Yuri Prodan
Three candidates are allegedly being considered for the post of Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, namely: Kuzhel, Dubil and Yuriy Prodan. But the first two candidates are apparently fake, for the sake of quantity and appearance of choice. With a high degree of probability, Yuri Prodan will become minister.
Scandals with charter flights and a pipe visible from the window undermined the position of Minister of Ecology Igor Shevchenko. And although no one was able to charge him with serious corruption or major theft of public funds, a small scandal on Facebook allowed the Cabinet of Ministers to raise the question of his resignation. Who will be the new Minister of Environment?
Deputy Sergei Sobolev from Batkivshchyna has already stated that his faction, firstly, will vote for the resignation of the Minister of Ecology, and secondly, will vote for a real professional to sit in this chair, “for example, the same Prodan,” the people’s unequivocally hinted deputy He is echoed by MP from the BPP Igor Kononenko, who claims that if the Batkivshchyna faction introduces its candidacy, priority will be given to it. This means that the majority agreed to give this rather lucrative position to Yulia Tymoshenko’s team. And this, in turn, means that Yuri Prodan is almost a minister.
Why is the position of Minister of Environment one of the most lucrative in the Cabinet of Ministers? In our country, environmentalists are considered such blessed unmercenaries, like “Greenpeace” or “greens”. In fact, the full title of this position is Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. And if the first part of the post, the one where there is the word “ecology”, says that this minister is in charge of Kyoto money, Chernobyl funds, and other foreign grants, from which you can live quite well, then the second part of the post, the one where it sounds the phrase “natural resources” is a real Klondike. These are licenses for deforestation, use of water resources, coastal zones and a number of land resources. And most importantly, it is this minister who gives permission for the use of subsoil and the extraction of minerals. For example, oil and gas. And the fact that 42 kilograms of gold and 4.8 million dollars were found in the office of the Minister of Ecology of the times of Yanukovych, Eduard Stavitsky, which he simply forgot when he ran away, also says a lot.
So, who will steer this large and rich economy? Yuri Vasilievich Sold. He was a minister twice. Once in the government of Yulia Tymoshenko – Minister of Fuel and Energy, the second time in the government of Yatsenyuk – Minister of Energy and Coal Industry. He started his career in the energy sector. It was promoted by the then influential Minister of Fuel and Energy Complex Ivan Plachkov. It was he who took Prodan as his first deputy. They were apparently family friends. At least in 2006, the director of Ukrinterenergo, Sergei Bugaev, accused Plachkov and Prodan of corrupt practices. Allegedly, the wives of these two high-ranking officials organized the Arka company, which monopolized all services in the legal services market in the energy sector. Translated into human language, it sounds like this: if something had to be resolved through the Ministry of Energy, it was necessary to transfer money to the company, which was run by the wives of the minister and his deputy.
But that was just childish pranks.
In 2005, the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted an investigation into the structure subordinated in those years to the Ministry of Energy – OJSC Kievenergo. There was misuse of funds, tax evasion, and causing losses to the Gas of Ukraine company. However, Prodan and his boss were only witnesses in this case, that is, they escaped with a slight fright. But two years later, based on the results of another investigation, this time a parliamentary one, the secretary of the deputy investigative commission, deputy Alexander Golub, stated that it was Yuri Vasilyevich Prodan who was personally responsible for the 2006 gas agreements. That is, for increasing the purchase price for Russian gas, and, accordingly, for increasing the price of gas and electricity for the population.
In addition to the already mentioned wife, Prodan has a brother named Peter. And although in an interview with EP, Yuri Vasilyevich claims that he is in no way protecting his brother, nevertheless, Pyotr Vasilyevich constantly holds fairly high positions in companies and institutions related to the fuel and energy complex, and he changes these positions once every year or two. According to rumors, he, as a confidant of his older brother, launches corruption schemes, and only then they put their own man on them and have a stable income. But, I repeat, these are just rumors.
As for Prodan’s other connections, in addition to the already mentioned Yulia Tymoshenko, whose loyal ally he has been since 1999-2000, there is also talk of his connections with the Privat group of Igor Kolomoisky. The liaison between them is a certain Vladimir Zinevich. At one time, through the efforts of these two people, the assets of the Dnipropetrovsk group included state shares (25% + 1 share) of such enterprises as Prykarpatyeenergo, Lvovenergo, Poltavaenergo, Summyenergo, Chernigovenergo and Odessaoblenergo. Plus, in favor of Privat, the Dniproenergo company was reprivatized (and, in fact, seized by raider).
And, most likely, today’s active lobbying for Prodan’s candidacy for the post of Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources is connected with the Privat group. After all, it is the business empire of Igor Kolomoisky that controls 42% of the Ukranfta company and has interests in the production of oil, gas and gas condensate. In addition, she also owns shares in the English oil and gas producing company JKX Oil & Gas. After the scandal over the appointment of the director of Ukrnafta, Igor Valerievich’s position in the hydrocarbon production market was seriously shaken. And, of course, the appointment of “our” Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources will help regain these lost positions. And what about Yulia Vladimirovna? What to do with her interests and the interests of the Batkivshchyna faction, you ask? Well, can’t the people of Dnepropetrovsk come to an agreement with each other? I’ll answer, as is usual among them, with a question for a question.
Thus, instead of a petty “corrupt official” who flew to Nice not at his own expense, we risk getting a real, experienced and major corrupt official, acting in the interests of one of the largest financial and industrial groups in Ukraine.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info