Offshore accounts and the \"Boyko rigs\": why the Katsuba family remains unpunished for stolen billions?
08.12.2024 15:10
After Ukrainian millionaire Oleksandr Katsuba was spotted in Monaco in March, questions were raised about his potential return to Ukraine. He had reasons to remain abroad: his family was involved in sponsoring Shariy’s party, his father is a prominent regional politician, and his wife and children live in Monaco.
However, the skeptics’ predictions did not come true. Oleksandr Katsuba returned to his homeland. And not just returned, but leads an active life there, constantly appearing in news feeds. No, he does not feature in scandals like some of his colleagues in various foreign "territorial defense battalions," as aptly named by journalists from Ukrainska Pravda, who discovered Katsuba in Monaco during a pleasant conversation with his ex-wife, with whom he appears to maintain close relations. Why wouldn’t he? Many assets belonging to Oleksandr Katsuba and other family members are registered in the name of Nataliya Huzlenko, Katsuba’s ex-wife.
But Katsuba returned to Kyiv after his visit to his wife, albeit former, and began appearing in various media outlets. Part of these materials includes his version of the events related to the "Boyko towers" and Katsuba Junior’s service at Naftogaz, due to which he spent several months in a pre-trial detention center in 2016-2017 and was released on bail of 400 million hryvnias. When directly asked, "Where did the family get the money?", Oleksandr Katsuba replies that "they sold the reinforced concrete factory in Vodolaga." Moreover, he claims he had no relation to the embezzlement in Naftogaz or the Boyko towers. However, then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko had his own version:
"The Katsuba Family" implies that the entire family was involved in the scheme with the Boyko towers and embezzlements at Naftogaz: Oleksandr Katsuba, his elder brother Serhiy Katsuba, and their father, Volodymyr Katsuba. The Prosecutor General’s Office estimated the family’s activities at 449.9 million hryvnias in 2014 prices. Two criminal cases were opened against Oleksandr Katsuba under articles 255 (Creation of a criminal organization) and 191 (Embezzlement of property through abuse of official position) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. But, as mentioned earlier, after spending several months in a pre-trial detention center, Oleksandr Katsuba was released.
Additionally, another key figure in the case, another deputy head of Naftogaz, Hennadiy Yuryev, conveniently committed suicide, on whom Katsuba shifted everything he could. Katsuba admits this himself while simultaneously calling Yuryev a "decent person."
Regarding other Katsubas, especially the elder brother Serhiy Katsuba, Lutsenko called him a "key organizer of the scheme to steal money from Naftogaz." This was not confirmed by the investigation, but Serhiy Katsuba was a deputy head of Naftogaz, replaced by Oleksandr in this position, while Serhiy moved to become a member of parliament from the Party of Regions. Interestingly, Oleksandr Katsuba now tries to distance himself from his elder brother, seemingly forgetting that together with their father, they "sold the factory to pay the bail." Of course, these are their family affairs, but in light of the "suicidal" Yuryev, whom Oleksandr Katsuba blamed for everything possible and whom he calls "a super-person," it characterizes him quite well as a person.
At least he doesn’t disown his father, who founded the entire Katsuba family empire, thanks to whom both Serhiy and then Oleksandr entered Naftogaz. Volodymyr Katsuba currently heads the Kharkiv district council, which is a bit low for a two-time Member of Parliament (from the Party of Regions, naturally), but he also started his path in big politics from the bottom — as the head of the Derhachiv district administration. Later, he worked his way into becoming an MP, where he was the first to be caught button-pushing after the corresponding law was passed. Given the family tradition of Katsubas to betray their benefactors, it should be noted that after Yanukovych’s flight, Volodymyr Katsuba quickly "rebranded" himself and switched first to the "Sovereign European Ukraine" parliamentary group, and then to the "People’s Will." He, along with his son Serhiy, who was also an MP from the Party of Regions, voted for the "dictatorial laws." The history is quite old, but it fits well as a family characterization.
Especially in the light of how quickly the family distanced themselves from Anatoliy Shariy’s circle when it became clear that he would not enter parliament and was an overt marginal figure. Though the Shariy party lists had numerous representatives of the Katsuba family. In 2019, 83% of the money donated to Shariy’s party came from the Katsuba family.
But when the situation with Shariy became apparent, Katsuba started claiming that his family did not finance Shariy. This directly contradicts the data from "Chesno Movement," which counted that from donors somehow connected with the Katsuba family business, Shariy received 5.1 million hryvnias. Yet Katsuba Junior insists that this is all untrue.
At least he doesn’t disown his relatives. Apparently, he understands that on the Central Election Commission’s website, they remained in the Shariy party lists.
After Zelenskyy’s triumphant victory, Katsuba quickly "changed colors." Which is not surprising, judging by all his previous biography. Judging by the fact that his father became the head of the Kharkiv district, he also changed "colors." What happened with his father is unknown, but the son says that he "believed in Zelenskyy, looked him in the eye, and saw that it was cool." What exactly was "cool" — he can’t explain. But — "cool."
On this wave of "coolness," he ventured into the IT business. At least, that’s how he refers to his microcredit company MyCredit.
How this fits in his head — that’s a question for him. But we are more interested in another question — where did Oleksandr Katsuba get the initial capital for this company? It amounted to just over one million dollars. And the "IT company" MyCredit was established in 2014, right after the funds from the Boyko rigs were embezzled, to which, according to Oleksandr Katsuba, he had no relation. Nor did his brother Serhiy or their father Volodymyr.
One could believe them, but it’s hard to. And here the question goes to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, or rather to the law enforcement agencies controlled by his Office — why hasn’t the Katsuba family answered for the billions stolen from the people of Ukraine? The fact that the previous administration released Oleksandr Katsuba from prison does not remove questions from the current administration. Especially if you recall the promises made in 2019 when Oleksandr Katsuba was once again rapidly "changing colors."
Мария Соколовская
