Why the thief from the Derzhgeonadra Dmytro Kashchuk was removed from the "watchers" of "Ukrzaliznytsia"

In August of last year, a strange scandal erupted in Ukraine – the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) made a decision which effectively mandated the government to completely remove the entire leadership of “Ukrzaliznytsia” and introduce “emergency management” in the company.

What was strange about this decision, given that it is well known that “Ukrzaliznytsia” has long been heading towards disaster? The strange part was that the so-called “back office,” which informally yet rigidly controlled the activities of the official leadership of “Ukrzaliznytsia,” was completely sidelined from the management of the enterprise.

We are talking about the same institution of “watchers” that was revived by Zelenskyy, who engage, among other things, in regulating the flow of money from state enterprises in the desired direction.

And these watchers, whom the press referred to euphemistically as the “back office,” were not only sidelined, but there were rumors that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) had taken an interest in their activities. Nothing would have been especially strange if this group of “watchers” had not entered “Ukrzaliznytsia” literally a month before the NSDC decision – in early July 2021, the acting head of the “Ukrzaliznytsia” board, Ivan Yuryk, appointed former officials from the State Geology and Subsoil Service of Ukraine (Derzhgeonadra), Denys Zhehalov, Dmytro Kashchuk, Denys Puhach, as well as ex-first Minister of Infrastructure Dmytro Abramovych, who also worked in the Derzhgeonadra during previous governments, as his advisors. They constituted the same “back office” that was included in the “distribution” a month later. Among these people, we are currently interested in Dmytro Kashchuk.

At first, the community associated with the issuance of licenses for subsoil use learned about him in 2014. After the Revolution of Dignity, the Ministry of Ecology and its subordinate structures, including the Derzhgeonadra, were handed over according to the so-called “quota” of the coalition government to representatives of the nationalist party “Svoboda.” Dmytro Kashchuk headed the Derzhgeonadra.

This service is responsible for issues of subsoil use in the country, issuing permits for geological exploration or extraction of everything that is underground. As always, in “quota” distribution of positions, no one took into account the professionalism of appointees – the main thing was not this at all. The fact that Kashchuk had absolutely no relationship to geology or mineral extraction did not stop anyone.

Just as the fact that his experience in public service was not much greater than his experience in subsoil use: Kashchuk worked for a while as an advisor to the governor of Lviv region, “regional” Vasyl Horbal, who appointed him head of the Investment Policy Department of the Lviv Regional State Administration.

By the way, pay attention to this data from the “Posipaky” website:

A decent set of parties and surnames, would you agree? And add to that the party “Svoboda,” as well as work in the Lviv transport company “Fiakr,” which belonged to a deputy of the Lviv City Council from “Svoboda,” Yevheniy Bilinskyi. The latter was referred to as a creature of Ihor Kryvetskyi (better known by the nickname “Pups”), one of the financial pillars of the party.

Before his public service, Kashchuk was a private entrepreneur, but none of his business activities were related to geology:

“Svoboda” in those years became notorious for dirty financial scandals involving both Prosecutor General Makhnitskyi and other “quota appointees.” Kashchuk did not fall behind either – literally a few months into his leadership of the Derzhgeonadra (he worked in this position for less than a year – from May 2014 to January 2015), a series of scandals erupted.

One of the main scandals in which Kashchuk figured was an investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine into the illegal amber extraction in the Rivne region. According to the SSU, in August 2014, Kashchuk and other Derzhgeonadra employees, along with officials from the State Enterprise “Amber of Ukraine,” signed contracts with controlled structures for geological studies of the amber fields, although in fact they were simply illegally extracting the precious stone.

This information has now been mostly cleaned up, but some resources still have details of the staff reshuffles that Kashchuk carried out at that time at “Amber of Ukraine,” replacing former managers with his party members from “Svoboda,” as well as a description of the scheme with inflated invoices that private firms associated with Kashchuk presented to “Amber” for the purpose of its bankruptcy. Let us remind you about the result.

Even though in 2015, Kashchuk was formally dismissed from the position of head of the agency, he managed to remain the de facto leader of the state system for issuing licenses for subsoil use – even several years after his formal dismissal from the Derzhgeonadra structure, Kashchuk continues to influence the industry.

In particular, in May 2021, a document appeared that resembled a crime report, detailing a scheme for seizing a gold-bearing field in Zakarpattia. The gold from there, as the claimants assert, is exported under the guise of industrial waste. Among other things, Kashchuk is mentioned, but there is no official confirmation of his involvement in this.

However, Dmytro Kashchuk was not averse to participating in lesser “projects,” where the sum of the benefit was of a completely different magnitude. He sold service information. The company “Ukrgranresurs,” fulfilling orders from the Derzhgeonadra, conducted a thorough study of the Olehivske labradorite deposit in the Zhytomyr region. All materials were transferred to the client by the contractor. Using his official position, Kashchuk found buyers for the information and sold it for 27 thousand hryvnias. This amount looks particularly impressive against the backdrop of the fact that exploration work cost the state enterprise “Ukrgranresurs” 2.5 million hryvnias.

Another deal with signs of corruption took place on November 12, 2014. The Derzhgeonadra sold two special permits for the use of two plots in the Poltava and Sumy regions. These licenses were planned to be put up for auction at a starting price of 6 and 5.9 million hryvnias, respectively, but were withdrawn from the auction. During the second attempt, the price fell by half.

As a result, the firms “Avantage Energo” and “Slobidnafta,” created a month before the auction through Seychelles and Panamanian offshore companies, received the exploration permits. Notably, there were no competitors at the auctions for these companies, and both firms are connected with the Ukrainian-Chinese company Kitpred, controlled by Jin Lin and Den Xiaoshu.

In the interval between his work at the Derzhgeonadra and “Ukrzaliznytsia,” Dmytro Kashchuk acted as an “expert in subsoil use” and actively dispensed advice on this very “subsoil use”:

He presented himself as the head of the public organization “NRV (SEE),” which stood for “Science, Exploration, Extraction.”

Pay attention to the types of activities of the company – the entries “Activities in the field of engineering, geology, and geodesy, providing technical consulting services in these areas” and “Research and experimental developments in other natural and technical sciences” only appeared there after Kashchuk arrived at the Derzhgeonadra.

Returning to last year’s NSDC decision, which removed both the then-acting head Ivan Yuryk and the entire “back office,” including Kashchuk, from “Ukrzaliznytsia,” the situation with the latter remains unclear.

In August, immediately after the NSDC decision, there was a loud announcement that the activities of all the listed individuals would be taken up by the SSU. There was even information that the “watchers” were feverishly destroying documentary traces of their “work,” including electronic correspondence, receipts for the issuance of money from the “black cash register,” “logistics journals” (who, from whom, and with what frequency were supposed to supply the “shadow cash”), and others.

However, as sources assured, this was of no consequence: the special services were conducting clandestine investigations into the “employees” and managers of the “back office,” and all necessary documents had been copied and filed in personal files, as many of the “back officers” are figures in criminal proceedings.

At first glance, it seems that, as with everything in our country, these assurances have remained assurances. After all, not later than in November, Dmytro Kashchuk once again resurfaced as an “expert.” However, this time he was already armed against the NSDC.

On the other hand, the possibility that everything ended well for him seems doubtful – if earlier Kashchuk was featured in the pages of Economic Truth, New Time, and other well-known publications, now his face flickers in unknown periodicals, and his statements strongly resemble ordinary commissioned materials:

Thus, let us dare to suggest – it is still too early to put a point in this entire story. Judging by the speed with which Kashchuk entered and exited the “watchers” over “Ukrzaliznytsia,” as well as the processes currently taking place in it, several groups of influence from Zelenskyy’s entourage have clashed over the enterprise. And Kashchuk has no special patrons in this battle and could serve as a “bargaining chip.” Moreover, the Derzhgeonadra, which he controlled until recently, is also of great interest to the “greens,” who are rapidly running out of opportunities to extract money.

Moreover, there must be some explanation for the catastrophic state of “Ukrzaliznytsia,” which has multi-billion dollar losses. And Kashchuk is perfect for the role of the scapegoat – for representatives of “Kvartal,” he is an outsider, and he still has a shadow from the party “Svoboda,” which is considered “fascist” by the representatives of the Kryvyi Rih establishment and is therefore hostile.