Victor Smirnov: corrupt boss of Podol. PART 1

He belongs to that category of officials who remain “insider” and in demand under any government, providing specific services to bosses and patrons. But the peculiarity of the head of the Podolsk Regional State Administration, Viktor Smirnov, is that he knows how to carefully hide both those who stand behind him and what he does in secret from the public. Not all Kiev residents even know where this kind-looking boss came from, making sure that all the shops in his area were painted. And not everyone knows how many tens of millions he has already “saved” on these benches and curbs…

Victor Smirnov. An indispensable assistant

Smirnov Viktor Vladimirovich was born on August 31, 1965 in Dnepropetrovsk (now Dnepr), in the family of Nadezhda Semenovna and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Smirnov. If you look at his biography, you will see that a whole half of his life is missing from it – which is very strange for the ordinary gray official that he is now. And in general, he really doesn’t like to talk about his past, preferring to communicate with the media only on the topic of repairing benches and fences in his Podolsk district.

Only in the “Education” column is it indicated that in 1988 Viktor Smirnov graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Medical Institute (now the Medical Academy of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine) and received a doctor’s diploma. But where and who did he work for the next 12 years? For some reason, he prefers to hide it carefully. And the only connection with his medical past is his wife Natalya Grigorievna Smirnova, who works as the head of the tuberculosis department of the Dnieper regional clinical and preventive department “Phthisiology”. By the way, it turns out that the couple have been living in different parts of the country for a long time: the husband in Kyiv, the wife in Dnieper. Another strange thing!

His current work biography begins only in 2000, when Smirnov received (or bought) a “business manager” diploma from MAUP. It would seem, why would a doctor need this (if he was a doctor), unless he was going to open a private office or pharmacy? But Smirnov did not open anything, but received the position of deputy head of the Department of Protocol and Mass Events of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration (then he headed it himself). The place is not exactly that rich in itself, but the constant proximity to the governor’s body opens up ample opportunities for quick people – and Smirnov took advantage of them. So it’s unlikely that he was taken there off the street based on an advertisement, but who placed him there remains unclear. However, in any case, you need to pay attention that this happened during the governorship of Nikolai Shvets (1999-2003).

Shvets was the first elected mayor of Dnepropetrovsk, and then Kuchma made him governor – and he served in this position the longest. As mayor, governor, and then chairman of the regional council, Shvets carried out “big privatization” in the region, actually facilitating the takeover and seizure of the most profitable enterprises by the largest oligarchic clans and organized crime groups. In addition to his connection with Kuchma’s son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk, Shvets lobbied for the interests of Privat in every possible way. For example, when Kolomoisky gained control of Ukrnafta in 2003, Shvets joined the corporation’s supervisory board. Their close relationship has continued to this day, and in 2014, having become governor himself, Kolomoisky appointed Shvets as his adviser. Accordingly, most of the corruption scandals that broke out around Shvets were also related to Privat. For example, when in 2003-2005 worked as an adviser to Kuchma, he contributed to the illegal privatization Foros sanatorium “Tavriya” and 12 hectares of adjacent land, which became the property of Privat. That’s who Smirnov became the head of the protocol service!

Some information about the Dnepropetrovsk past of Viktor Smirnov Skelet.Info gleaned from open databases and testimonies of city residents. For example, Finance and Trust LLC (USREOU 20246795), founded back in 1993, is now dead, but in the past its co-owners were Viktor Smirnov himself, as well as Gennady Grishchenko and Sergey Vershinin. Who are his companions?

In the “zeros”, Gennady Grishchenko was the deputy head of the “Department for Control in the Sphere of Leisure and Entertainment” (registered as a public utility enterprise) of the city of Dnepropetrovsk. Together with his boss Vitaly Krupitsky, Grishchenko was directly involved in the control of numerous gaming halls and casinos – according to sources Skelet.Infowarm up your hands well on this. Moreover, he kept them warm even after the official ban on this business in 2009, helping to organize the work of gaming halls under various “covers” (Internet cafes, lottery outlets, etc.). Dirty money was laundered, including through the “Youth Charitable Fund of the Dnepropetrovsk Region” (25799464), the founders of which were Gennady Grishchenko, deputy chairman of the regional council Valery Pasechnik and a certain Alexander Semenko. It is known about the latter that he at one time worked in the Humanitarian Policy Department of the Dnepropetrovsk City Council, headed some regional organization of “Cossacks”, and in 2018 he was accused of stealing a large sum of money from the Senko Group company, of which he worked as a director for two years.

Sergey Vershinin is now known as the owner of the Alfa Prim private enterprise (33516692) and the director of the Dnepropetrovsk regional “Association of Security Companies” (38199729). He took this position in 2016, replacing former SSB officer Anatoly Semiryadchenko. But what did Vershinin do in the 2000s, and from what environment (law enforcement or gangster) did he come to the security business? It is only known that during the heyday of the gaming business (from the 90s to 2009), it was “protected” not only by local government officials, but also by security forces, as well as organized crime groups. Now it’s clear what brought this trio together.

But Viktor Smirnov left the green pastures of his native Dnepropetrovsk in 2005, following Yuri Yekhanurov. Their relationship was like some kind of passionate love at first sight: Yekhanurov arrived in Dnepropetrovsk in April 2005 and worked there as governor until September, after which he returned to Kyiv again, becoming prime minister (replacing Yulia Tymoshenko), taking with him Viktor Smirnov. It is unknown why the “visiting” Yekhanurov liked him so much, but he did not let him go for several years. To begin with, Yekhanurov appointed him deputy head of the Protocol Service of the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Good career takeoff!

In 2006, the “velvet coup” happened, Yekhanurov lost his position as prime minister and went to the Verkhovna Rada – and Smirnov followed him, becoming his assistant-consultant. This is also a very significant moment: if Smirnov’s activities were limited to his immediate responsibilities in the Protocol Service, then he could easily work there under other prime ministers. Does it matter who schedules meetings, trips and press conferences?! Which means there was something else between them, something different. They do not look like “darlings”, which means that their official “romance” was based on corruption. But, again, did Yekhanurov really find such a trusted assistant on his short Dnepropetrovsk “business trip”? There are two options: either Smirnov asked for it himself, having somehow managed to convince Yekhanurov of his irreplaceability, or it was “gifted” to Yekhanurov by one of the Dnepropetrovsk “barons” for whom Smirnov initially worked. Who was it – Shvets, Kolomoisky, someone else?

In the summer of 2007, before the early elections to the Rada, Smirnov and Yekhanurov established the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Ukraine-Unesco” (35199705). The official activities of the fund were reduced to the purchase of several hundred books and CDs for Kyiv libraries – but behind this screen, the funds of the fund were used in the election campaign.

In December 2007, Yuri Yekhanurov was appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Already at the beginning of 2008, he took Smirnov as his assistant, and then appointed him director of the Department of International Defense Cooperation. As you know, Yekhanurov’s leadership of the defense department ended with a series of high-profile corruption scandals, including fuel scandals (related to Ukrnafta too), and his resignation in the summer of 2009. He actually fell into disgrace and was removed from the streams, finding himself a short-lived refuge in the Presidential Secretariat (as first deputy), and then left the arena. And here their “love” with Smirnov ended!

Smirnov saw off Yekhanurov, and he himself remained in the Ministry of Defense – working there until 2013, outliving several “orange” and “blue” ministers: Valery Ivashchenko, Mikhail Yezhel, Dmitry Salamatin, and left even under Pavel Lebedev. He moved to another department, becoming an assistant to the Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services Gennady Temnik, and took the position of head of the Directorate for Supporting the Minister’s Activities. On it, Smirnov successfully survived the second Maidan and lustration, then working together with the new Minister of Regional Development Vladimir Groysman. Thus, demonstrating his talent to be a useful person for any government…

Scandals after scandals

The construction industry in Ukraine has long become a center of corruption of the highest level, and the collapse of the housing and communal services sector is now visible to the naked eye even in the capital, where geysers of burst water pipes constantly erupt from the ground. And all this started not yesterday, not a year or three ago, but has been going on for many years. Therefore, it is more than strange why after the so-called. “Revolution of Dignity”, the fewest questions were asked to the former Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Temnik. He was simply released in peace, and his faithful assistant Viktor Smirnov was acquitted on all counts of lustration, which allowed him to continue working in the public service.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

CONTINUED: Smirnov Victor: corrupt boss of Podol. PART 2

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