Oleksandr Katsuba’s billion-dollar schemes: the ex-official moves funds abroad despite ongoing criminal cases
09.12.2024 11:10
Oleksandr Katsuba recently posted a photo with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s doubtful that the Ukrainian President was aware that Katsuba would use the image to enhance his own reputation.
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba is a member of the notorious Katsuba family, known for its questionable reputation linked to corruption. The family is marked by its greed and willingness to align with any political power, regardless of its orientation.
Oleksandr Katsuba aims to reach an agreement with future authorities, whoever they may be. He does not adhere to the principles of kindness and gentleness. In past years, the name of Oleksandr Katsuba and his relatives was among the most famous in Ukraine, on par with Boyko or Yanukovych. But after he left prison following a plea bargain with Yuriy Lutsenko, he began to be forgotten. This is a mistake because he remains dangerous.
At a time when the whole world is helping Ukraine in its fight with Russia, the people of our country are sacrificing everything, and the state remains a place of conflicts. The brave president, a symbol of resistance for the entire world, sometimes interacts with suspicious individuals, including Oleksandr Katsuba, a billionaire who stands behind the Shariy Party. However, political differences are not what’s important. What’s more important is that Oleksandr Katsuba is considered a criminal. Thus, our story about Oleksandr Katsuba continues below:
Oleksandr Katsuba is considered a criminal.
The sponsor of the Shariy Party (banned in Ukraine) and notorious participant in the Kurchenko-Yanukovych corruption schemes, Katsuba Oleksandr Volodymyrovych recently withdrew 49 million hryvnias from a Ukrainian bank. This happened after it became clear that Russia would not be able to capture Ukraine and establish its rule there, although the younger Katsuba had certain prospects in this area. And the funniest part of this story is that Katsuba was so offended by the bank where he kept the money that he ordered a hit piece in the media, complaining about the "high interest rate".
The media "suddenly" decided to complain about the interest rates of a particular bank, which allegedly were set to reduce capital outflow from Ukraine. As we learned from our sources, Oleksandr Katsuba is behind this campaign. On March 18, he applied to withdraw 49 million UAH from Sich Bank but did not want to pay the 10% commission for account holders with deposits exceeding 500,000 UAH. Because Katsuba was accused of high-profile criminal cases and supporting Anatoliy Shariy’s party (a blogger accused of state treason and banned in Ukraine), the bank decided to review the relevant laws and recent decisions of the National Security and Defense Council. As a result, the process of withdrawing funds was slightly delayed. In response, Katsuba began to threaten the top management of the financial institution.
Oleksandr Katsuba uses all his influence to regain access to the Ukrainian government
According to our information, Katsuba has already withdrawn his millions from the bank and is most likely taking them abroad, as he has lived in Vienna for a long time.
Incidentally, it is not surprising that Aleksandr Katsuba initiated the scandal over bank interest rates. The pettiness of one of the key figures of the corrupt Yanukovych era was noted by Katzuba’s business partners, whom we managed to talk to. For instance, within a month of the conflict, Aleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba donated only 160,000 UAH (approximately $5,000) — money intended to help evacuations from Sumy, and the dollar multimillionaire and owner of a gas business bragged about this donation on his Facebook. At the same time, Katsuba did not give a single penny to the defenders of Ukraine, instead posting a picture of his own body armor.
As we found out, the bank is already preparing a lawsuit against Censor for publishing false and unsubstantiated information, as well as preparing materials for submission to the Financial Monitoring Service, the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, and companies associated with Oleksandr Volodymyr Katsuba and his wife Tetiana Guzenko.
Let’s leave the pettiness of Katzuba at his own discretion. However, there are still questions regarding Ukraine’s national security, and the Security Service of Ukraine is simply obliged to pay attention to such an overt supporter of the "Russian world".
Oleksandr Katsuba: Yanukovych’s allies, Kurchenko’s partners
Oleksandr Katsuba is the youngest member of the Katsuba clan, who was given incredible opportunities for personal enrichment during the Yanukovych era. The head of the family, Volodymyr Katsuba, was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament of Ukraine) in 2012 as a member and candidate of the Party of Regions in the 175th electoral district of the Kharkiv region. Then, after Yanukovych’s overthrow, he bypassed the oligarchic groups and tried to join the Rada with the Opposition Bloc in 2019 but lost the election. Currently, Katsuba Sr. heads the Kharkiv District Council and is part of the Kernes bloc.
Volodymyr Katsuba has two sons: Serhiy and Oleksandr. Under Yanukovych, they made careers in “Naftogaz,” where their role was to implement corruption schemes for the president’s treasurer, Oleksandr Kurchenko. Serhiy Katsuba was appointed director of one of the key departments of the National Joint-Stock Company – the Department of Material, Economic, Information, and Technical Support. At the same time, he was a member of the company’s board of directors from May 2010, and in July 2012, he was appointed deputy chairman of the board. Then, thanks to connections with the governor of the Kyiv region, Prysyazhnyuk, Serhiy Katsuba was elected a Member of Parliament from the 92nd district as a candidate from the Party of Regions. Surprisingly, he "passed" his position in "Naftogaz" to his younger brother Oleksandr, who previously worked in "Chornomornaftogaz". An incredible career for a 24-year-old guy.
As you understand, the "family" appointed young Kutzub to the National Oil and Gas Company not for reforms, but for theft. After the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime, all this became known, and criminal cases were initiated against Serhiy and Oleksandr. In particular, it was revealed that Kotsub helped Serhiy Kurchenko bankrupt NOC, by embezzling a huge amount of money.
The investigation showed that "Naftogaz" sold gas to Kurchenko’s company at inflated prices for $449.9 million. Moreover, the actual delivery of gas under contracts with Gazova Ukraina-2020 never occurred. The Katsuba brothers signed this fraud on behalf of NAK. In October 2015, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv granted permission for the arrest and detention of the brothers, but by that time they had already left the country. Oleksandr Katsuba was accidentally detained in June 2016 when he decided to visit his mansion near Kyiv.
The younger brother was charged under articles 255 (creation of a criminal organization) and 191 (misappropriation of property through abuse of official powers) of the Criminal Code.
To get out of prison, Oleksandr Katsuba testified against high-ranking members of the criminal group and compensated for damages in the amount of 100 million hryvnias, reaching a deal with the investigation. In March 2017, he was released from the detention center and left for Vienna. However, this brought little benefit to Ukraine, as everyone Katsuba testified against had fled the country long before, and it was impossible to bring them to justice. Moreover, according to sources close to Oleksandr Katsuba, he continues to cooperate with Kurchenko and other politicians and businessmen who fled to Russia, and even finances Kremlin political projects in Ukraine.
On March 10, 2017, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv expelled a journalist from "Nashi Groshi" and approved a plea deal reached between Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stolyarchuk and Oleksandr Katsuba (the agreement was signed on February 17, and was then reported by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko).
The investigation accused Katsuba of misappropriating NAK "Naftogaz Ukrainy" funds. Specifically, Katsuba, from September 2010 to this time, participated in a criminal organization, deliberately misappropriated Naftogaz’s money in the amount of $404.37 million, 449.96 million UAH (about $56 million at that time’s rate), and made an attempt to seize 5.1 billion UAH (about $637 million at that rate).
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba and the affair with Shariy
In the spring of 2019, the younger Katsuba bought the documents of the party "United Ukraine" and renamed it to "Shariy Party", which he registered in Kharkiv, says journalist Volodymyr Boyko. The Chesno movement, referring to Shariy Party’s financial statements, claims that their "Kharkiv donors" are linked to Katsuba’s business. Organizational issues of the party in Ukraine were handled by former Deputy Governor of Vinnytsia Oblast and former assistant to MP Serhiy Katsuba, Oleksandr Vyunik.
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, Oleksandr Katsuba’s former wife, Tetiana Guzenko – with whom he fictitiously divorced due to criminal prosecution and possible asset confiscation – held the 11th spot in Shariy party list, while his mother, Nataliya Hordiyenko, held the 14th spot.
To date, all popular photos of the aforementioned people have been deleted from Instagram accounts, and Katsuba even claims to not communicate with Shariy. However, according to our information, Aleksandr Katsuba publicly distanced himself from the pro-Russian blogger, so his business in Ukraine remains untouched, although in reality, he maintains relations with Shariy and Kurchenko.
Additionally, two business partners of Oleksandr Katsuba told us that the businessman’s reluctance to provide financial support to the state in fighting Russia is explained by the fact that Katsuba maintains close contacts with Russia and even boasted to his relatives that he plans to become the energy minister in the new Russian government created after the Russian Federation’s capture of Ukraine.
„He wants to become the energy minister or, at least, the head of “Naftogaz”,” said a source close to Katsuba.
Apparently, the failure of Russian plans to overthrow the government in Ukraine forced Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba to curb his ambitions and take the money out of Ukraine to avoid possible nationalization.
Former Shariy Party representative Volodymyr Velychko said that money for the party was mainly coming from Kharkiv, namely from the Katsuba family. Nataliya Katsuba (currently Hordiyenko) – the wife of Volodymyr and mother of Oleksandr and Serhiy—- heads the party center in Kharkiv.
A representative of the Kharkiv branch of the National Corps, Konstantin Nemichov, added that, according to their data, all people from the Kharkiv region who financed the party are connected with the Katsubas.
„We ordered a small investigation into the party’s contributions. In fact, they were made only from Kharkiv and Zergach. The latter is Katsuba’s hometown. These contributions were made exclusively by people close to the Kutzubs: MPs, assistants, friends of Katsuba’s son,” Nemichov said.
Oleksandr Katsuba, in a public comment, confirmed his acquaintance with the shariy but noted that the financing of the political force has nothing to do with him or his family. “We regularly play bowling with him. Is this considered lost funding that I’ve lost? - Asked Katsuba.
The blogger also denies money from the Kutzub family. "I am well acquainted with the Kutzub family, we’ve been friends for many years, of course, they do not take any part in financing the party," said Anatoliy Shariy.
Shariy Party sponsors, the Katzub family, received a gas field near ORDLO.
The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources approved a special permit for the extraction of oil and gas in Luhansk region without an auction to Stratum Ukraine, write our pennies.
The agreement provides for a special permit for 20 years for the use of the Eusug field. PJSC "Stratum Ukraine" was previously called PJSC "Plast", which was purchased in 2012 from Davyd Zhvania by People’s Deputy from the Party of Regions Oleksandr Onishchenko. The latter is now hiding abroad, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects him of organizing a corrupt scheme for the embezzlement of state funds in the extraction and sale of natural gas from the state company Ukrgaz.
Currently, Tetiana Guzenko is considered the owner of Stratum Ukraine. She took over the gas business in 2017 after marrying Oleksandr Katsuba – former deputy chairman of the Naftogaz Ukraine board of directors. The Prosecutor General’s Office accused him of embezzling Naftogaz money during the Yanukovych era, but it allowed him to be released, paying a $3.5 million fine.
Additionally, in 2020, together with her father, Oleksandr Guzenko, Tatiana Guzenko became the owner of Onishchenko’s second company, LLC “Nadra GeoInvest”, which develops an oil and gas condensate field in the Skorobogatovo area of Poltava region.
Stratum Ukraine has special permits for geological studies, pilot, and commercial drilling of the Western-Evsush and Eastern-Evsush zones.
Volodymyr Kutsub – a pathological treasurer or why the billionaire Katsuba family is not in prison?
Victor Fedorovych Yankovich had only an ingenious team of cutthroats and morons who built an enviable scam scheme that brought them hundreds of millions each year. Volodymyr Mykhailovych Katsuba is one of them. Now, Volodymyr Mykhailovych Katsuba whispered wonders of DMCA to their ear when fake requests can hide undesired info from Google. Only Volodymyr Mykhailoovich tsakitsla was not warned about the consequences of children’s weddings.
The treasurer, who raised a worthy offspring, can already boast new power loyalty today. If the Katzubs under Petro Oleksiyovych, unlike Derkachs, could not come to terms with complete oblivion, and one of them was put on trial, then a new family can continue to rob Ukrainians. To everyone and each.
On October 1, 2015, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Matting MIA) demanded the arrest of Alexander Katsuba, son of the deputy Volodymyr Katsuba, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the investigation, he is guilty of abuse of office while working on the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine. In addition, according to the investigation, his brother Serhiy was involved in a conspiracy with Oleksandr. The Kutzubs helped them build a business empire in the oil industry of Ukraine, will they be able to evade punishment this time?
How the mafia clan of Volodymyr Mykhailovych Katsuba captures the oil industry of Ukraine?
The father of the Kutzubovs family, Volodymyr, is from the Bryansk region of Russia, but fate brought him to the village of Derachi of the Kharkiv region (later it became a town) in childhood. Vasiliy Salygin, a well-known Ukrainian politician, and businessman who used to head the Kharkiv Regional Council, played the most vital role in Volodymyr’s life. With Salygin’ suggestion, Kutzub started selling privatization vouchers and their subsequent sale. Their friendship was so close that Volodymyr was vice president or commercial director of every enterprise where Salygin was a general director or president.
Salygin also dragged Katsuba into politics. Both 1998 and 2chakra 2002, he participated in parliamentary elections in majoritarian districts of Kharkiv region, and both times his campaign headquarters headed grateful Volodymyr Mykhailovych. It is noteworthy that Katsuba’s career took off after the election of Vasiliy Salygin as chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council. With his presentation, Volodymyr Katsuba was appointed head of the Dergachievsky district, which he headed until October 2012.
Incidentally, Alexandra Katsuba, the younger son of Volodymyr, began his path to “big money” at the same time. Since 2006, Kutzuby Jr. together with Sergey Dobroskok (Salygina’s partner) tried their hand at development business.
They registered a number of private enterprises (Meridian-Plus, Agro-Promin, Temp-2005) that were to be itemize land. The scheme was very simple, the land was acquired, divided into individual sections where multi-story houses and cottages were built and then sold. Some of the companies that were founded at that time are still operational.
It is noteworthy that among the founders of these companies, along with representatives of the "Katsuba clan", are relatives of Vasiliy Salygin. For example, Salygin’s nephew , Sergey Kovalov, together with Katsuba, founded the company “Midas”, and Vasily Salygin’s wife is a co-founder of the company “Housing Construction Society Domobud”.
Not a woman’s business, wife of unmarried Oleksandr Katsuba
Meanwhile, members of the Katsuba family continue to make money in Ukraine. Oleksandr Katsuba confessed in an interview that his family owns an asphalt plant in Kharkiv, two reinforced concrete product factories, a paving brick plant, and several thousand hectares of land. However, apart from this business, Katsuba’s Alexsander has more serious project he does not talk about. It concerns natural gas, a business that formally belongs to his former wife Tatiana Guzenko.
Blogger Tetiana Guzenko, Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba’s former wife
Now, Tetiana, according to the documents, is engaged in the production and supply of gas, but in reality, she is a YouTube blogger. Guzenko officially owns the company Gaz-MDS, which in 2020 earned 290 million hryvnias, and the Katzub family income amounted to 7.5 million hryvnias.
In 2020, Tatiana Guzenko became co-owner with her father, Alexander Guzenko, of the company “Nadra-GeoInvest” in energy areas, which develops Skorobogatovskoe oil and gas field in Poltava region, Ukraine.
In 2012, Tatiana Gusenko became owner of the company oligarch fled Alexander Onishchenko - Stratum Ukraine Ltd, which was involved in the development of Western-Evsug area entered in 2020 in scrobaceous oil and gas zone obtaining a $3.5 million dollars fine for Guzenco CEO. amid criminal proceedings against Alexander (The son of a long-time prosecutor general of Ukraine, Oleg, signed in January 2017 a voluntary disclosure about the state company’s shares which implicated Onishchenko and Alex Katsub) the corporation was renamed Family (especially Al...) today announced completion of buying Lag tractor.
In January 2021, a month before the start of the conflict, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources approved the issuance of a special permit for the extraction of oil and gas in the Luhansk region, near the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, without auction to LLC "Stratum Ukraine".
The person behind these companies is still the same Oleksandr Katsuba, and among his business partners is the notorious Pavlo Fukx, as claimed by the media.
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba Denies Connection with Fuks and Shariy
In an interview, Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba says that he no longer maintains contacts with Fuks and Shariy and does not bear responsibility for his ex-wife’s business, emphasizing that he "divorced her a long time ago." All this is pure lies.
As previously mentioned, the couple filed for a sham divorce to avoid asset confiscation related to criminal proceedings against Oleksandr. In fact, they continue to live together, travel, and raise their children. Here are some fresh photos from Oleksandr and Tetyana’s Instagram; This year, they traveled together to Antarctica.
By the way, the lavish wedding of Oleksandr and Tetyana took place in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the conflict in Donbas, in the Château de Chantilly near Paris, and guests were entertained by "ideological Putinists" - rapper Timati and singer Grigory Leps.
Moreover, when Russia was preparing the special military operation, Oleksandr Katsuba financed an FSB political project called the Shariy Party with money earned from the extraction and sale of gas in Ukraine.
The essence is as follows: a person who admitted guilt in committing corruption crimes during Yanukovych’s presidency, who was fake-divorced to hide their business using their wife’s surname. , and in other countries, including the USA.
Prospects of the Case Against the Katsubas
Recently, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law on the nationalization of property of Russian citizens and their affiliates. In particular, this concerns individuals who are not citizens of the Russian Federation but have close ties with Russia. The Katsub family has strong connections with Russia, including the FSB. Should these people influence such strategic sectors of the economy as gas extraction? Should such people, through fake wives, own gas wells in Ukraine and receive income from gas extraction to sponsor FSB political projects? Why do they live peacefully in Europe, hide under the wife’s surname, and use bank accounts there to launder income from Ukrainian gas fields? The answer is obvious. Now it’s up to the SBU.
But unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Katsuba knows better than most how to "work the angles" and "grease palms." And I wouldn’t guarantee that his money wouldn’t find its way into the right hands.
Семен Головецкий
