Yakubovskyi Vladyslav Boleslavovych

Yakubovskyi Vladyslav Boleslavovych
Vladyslav Boleslavovych Yakubovskyi is a scandalous official of the Yanukovych era, one of the heads of the Trade Commodity group of companies, a participant in corrupt tenders for food, fuel and lubricants supply to the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) and the Armed Forces, and a business partner of traitors to Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk and MP Oleksandr Ponomaryov.

Vladyslav Yakubovskyi

Personal file

He was born in Khmelnytskyi (Ukraine) on October 30, 1978. He started his career in 2000 at Galychyna Energo (Ivano-Frankivsk).

In 2001-2008, he was an employee of Astra-Invest and Astra-Trade. These companies are associated with the Kyiv Seven, namely Valentyn Zhurskyi and Bohdan Hubskyi. Astra-Invest, Astra-Trade, and a number of Zhurskyi's and Hubskyi's companies were headed by one person, Ivan Basarab.

In 2008, Vladyslav Yakubovskyi worked as an advisor to the head of Khmelnytskyi Regional Administration.

In November 2008, Yakubovskyi became Director of Mezon-K, a company linked to Yura ‘Yenakiievskyi’.

In 2010, he worked as Deputy Head of the State Reserve Committee and later headed the commission on reorganization of the structure.

Between 2011 and April 2013, he headed the State Environmental Investment Agency, which was created to use the money Ukraine received under the Kyoto Protocol.

Since 2014, he has been the de facto head of the Trade Commodity group of companies, which was created under Petro Poroshenko by entrepreneurs close to him, Andrii Adamovskyi and Oleksandr Hranovskyi.

Companies related to Yakubovskyi

1. Construction Point (founded in 2009). The authorized capital is UAH 500 thousand. Yakubovskyi owns 50% of the company, with another 25% each belonging to Zaza Zozirov and Georgian citizen Zaza Humberidze. The signatory is Iryna Shvedovska.

2. Sinergia Logistics Company (founded in 2015). The authorized capital is UAH 716 thousand. Yakubovskyi owns 30% of the company (currently through Eurasia), Danylo Konstantinov - 25%, Valerii Lozutov - 25% and Yan Nemyrovskyi - 20%. Until 2020, the company was headed by Dymitrii Medviediev, who was replaced by Oleh Bondar. Sinergia's office used to be located in the Eurasia business center, along with the offices of Hranovskyi and Adamovskyi.

3. Eurasia Investment Company (founded in 2016). The authorized capital is UAH 1 million. Yakubovskyi owns 50% of the company, while another 50% is owned by Dmytro Adamovskyi, son of Andrii Adamovskyi, through the Centaurus venture fund.

4. Ukrainian Locomotive Company (founded in 2016). The authorized capital is UAH 114.4 thousand. Yakubovskyi and Adamovskyi own 30% of the company through the Eurasia investment company. 29% is owned by Volodymyr Vitnytskyi through Full Trading, another 29.9% is owned by Pavlo Tishchenko through Solar Energy Green, and 10% from 2021 belongs to Oleksandr Sliusarchuk. The company's office was also previously located in the Eurasia business center.

5. Association of Ukrainian Railway Carriers (founded in 2019). Its founders are the Ukrainian Locomotive Construction Company, co-owned by Yakubovskyi, and the Western Ukrainian Logistics Company, which is registered with lawyer Oleh Yarema. The company's signatory is Andrii Miroshnikov, the former Head of the Commercial Department of Ukrzaliznytsia.

Corruption scandals involving Yakubovsky

Embezzlement of Kyoto Protocol funds

In 2011, Vladyslav Yakubovskyi took over as Chairman of the State Environmental Investment Agency. This organization was specially created to utilize the Kyoto Protocol funds that are transferred to our country to combat emissions into the atmosphere. In 2012, the State Agency for Environmental Protection allocated UAH 1.2 billion (later increased to UAH 1.7 billion) to three companies, Stroyinvest 2007, Antis Trade, and Sodetel, to insulate 323 kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. These funds were allocated without competition.

Of the three, two companies had previously compromised themselves, as they had previously participated in dubious schemes for Ukrzaliznytsia. Stroyinvest 2007 was a fictitious competitor in tenders won by companies of the Haiduk-Taruta group. Antis Trade reconstructed the Donetsk railway station: the cost of the work mysteriously doubled.

In autumn of 2012, it turned out that the program was hardly being implemented: the phone numbers of the companies were not answered, there was no one at the registered addresses, and Sodetal had given the contract to Karpatybudinvest, a company linked to Yura ‘Yenakiievskyi’. Journalists of Ukrainska Pravda discovered Yura ‘Yenakiievskyi's’ connection to all three that were used as shell companies. The Nashi Groshi publication claimed that Sodetel was founded by Donetsk businessman Viktor Mihdisov. He is known for organizing a fashion show for his wife at Yanukovych's helipad and demolishing the building of the Information Department of Donetsk State Regional Administration so that Yanukovych's son could build the Stolychnyi business center there. Antis Trade was located at the same address as Hormashnsab LLC, which is run by one of Ivaniushchenko's well-known managers, Andrii Ostapko. Later, Antis Trade moved to another location on 18 Chihorin Street. Oil River LLC, one of the key assets of Yura Yenakiievskyi's business empire, was registered at the same address.

As a result of the State Environmental Investment Agency’s activity under Yakubovskyi's leadership, most of the work was not completed, and the money disappeared.

In 2012, Yakubovskyi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Azarov that partner countries other than Russia and Belarus refused to finance activities in Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol. In the same year, at a UN conference, Yakubovskyi announced Ukraine's plans to increase carbon emissions, which contradicts the Kyoto Protocol.

After the Maidan, Yakubovskyi was dismissed from his post, but Volodymyr Bandurov, who had previously been an assistant to Vladyslav Yakubovskyi, became the head of the Agency.

Low-quality products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine

In 2008-2009, Vladyslav Yakubovskyi served as Deputy Director of Mezon-K. The company was accused of embezzling funds from the Ministry of Defense on food for the military. Mezon-K bought products for the Ministry at 2 times the market price. In the government, the lobbyist for Mezon-K was Mykhailo Yezhel, Minister-to-be of Defense, and at that time, Chief Inspector of the Ministry.

Investigative journalists proved that Yezhel was promoted to the post of Minister by Yura ‘Yenakiievskyi. Ivaniushchenko's man Dmitriy Medviediev, who would later become Head of Yakubovskyi's company, is also mentioned. Dubious methods, like artificially organized food poisoning of military personnel, were used to promote new contractors for tenders.

Trade Commodity as a regular tender winner under Poroshenko

The Trade Commodity Group is an extensive system of companies that was established under President Poroshenko and became the largest winner of tenders for the supply of fuel to Ukrainian government agencies.

The Nashi Hroshi publication, having analyzed the Public Procurement Bulletin and data from the Prozzoro system, came to the conclusion that under Poroshenko, Trade Commodity companies won tenders worth UAH 17 billion for the supply of fuel to the state, with the money received from the following customers:

1. Production Support Center branch of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC - UAH 10.28 billion.
2. Ministry of Defense of Ukraine - UAH 5.53 billion.
3. State Reserve Agency of Ukraine - UAH 0.42 billion.
4. Tsentrenergo JSC - UAH 0.23 billion.
5. Vilnohirsk MMC branch of UMCC JSC - UAH 0.10 billion

The funds were distributed among only 6 companies:
1. Trade Commodity LLC - UAH 5.18 billion
2. Fideia LLC - UAH 3.34 billion.
3. August Prom LLC - UAH 3.20 billion.
4. Optimus Connection LLC (Gaztrade) - UAH 3.06 billion.
5. Torum LLC - UAH 1.97 billion.
6. Meta Oil LLC - UAH 0.22 billion.

In politics, the group's activities were covered by MP Oleksandr Hranovskyi, the investor was businessman Andrii Adamovskyi, and the group was directly managed by Vladyslav Yakubovskyi.

Trade Commodity's corrupt practices in tenders

According to media reports, Trade Commodity is directly linked to Andrii Adamovskyi and was registered in the Eurasia Business Center, which housed several of Adamovskyi and Hranovskyi's shell-companies – Trade Commodity, Maxmed, and Torum.

In 2016, the Ministry of Defense held a tender for the purchase of fuel. An unknown company from Dniprodzerzhynsk, Trade Commodity, won almost all the lots. The total value of the contracts was UAH 1.24 billion. The journalists discovered the peculiarities of the tender: WOG, as a competitor, literally gave the victory to Yakubovskyi's Trade Commodity, but then supplied its own fuel through a shell company to fulfill the contract. After the tender, the Defense Ministry and Yakubovskyi's company agreed to raise the price of fuel twice, and these facts were hidden. As a result, the Ministry overpaid Trade Commodity at least UAH 100 million. Two years later, the NABU completed its investigation into the case: the Deputy Minister, officials of the Public Procurement Department, and the actual owner of Trade Commodity were found guilty.

In 2019, in an interview with Ekonomichna Pravda, Andrii Adamovskyi said that the ultimate beneficiaries of Trade Commodity were a ‘group of young guys’ but did not name them, and that Trade Commodity itself had started bankruptcy proceedings.

Fraud with Torum's tenders

In 2017, the media began calling Torum a clone of Trade Commodity. “Torum is linked to Yakubovskyi through its beneficiary, Dmytriy Medviediev, who until 2020 ran Sinergia, one of Yakubovskyi's companies. Torum's office was located in the Eurasia Business Center and was often called a ‘firm from Trade Commodity’s orbit.’

After Ukrzaliznytsia introduced a special certification for companies that can supply lubricants, Torum became one of two such companies. The second was Agrinol, which is associated with former MP Oleksandr Ponomariov.

Torum was regularly caught in tax evasion and disruption of fuel supply tenders. In 2018, the company won a tender to supply diesel fuel to Astra, but did not deliver the fuel: prices rose and the State Reserve refused to raise the price.

In 2018, Yakubovskyi's Torum tried to sell the Ministry of Defense petrol, which is banned in our country (earlier, the company Trade Commodity tried to do the same. In 2018, Torum supplied diesel fuel worth UAH 700 million to Ukrzaliznytsia at an inflated price and failed to pay UAH 920 million in taxes on the import of fuel and lubricants to Ukraine. This is the conclusion reached by the SFS.

According to media reports, in 2020, Timur Valiiev, a man close to Arsen Avakov, became Head of Ukrzaliznytsia’s tender department. A month later, the fuel crisis began: the winners of the supply tenders refused to supply diesel fuel at the agreed price, as the market price had risen. The largest supplier was Torum, which used blackmail to force a 30% price increase from Ukrzaliznytsia.