about these “patrons”.

Mikhail Romanenko

Source