News reports allege Andriy Bohdan corruption ties

Video news reports broadcast this week allege to
reveal ties that Presidential Office Head Andriy Bohdan has had to numerous
intricate corruption schemes. In particular, Bohdan was involved in several
corrupt lending schemes worth tens of millions of dollars involving offshore
companies based in the Virgin Islands, reported the bihus.info news site on
June 25. One of Bohdan’s offshore shell companies, Idelberg Resources Inc., allegedly
assisted the Svitlovodsk Dairy Factory in avoiding returning a UAH 150 mln loan
(worth about USD 18.75 mln in 2009) offered by Finance and Credit Bank. An
Idelberg subsidiary was allegedly involved in assisting Illya and Vadym Segal
in avoiding paying a USD 25 mln loan issued in 2008 by Nadra Bank, which is now
defunct. The subsidiary was represented in court by Roman Babiy, who earned the
48th place in The People’s Servant closed list for the elections. The report
also mentioned that Bohdan acquired real estate assets worth tens of millions
of dollars in the Kyiv region during 2007-2014, years in which he served in
low-paying government posts (deputy justice minister in 2007-2010, Cabinet
anti-corruption ombudsman in 2010-2014).

A key member of Andriy Bohdan’s entourage, Andriy
Vavrysh, gained rezoning approval from Kyiv city authorities – following
President Zelensky’s inauguration – to build a high-rise residency that
allegedly violates building code, the nashigroshi.org news site reported on June
23. Besides the rezoning having occurred without a detailed plan of the
territory, it violates the city’s general plan since the construction extends
into a designated industrial site on the territory, the news site said.
Moreover, the 17-floor building violates the height restriction for eight
floors. The allegedly illegal rezoning decision was made by the Kyiv City
Administration on May 27. Vavrysh’s company Spetsmekhbud 21 gained the
necessary construction permits on June 4. Besides being a close personal friend
to Bohdan, Vavrysh has prepared a construction project to convert a central
Kyiv building into the Presidential Office, as desired by Zelensky’s team, away
from its traditional location on Bankova Street. Spetsmekhbud 21 is also tied
to Dmytro Isayenko, who is ranked No. 15 on the closed election list of the
pro-Putinist Opposition Bloc For Life party, the report said.

Zenon Zawada: The irony
of the Zelensky presidency is that one of the advisers he’s most dependent
upon, Presidential Office Head Andriy Bohdan, is just as enmeshed in Ukrainian
corruption as any of the establishment politicians they claim to be
challenging. Therefore, we view Bohdan as a source of potential corruption in
the presidential office that could end up undermining Zelensky’s popularity, if
not his presidency altogether. Moving the Presidential Office to a building to
be prepared by a close buddy – and allegedly corrupt builder – already reeks of
nepotism being indulged by Zelensky.

It’s not clear why bihus.info chose to expose
former President Poroshenko’s corruption during the election campaign, which
hurt his results, yet remained silent on Bohdan’s alleged corruption. Had the
influential news site given equal attention to the alleged corruption in the
entourages of both Zelensky and Poroshenko, the election results might have
been different. It could soon become apparent that Ukrainians elected a fantasy
candidate in Zelensky that will begin to unravel after the current honeymoon period
(which we expect to last about six months), with potentially disruptive
consequences for the government’s stability.