Yakov Smoliy. Ex-head of the NBU, millionaire and “powerful old man.” PART 2

CONTINUATION. START: Yakov Smoliy. The new helmsman of the NBU, a millionaire and a “powerful old man.” PART 2

Yakov Smoliy – Gontareva’s puppet

In April 2014, Yakov Smoliy was appointed deputy head of the NBU, a protege of Petro Poroshenko, Valeria Gontareva.

Yakov Smoliy and Valeria Gontareva

The deputy’s competence included the development and implementation of the strategy and policy of the main regulator in the IT field, coordinating the activities of payment systems and non-cash payments (that’s where the banker started), as well as control of payment systems. He oversaw 7 departments, including the Banknote and Mint, the Banknote Paper Factory, the Central Repository of the NBU and the State Treasury of Ukraine.

While serving as deputy for 2.5 years, Yakov Vasilyevich became known as a person who fully supports Gontareva’s policies. Valeria Alekseevna trusted him completely and always listened to his advice. Smoliy’s big plus is that he never tried to “shine.”

By the way, in addition to the fact that the banker was Gontareva’s deputy, since 2015 he was a member of the Interdepartmental Working Group to coordinate the return to Ukraine of funds obtained by criminal means by former officials. Smoliy was also assigned acting duties. first deputy head of the NBU after Oleksandr Pysaruk left for the IMF financial sector.

Valeria Gontareva

However, the banker is not as simple as he seems – Skelet.Info An interesting fact is known from the area of ​​responsibility of Mr. Smoliy as first deputy. In February 2017, his subordinate, director of the NBU payment systems department Sergei Shatsky, was detained by the Prosecutor General’s Office while accepting a bribe in the amount of $25 thousand. The official received this amount for registering with the National Bank the domestic payment system “Platiservice” for making cash and non-cash transfers within Ukraine.

Sergei Shatsky and his bribe of 25 thousand dollars photo5

It is noteworthy that the security forces detained three more people with Shatsky, his accomplices, but did not name their names. True, it is known that one of them is a native of Azerbaijan, and the second is an employee of the NBU. And now the most interesting thing – Sergey Shatsky is an old-timer at Aval Bank. He got a job there in 2002 and rose from economist to head of department. Naturally, Shatsky was initially familiar with Smoliy. Having joined the regulator in 2015, he again came under the leadership of his former boss. When the NBU bankers learned that Shatsky had been burned by a bribe, they unanimously started talking about his intermediary role in the operation. He was dubbed the “dealer,” who simply handed over money and negotiated. The fact is that Shatsky could not independently, without the knowledge of his manager Yakov Vasilyevich, register the Platiservice system. This is not in his competence; he is working on new payment projects at the National Bank. The bribe-taker was removed from office and a criminal case was opened, but he continued to go to work and receive his “director’s” salary.

According to information Skelet.Infoin the Prosecutor General’s Office there is incriminating evidence against Yakov Smoliy, which records “…facts of abuse of official position.” However, we did not find any traces of abuse or criminal cases in open sources.

Yakov Vasilyevich’s life changed on May 10, 2017. On this day, Valeria Gontareva completely left her affairs at the National Bank and went on forced leave. She did not name her successor for a long time, but then handed over the reins to her faithful deputy. On May 11, Smoliy became the acting NBU.

The first thing the newly appointed head of the National Bank announced was that the regulator’s course will not change until the appointment of a new head of the bank.

Who lives Yakov Smoliy on only one salary

Today Yakov Smoliy is the richest top manager of the National Bank. In 2015, he took second place in terms of income of the country’s top officials, declaring 98.3 million hryvnia in bank accounts. Only the President overtook him Petro Poroshenko.

Yakov Smoliy. Ex-head of the NBU, millionaire and “powerful old man.” PART 2

Yakov Vasilyevich can safely be called a rentier – a person who lives on dividends from securities and income from renting out premises.

The banker owns thousands of square meters of real estate throughout Ukraine – in his native Ternopil region, Lviv region, Kiev region; has corporate rights to tens of millions of hryvnias, and has $4 million in his bank account. He is also a co-owner of 12 offices with a total area of ​​about 30 thousand square meters. m, one house and a sports and recreation complex in the village of Pogreby, and he also has apartments in Sevastopol. Smoliy indicated these data in his declaration for 2016.

According to the declaration, Yakov Vasilyevich lives on money from renting real estate. The tenants are a number of banks, among which is Bank Aval.

Smoliy receives the largest income from the Lviv medical center of St. Paraskeva (in 2009, Yakov Vasilyevich and Ivan Voloshchuk, shareholders of the insurance company Etalon, were listed among the owners of the center. Now it is registered with the Cypriot offshore ST. PARASKEVA MEDICAL CENTER, LLC.) and the Kyiv company “Printek Ukraine El.El.C.” Last year, these two structures provided the banker with a profit of almost 1 million hryvnia. By a strange coincidence, Printek Ukraine El.El.C. is listed as a client of Bank Aval, and in 2016 he unexpectedly began winning tenders held by state banks. During the year, the company signed 12 contracts worth 73 million hryvnia with Oschadbank and Ukrgasbank – financial institutions that are accountable to the state and the main regulator.

“Printek Ukraine L.L.C.” supplied Oschadbank with LG 43SM5B TVs with a diagonal of 43 inches. Moreover, the purchase of equipment took place without a mandatory auction. The government agency reported after the fact on the acquisition of expensive equipment.

If the operation with Oschadbank went quietly, then the purchase of used ATMs by Ukrgasbank was a scandal. The purchase amount was in the millions. State Bank bought from Printek Ukraine L.L.S. used ATMs for 11 million hryvnia; the price of one device is 110 thousand hryvnia. As it turned out, their price was inflated by half. Similar ATMs were put up for sale on the website of the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals at 57.8 thousand hryvnia apiece.

Despite the fact that Yakov Smoliy is difficult to distinguish from the average scientist. The banker loves chic delights – Patek Philippe and Breguet watches, and in his garage there are a jet ski and a golf cart, as well as 3 cars – a 2006 Toyota LC, a 2012 VW Multivan, a 2002 Mitsubishi.

—

At the beginning of July, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Valeria Gontareva, returned from a long vacation and immediately met with President Petro Poroshenko. They discussed a new candidate for the post of head of the NBU – the current head of Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Vladimir Lavrenchuk. The banker has already given his consent to the appointment. However, this will not happen until the fall.

In the meantime, it is too early to write off Yakov Smoliy and consider him a temporary figure. It is not known how the performance with the appointment of the head of the regulator will unfold in the Verkhovna Rada. It is known that Gontareva flatly refuses the chair, and Mr. President does not like people from outside. If we compare the facts, then Yakov Vasilyevich may linger a little in the role of “acting.”

Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Info

Subscribe to our channels at Telegram, Facebook, CONT, VK And YandexZen – Only dossiers, biographies and incriminating evidence on Ukrainian officials, businessmen, politicians from the section CRYPT!