Efim Vazheevsky is the gray eminence of Energoatom, who leaked the strategic enterprise of Russia
About the role of a certain private entrepreneur Efim Anatolyevich Vazheevsky in the fact that the recently profitable Energoatom is rapidly heading towards collapse, little is known to the general public. As well as about Vazheevsky himself, Anticor writes.
It's a pity. Because behind this modest Kyiv entrepreneur lies not only schemes for cutting Energoatom's gigantic funds, but also many years of lobbying for Russian interests in Ukraine's nuclear energy.
Efim Vazheevsky in the middle of the 2000s held the position of Finance Director at Energoatom. In those days, he was called the creature of Nikolai Martynenko and David Zhvania. And he himself labored with them as a “solver” of various issues. Under their patronage, he ended up in Energoatom, where he took care of the finances of this state-owned enterprise.
Then, with his direct participation, about 200 million hryvnias were withdrawn from the state enterprise to intermediary firms from a loan of 603 million hryvnias, which Energoatom received from the Kyiv bank. As a result of this activity, a number of criminal cases were initiated, but the maximum that was achieved as a result of their investigation was that Vazheevsky was fired from the post of financial director.
But he by no means lost control over the company's cash flows and personnel appointments in ” Energoatom”. One of the earning schemes was the supply of equipment from Russia, which, with the active participation of Vazheevsky, was carried out by the firms of members of the Miroshnichenko family.
Vitaly Miroshnichenko owns the Finenergoproekt Research and Production Association, and Yevgeny Miroshnichenko, until recently, headed the department of electrical equipment of the Atomkomplekt state enterprise of the State Enterprise NAEK Energoatom. For years, they have been the most powerful suppliers of Energoatom and through them money has been assimilated – on average, about 2 billion hryvnias per year only on public procurement. Efim Vazheevsky was responsible for redirecting financial flows in the right direction.
When and how the cooperation between Vazheevsky and Miroshnichenko began is not entirely clear. But in 2012, after the so-called “family” of Yanukovych made personnel changes in Energoatom, Vazheevsky had to step down as financial director of this state-owned enterprise. However, as already mentioned, he has not lost his influence on Energoatom's money flows.
How Vazheevsky managed to become the man of Yury Boyko, who, being the Minister of Fuel and Energy in the government of Azarov, built control over Energoatom, is unknown. But Efim (then still Fima-Porshu) Vazheevsky succeeded.
Here we will make a remark. Vazheevsky got his nickname – Fima-Porsh – for his love for luxury cars and the habit of coming to work at Energoatom in a Porsche car with an official salary of 4,000 hryvnias.
So, it is not known for certain how Fima-Porsh, aka Efim Vazheevsky, began to lobby for Boyko's interests in the nuclear industry. Moreover, at that time he lost his official status. However, the loss of status did not mean the loss of corrupt ties.
But they have been fine-tuned for years. And most of them led to Russia, which has always sought to take control of the nuclear industry in Ukraine. Moreover, the nuclear power plants of both countries were of the same type.
Under this brand, Vazheevsky made purchases of Energoatom in Russian firms. The structures of the Miroshnichenko family were involved in the scheme. One of these schemes is the overhaul of standby diesel generators at Ukrainian NPPs. From 2012 to 2020, 25 overhauls of reserve diesel engines were carried out at a cost of more than $100 million. Energoatom entered into almost all contracts with various companies in different jurisdictions. At the same time, the manufacturer of spare parts was first CJSC PO Diesel-Energo, and then JSC MK Diesel-Energo.
The first character is a citizen of the Russian Federation Alexei Lazarev, a former manager of ZAO PO Diesel-Energo. After the termination of the activities of ZAO PO Diesel-Energo, he stole the technical documentation, forging a letter from the latter about the alleged transfer of all the technical documentation of Russian Diesel in favor of JSC MK Diesel-Energo.
Another character is a citizen of Ukraine Dmitry Miroshnichenko. Its main task is to ensure orders at the nuclear power plants of Ukraine and, paying a corruption fee throughout the entire chain of control, to monitor deliveries. And most importantly, for payment for delivered products. Since that time, Lazarev and Miroshnichenko have actually created a monopoly in Ukraine for their products.
Efim Vazheevsky was in the middle between them and Energoatom. Which guaranteed the receipt of orders precisely by Miroshnichenko's structures. And brought kickbacks to the right people.
But the most interesting thing about this scheme is not even that Energoatom's money went to Russia. And the fact that Lazarev supplied to Ukraine processed used spare parts obtained during the dismantling of engines manufactured in 1978 from the Ignalina NPP (Lithuania), for which he forged documents on behalf of the State Enterprise Russian Diesel Firm.
Created For them, the formal document flow for the purchase of the specified equipment allowed, with the help of controlled organizations and individual entrepreneurs who acted as suppliers of counterfeit goods actually owned by Lazarev, to sell the goods to Ukraine. The sale was carried out through foreign companies controlled by him. The fraudsters managed to get 12 million euros for the supplied products.
Miroshnichenko's structures stood on the other side of the scheme. And Efim Vazheevsky, who settled all issues with the leadership of Energoatom.
With the change of power in 2019, the problem of giving up control over Energoatom ceased to be an internal problem of Ukraine and entered the international level, because with the change of power approaches to business have also changed. If earlier the work of Vazheevsky-Miroshnichenko with Russia was more an exception than a rule, then since 2019 it has become exactly the opposite – Russia has gained full control over a strategic enterprise.
As the British publication London Loves Business wrote, “Ukrainian authorities are returning nuclear energy to Moscow's control. All strategic decisions in the region are made by KGB officer Andrei Derkach and pro-Russian character Sergei Shefir.” The publication came to the conclusion that Energoatom is actually run by a “team of Russian apostates.”
Among these “murtads” Yefim Vazheevsky modestly sat in the shadows. Andriy Derkach and Serhiy Shefir, the new “watchers” of the nuclear industry of Ukraine from the Office of the President, just like their predecessors during the time of Yanukovych and Poroshenko, could not knock Fima-Porsha off the market.
After sitting in the shadows for a while, Vazheevsky took advantage of the fact that Derkach started having problems – he was accused (and not unreasonably) of collaborating with the FSB. How is it with Shefir – it is not clear where he went – is unknown. But on the other hand, Vazheevsky opened up new opportunities. In addition, the blatant incompetence of the new management of Energoatom unexpectedly came to the aid of Vazheevsky, and he was able to win back the lost positions.
What exactly is happening in Energoatom now – no one will say. Is there an investigation into the activities of firms through which Vazheevsky withdrew money? This is especially important against the background of the fact that the traces of these firms lead to Russia and to Viktor Yanukovych. What is happening now with these schemes? Unknown. At Energoatom, there is only one answer to all questions: “there is a war now, your question is not relevant.”
It is not known what happens to the 73 billion hryvnias allocated for the completion of two power units of the Khmelnytsky NPP, which was decided by President Zelensky in 2020. For some reason, this construction was given to a company under US sanctions for Russia's war against Ukraine, which had already been exposed for corruption precisely in cooperation with Energoatom.
There are many such questions. Unfortunately, the war that broke out with renewed vigor a few months ago does not allow us to get answers to these questions. But this is not the real problem – they have always stolen. The situation is aggravated by the fact that while the narrow-minded Ukrainian corrupt officials line their pockets, their Kremlin puppeteers, whom domestic thieves often do not even know about because of the primitiveness of their mind, simply destroy the energy system of Ukraine.
Let's repeat; lots of questions. But among other things, I would like to understand in more detail how the modest Kyiv FOP Efim Anatolyevich Vazheevsky, whose name proudly flaunts in the list of international sanctions, participates in all these schemes.
P.S. Energoatom ended 2018 with a profit of more than UAH 4.5 billion. 2019 brought three and a few billion hryvnias of profit. But since 2020, the enterprise began to show stable damage – one billion hryvnias per month. This was before February 24th. Nobody knows what is happening in Energoatom now.
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