Igor Shvaika
The Svoboda party appeared on the political Olympus of Ukraine very quickly and just as quickly flew back into the margins. Today, Ukrainians laughingly remember the “member” of this anti-communist movement Farion with her communist past, Benyuk, who was pelted with tomatoes at his own creative evening, and other stupid stories about “national Svidomo” freaks. However, their fun is not shared by law enforcement agencies. They claim that during their short career at the helm of the state, many Svoboda members managed to make good money. As an example, Igor Shvaika can be cited. It is he who is charged by the Pechersk District Court with violating Article 386 of the Criminal Code, that is, receiving unlawful benefits. We are talking about a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, model FLH, 2013, worth 250 thousand hryvnia. And this is not the first scandal in which the head of the Kharkov branch of the VO “Svoboda”, who became the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food in the wake of Euromaidan, has been exposed.
But first things first.
Bad family man
In general, the majority of Svoboda members are not distinguished by high moral principles. Here you can remember Irina Farion, who lied and denied her membership in the CPSU until the very end. You can also remember Igor Miroshnichenko, who staged an ugly fight in the office of the director of UT-1, Svyatoslav Khanenko, who posed naked. But even against the background of his fellow party members, Igor Shvaika stands out. The Kharkov “Svobodovets” have four wives and five children. In 2013, he got involved in a kidnapping scandal and kidnapped his son Taras and daughter Sofia from his ex-wife (third in a row). After a protracted scandal, the placing of the apartment where Shvaika lived with his fourth wife under siege and the involvement of journalists, the children were returned. But then his third wife, Olga Shvaika, gave an interview in which she said that Igor Alexandrovich does not pay alimony to her, and in addition, for eight years he has not paid alimony to his second wife Olga Zubkova, who is raising his daughter Anna.
For more information about the kidnapping scandal, watch the video:
Raider
In April 2009, the first raider scandal occurred with OJSC Kharkovvodstroy, in which Shvaika was involved. We are talking about the seizure of motor depots in Bezlyudovka and Krasnograd, Kharkov region. Igor Aleksandrovich participated in these seizures, combining two positions – the head of the Kharkov “Freedom” and the head of the Zeus law firm. Then Shvaika and his companions re-registered the shares of these enterprises as front New Zealand companies and assigned their own security to the car depots. In the same raider way, he tried to capture the Kharkov Prosvita. For this purpose, Igor Shvaika convened a reporting and election conference, where he was announced as the chairman of the Kharkov branch of this educational society. It didn’t work. This organization turned out to be very authoritative and serious, unlike Svoboda. The control and audit commission of Prosvita recognized this conference as having taken place in gross violation of the Charter. In addition, Igor Aleksandrovich, together with Elena Reshitko, is associated with an attempt to seize the Kharkov coke plant and the Termolife enterprise; about 300 Kharkov residents took to the streets to protest against this.
Working with voters
In Shvaika’s native Lutugino, he was known as a child as a good, intelligent boy, almost an excellent student. But recently he came there to meet with his fellow countrymen and this also resulted in a scandal. When Igor Aleksandrovich began to talk about the Ukrainian language and nationalism, the residents of his “small homeland” tried to ask several questions, let’s say, on economic topics. To which Shvaika ordered them to shut up, and the Svoboda members accompanying him began to behave defiantly and even (sounds stupid, but true) began to blow the whistle on voters. Well, the voters went their separate ways. Many are still shocked by what happened to the “gold medalist.” The story of his parliamentary reception is even more fun. This reception room was opened in Kharkov in communal apartment No. 12, at the Pushkinsky entrance. The apartment, as we have already said, is communal, which means the toilet, kitchen and corridor are common areas. But Shvaika took these places away from the residents. He built partitions and posted guards from the same Svoboda members. For some time, because of this, the residents of the apartment got home through the window. They had to sue him and they won the case.
Minister of Agriculture
Shvaiki’s appointment to this position surprised everyone, since he had never had anything to do with agriculture. They say that at the very first meeting with representatives of the agricultural sector, Igor Aleksandrovich stated, or rather transparently hinted, that in his opinion the corruption component in the area of the national economy entrusted to him is 20%. Representatives of the agricultural sector nodded understandingly in response. But this is so, rumors. In reality, this minister was not remembered for anything great in his post. He continued to engage in raiding. So, for example, in July 2014, already as a minister, he personally with a group of men in camouflage uniforms “squeezed out” the Kharkov sparkling wine factory. The minister did not communicate with the industry. Under him, prices for food products skyrocketed, and farmers periodically went out for demonstrations. In general, not even a year had passed since Shvaika was removed from this position, replaced by Alexei Pavlenko. Already in the last days of his tenure, Igor Aleksandrovich got involved in one very “bad” business related to the State Grain Corporation of Ukraine. His advisers tried to cut up $15 million with the help of the Ukrainian National Stevedoring Company of former regional governor Yuri Kruk. And if Shvaika did not actively participate in this, then he condoned it in every possible way.
Harley Davidson
And here we return to the beginning of our article. Just at the time when money was being diverted from the State Grain Corporation of Ukraine, Igor Aleksandrovich got a motorcycle. Harley Davidson. Shvaika himself said that his friends gave him the motorcycle. And, apparently, he didn’t lie, his friends gave it as a gift, but what did he give them in return? Apparently, this was access to money that went into Kruk’s accounts. Now a criminal case has been opened against Kruk and, apparently, details of Igor Alexandrovich’s participation in this case have surfaced. The Pechersk court has already given the investigator of the Prosecutor General’s Office access to all documents of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy from the time of Shvaika, and, as we have already written, a criminal case has been opened against him. And, apparently, we will soon find out the answer to the question of how the former minister is involved in this. For now… let him ride.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info