Bankrupt Anatoliy Yurkevych — will he be jailed for "phone terrorism" and other antics

Last Monday, the Kyiv administration of the National Police and the capital’s SSU "department" reported the arrest of a group of serial "telephone terrorists."

The law enforcement officers, as always, emphasized their merits in the criminal capture, but were extremely stingy on details. Nevertheless, the author of these lines found nuances in the press releases that point to, so to speak, the ultimate beneficiary of what seemed to be senseless crimes. It is Anatoliy Yurkevych, a businessman mired in debt, former owner of the plundered "Ukrainian Professional Bank," the "Milkiland" group of companies, and the "Magellan" shopping and entertainment center.

According to the SSU press center, the group comprised three residents of the capital. The criminals made calls with bomb threats to one of the shopping and entertainment centers in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv. This year, the "telephone terrorists" anonymously called the emergency line "102" 15 times with the respective threats. For each false "bombing," as the "saboteurs" themselves admitted to the operatives, the customer paid them between $100 and $150. It is noted that the "terror" customer in the shopping center was a Kyiv businessman, the ex-head of the facility’s security service. Investigators believe that the former owners of the shopping center tried to take revenge on the new owners over an unresolved commercial dispute.

Of course, there are many shopping centers in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital. But only one was frequently targeted— the "Magellan" shopping center, fierce battles for control over which were fought not long ago. In the summer of last year, when the fight for this lucrative asset escalated to hand-to-hand combat between hired gangs of "titushky," Yuriy Korzhuk called himself head of the "Magellan" security service.

Yuriy Korzhuk is the director of "Sheik" LLC. According to the State Register of Legal Entities, this firm was founded in late 2016 by the company "KBK "Alliance" and PJSC "Bankomsvyaz," and in 2017 became the owner of part of the premises of the "Magellan" shopping center. This happened after the previous nominal owner of the shopping center, "Kray Property" state enterprise, was surrounded by creditors from all sides. In this way, the ultimate beneficiaries tried to preserve their valuable asset. The "Kray Property" company is owned through a Panamanian offshore "Krai Corporation" by Anatoliy and Olha Yurkevych (son and mother).

The "Magellan" shopping center was built by PJSC "Bankomsvyaz," founded in the 1990s, where Anatoliy Yurkevych was initially the majority shareholder. Later, the shopping center was re-registered to "Kray Property," although "Bankomsvyaz" remained the tenant of the land plot on which the shopping and entertainment center is built (the lessor is the Kyiv City Administration).

Anatoliy Yurkevych, who made his first million trading sprats and became a multimillionaire producing dairy products, decided in the 2010s to expand his business using other people’s money. The "Kray Property" SE under his control took a $56.2 million loan from the Russian "Sberbank" in 2011, even though Yurkevych’s structures were already heavily in debt at that time. As Anatoliy Yurkevych himself confessed, the Russian bank’s money partly went towards servicing a loan previously taken from "Ukreximbank," and partly— on building the "Magellan" shopping center in Kharkiv.

We will pause for a moment to discuss why Anatoliy Yurkevych sought loans from "foreign" banks despite having his own "Ukrainian Professional Bank." For now, let’s note the fact that starting from 2014, this businessman stopped servicing credits, citing revolution, war, crisis, and other "impoverishment." In response, creditors took him to court, where Yurkevych predictably lost.

"Sberbank" finally reclaimed "Magellan" from Yurkevych’s structures in 2018. However, until the summer of last year, "Sheik" LLC associated with our hero continued to control the shopping center, collecting rent from tenants. "Sberbank" hired the local management company "Brok Style," which hired a large squad of "athletes" and laid siege to the shopping center. Soon "Magellan" fell. Anatoliy Yurkevych publicly complained about the injustice and appealed to patriotism since the Ukrainian "Sberbank" belongs to "Sberbank of Russia," fully owned by the aggressor state. But few listened to his calls, and Yurkevych’s assets were "squeezed" by creditors one by one.

It is likely that the former owner found it hard to accept the loss of "Magellan," explaining the wave of "bomb threats" that engulfed the shopping center this year. But will investigators from the National Police and SSU take the case to the ultimate beneficiary of the telephone terror attacks? A rhetorical question. After all, they still cannot "pin down" Yurkevych on the case of multimillion-dollar machinations in the "Ukrainian Professional Bank" (UPB).

After the dark dealings in UPB were exposed, Anatoliy Yurkevych began categorically denying any connection with this financial institution. However, facts persistently contradicted him. As reported by the Deposit Guarantee Fund’s press service in March this year with reference to the director of the department for investigating illegal activities Kateryna Misnyk, by all signs, PJSC "UPB" was a "pocket" bank serving companies controlled by its actual owner Anatoliy Yurkevych— the chairman of the board of directors of "Milkiland-Ukraine."

"Practically the entire loan portfolio of the bank consisted of loans issued to controlled legal entities, including PJSC "Ukrainian Investment and Financial Alliance," PJSC "Eurofinance," "Lanex, Inc.," and these loans were obviously not intended to be repaid," the message said.

Almost 600 million UAH was "drained" from UPB in the form of loans to the so-called "related entities" behind which loomed Yurkevych’s imposing figure. Subsequently, the Deposit Guarantee Fund had to reimburse Yurkevych’s bank’s depositors with about the same amount at taxpayers’ expense.

However, "Ukrainian Professional Bank" of Yurkevych got under the SSU’s investigation for other episodes. In April 2015, just weeks before UPB entered provisional administration, this "laundry" attracted a 90 million UAH "overnight" loan (i.e., for one day) supposedly to support liquidity. Of this, 52 million UAH was provided by the "Settlement Center" bank owned by the National Bank, the rest by PJSC "DVI Bank" (DV Bank). The money entered UPB and disappeared without a trace.

Overall, as it turned out, about half a billion UAH was "utilized" through the "Settlement Center" - "Ukrainian Professional Bank" chain. The media claims that this scheme’s criminal proceedings caused the dismissal of NBU First Deputy Head Oleksandr Pysaruk in December 2015 (Pysaruk himself became a suspect this year in a case on suspicious refinancing of a well-known bank).

Despite the law enforcement agencies prowling around Yurkevych, the "companies" associated with him earn hundreds of millions of UAH on government contracts. This concerns the repeatedly mentioned above PJSC "Bankomsvyaz." Since 2016, this company has won tenders totaling over a billion UAH.

Note, the lion’s share of the tenders is related to defense and security. Some of them look suspicious at first glance. For example, it was reported that in August this year, "Bankomsvyaz" won a tender worth over 28 million UAH for the supply of three special buses to the State Border Service. Notably, the manufacturer of the supplied goods looks impressively "crafty"— a young Czech company registered by Ukrainian citizens in 2014.

Notably, according to the "Opendatabot" service, as of February 5 this year, Anatoliy Yurkevych and his mother Olha Fedorivna were listed as the ultimate beneficiaries of "Bankomsvyaz." He likely decided to replace himself in the ownership register with trusted individuals to avoid risking this profitable business as well.

But it’s not a fact that this fraudster will continue to get away with everything.

Anton Luzer, observer for CRiME exclusively for "ORD".