Kharkov. The bet is greater than life
Recently, life in Kharkov has begun to be in full swing. Moreover, for some people this happens with a well-known sad continuation. There are as many examples as you like. Explosion in the “Wall” cafe with casualties. There were no deaths this time, but there were quite a few injuries. A few more explosions – and life struck those who so hoped to make money from the fears and injuries of Kharkov residents.
In the sense – residents of the city who sold themselves to the Russian special services. However, judging by the fact that the explosions continue, a number of their accomplices still remain at large and are already preparing to share what is due to the already arrested traitors. This concerns a big problem, the name of which is war. But not just a war.
Last week, one of the co-owners of the Golden Gate Bank, Vadim Vishnevsky, shot himself in Kharkov. Such an event could not have passed by the general public in any case. And even more so if a person doing business in company with the criminal “Gepa” and his partner “Dopa” is shot. That is, by the mayor of Kharkov Gennady Kernes and the ex-governor of the Kharkov region Mikhail Dobkin.
Here a firm certainty immediately appears: if suicide took place, then certainly without the prefix “itself.” And Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko was a thousand times right when he expressed his doubts about the version of suicide. And although the investigation, as usual, has not yet found anything, one can at least guess why the successful banker, businessman and public figure of the Jewish community was suddenly irresistibly drawn to the next world.
A little earlier, information leaked to the media that law enforcement officers had taken over the utility companies of Kharkov. That is, by structures accountable to the chairman of the Kharkov City Council – criminal “Gepa” or mayor G. Kernes.
And, what is noteworthy, almost from the very beginning of Gepa’s activities in the City Council, many Kharkov residents had complaints about the activities of these very enterprises: inflated tariffs, non-transparent schemes, an incomprehensible cost structure. The management of the enterprises was accused of theft and money laundering. But since previously these accusations were brought forward only by social activists, it was impossible to translate them into criminal legislation. Now there is hope that justice will prevail.
The SBU, the police and the prosecutor’s office collected part of the information, and then it was necessary to obtain court orders to conduct searches and seize documentation in the city’s utility companies. But the judges stubbornly refused to issue orders to carry out investigative actions.
Vadim Vishnevsky (left) with the head of the Kharkov regional council Sergei Chernov
For example, in the Zhilkomservice enterprise, through which all utility payments of all Kharkov residents pass, and which “laundered” and cashed out money through structures belonging to the notorious leader of the terrorist organization “Oplot” Evgeniy Zhilin. A search would greatly help matters. But everything came up in court…
At the same time, “Gepa” uses the carte blanche provided to it by the judges. According to information from the Kharkov mayor’s inner circle, he cashes in euros and exports “laundered” funds to Europe “in small quantities – up to 50 million euros at a time.”
The date of G. Kernes’s flight with his entire family and the stolen goods can be spoken for sure as the date of the upcoming local elections. Also, most likely, the escape of the odious mayor will be an easy and pleasant adventure with some touch of theatricality on the part of the Ukrainian authorities.
Petro Poroshenko’s team will always have a good reason why the “hand of the law” turned out to be powerless against the next fraudster, or thief, or murderer, or accomplice of terrorists. We are not the only ones who have noticed that since March 2014, only insolvent citizens and non-residents of Ukraine have been sent to pre-trial detention centers – the law is merciful to everyone else.
It is quite possible that the next judge will not issue an arrest warrant, or law enforcement officers will not have gasoline for operational vehicles… There are many options – General Vitaly Yarema is a witness to this.
An interesting detail: in recent weeks, some Kharkov entrepreneurs have received interesting offers to buy counterfeit euros at a rate of 1 to 3. That is, for ten thousand real euros they were offered thirty thousand counterfeit ones. And this proposal came from Gepa’s entourage.
This information is supplemented by the following: several non-Kharkiv entrepreneurs who risked doing business with Gepa representatives have already received payment for their services and goods supplied in counterfeit euros. It turned out that the fake was made of very high quality and passed most tests – so it took time to understand what people had to deal with.
Local observers directly link these three events together: the impending escape of Gepa, operations with counterfeit euros and the death of the “court” banker, privy to almost all the secrets of the employer.
We’ll see very soon how this detective story on the scale of Slobozhanshchina will end.
Stanislav Lodygin, specially for the publication “Argument”