Ukraine is desperately needing a wonder, a sign that everything is back to normal, or will be in some not-so-distant future. The sixth President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky decided to show this wonder by investing a lot of borrowed money into ailing infrastructure: the road network, bridges and public facilities. People will see the new bold construction works all over the country and it will be a sign for them, that everything is on the right track. That was the idea.
The project was called “The Big Construction” and launched on the epic scale. Epic turns out to be pathetic as the project failed short. Ye olde corruption, a trademark of Ukrainian politics for decades, and wrong people at the command rendered the project useless. Yuriy Golyk (Yuri Golik), the man appointed by president Zelensky to rule The Big Construction seems to be not up to the expectation, to say the least.
The Big Construction topic was one of the many reasons that led to the loss of election rating of Sluha Narodu (“Servants of the People”) at the local elections of 2020. Although, in theory, is supposed to be a “winning card”. After all, for a record amount of investment of UAH 70.6 billion (£1.86B) from the state budget (the estimate for “Ukravtodor” state road construction company plus the estimate for local road network), the record length of the routes of 4.039 would also have to be updated. While, for example, in 2018, the predecessors carried out an average repair of 590 miles of highways for 29 billion hryvnias of budget expenditures. At the same time, every second budget hryvnia was spent on roads “with some violations”.
The planning of The Big Construction was carried out so unprofessionally that it led to an overwhelming corruption. The head of Ukravtodor, Alexander Kubrakov, and the “state manager” Yuriy Golyk, who performed the operational management of the project, depicted the “success” of really failed cases on individual routes or other objects.
So, in January-November 2020, the regional road Services conducted 3135 project-related purchases with a total cost of 101.7 billion hryvnia. And 61% of the total amount was received by only 5 companies – “Avtomagistral-South”, “Rostdorstroy”, “Onur”, JV “Avtostrada” and PBS (this company is part of the Kolomoisky holding).
Waiting for the miracle to come: The Big Construction, Zelensky’s receipt for reelection
At the same time, 96 companies took part in the procurement of SAD. That is, less than 10% of market players received contracts for 60 billion hryvnia. And this is not to mention the fact that Ukravtodor has significantly gone beyond the limits of the state budget-2020. If at the same time the same “Ukravtodor” exceeded the road repair plan! But alas, the situation is exactly the opposite. At the forum “Network: a forum of the road industry ” on Wednesday, December 2, Kubrakov said that in 2020, Ukravtodor updated a total of 2440 miles of roads of all types. It is noteworthy that in one of his blogs Kubrakov in July of the same year stated that work has already been launched on 2300+ miles of roads in Ukraine. Thus, it turns out that from July to December of this year, Ukravtodor almost literally “planted in the air” funds intended for road renovation.
Most Ukrainians, of course, guess that a significant part of this money is being stolen – it’s not for nothing that someone aptly stuck a slightly changed name to this presidential project – “The Big Heist”. But not everyone knows who steals and how. It is understandable – you need to steal money quietly, otherwise a crowd of people who want to steal a little will run away, and after all, the budget is not rubber, there will not be enough for everyone.
Therefore, a strictly limited number of people close to Zelensky and his closest hangers-on are allowed to take the cut.
Among such top thieves is Yuriy Golyk, who was appointed coordinator of The Big Construction program in February 2020. Last year’s budget – 121.8 billion hryvnias – has been spent. It was repeatedly written that a significant part of this money (partially taken from the “COVID fund”) settled in Golyk’s pockets. But all these loud scandals remained the voice of the crying in the desert.
Because the president does not need another clown with video clips, but a professional. Professional sawing is on the roads. And Yuri Golyk learned how to masterfully cut budget money for road repairs when he worked in the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration together with its head, Valentin Reznichenko. Under President Poroshenko, by the way. But the hatred of the sixth to the fifth did not prevent Yuriy Golyk from becoming the coordinator of the program “Velike budivnitsvo”.
Because you need to steal skilfully. He demonstrated this almost immediately by creating a so-called “Road Cartel” of contractors who received the most profitable orders. The leaders in the value of the purchases won are limited liability companies “Motorway-South”, “SUNP Avtostrada”, “Techno-stroy-Center”, “Onur Construction International”, “Rostdorstroy”, “Altcom” and ” PBS ” – they received 72% of orders in 2020.
Golik’s position was not shaken even by the revelations of ex-Finance Minister Umansky, who said that these firms resell their contracts to smaller enterprises, stealing 30-40% of the allocated money. Last year, the amount of” sawn-off ” amounted to about 35 billion hryvnia.
Recall that it was 35 billion in addition that Ukravtodor received from the covid fund. The money raised by the whole world to fight the coronavirus was transferred by Zelensky’s strong-willed decision to repair roads. And-stolen. By the way, no one disputed Umansky’s statement and did not call it slander. So from simple words, they became a fact: the “road cartel” under the leadership of Yuriy Golyk stole 35 billion hryvnia.
But the statement of another person, a journalist and the head of the GO “Our Groshi” Alexey Shalaysky, Yuriy Golyk for some reason angered and he decided to sue Shalaysky:
However, if you carefully read Golik’s words, it turns out that he won the court not at all about what Shalaysky said about him. And for some petty clue, with which Golik’s lawyer clung to the journalist. And for some reason Yuriy Golyk is happy about this. No, a victory in court is, of course, a victory. But for some reason, stating that Shalaysky “spread false information about me,” Yuriy Golyk refutes not this information, but a completely incomprehensible thing about Shalaysky.
We do not argue – it may be that the latter is a very bad person. But we are still interested not in his moral character, but what he said about Yuriy Golyk that so angered the head of the”Road Cartel”.
And he said (or rather, he wrote) Shalaysky says the following about Yuriy Golyk: “The cartel continued its path to a collective monopoly. Now only four firms from among the founding fathers of the National Association of Road Builders of Ukraine will receive more than 61% of this year’s Ukravtodor contracts. And the “Highway-South” has exceeded 20 billion UAH and it has very little left to cross the mark of 22 500 000 000 UAH – this is the annual size of the entire defense order of our belligerent country.
Yuriy Golyk spoils the plan
That is, in general, everything corresponds to the wishes of the ideologist of the” Big Construction “Yuri Golik, who recently gave candid testimony in an interview with the”Ministry of Transport”:
“I want the road cartel to appear. Moreover, I think that Ukravtodor should do everything to make it appear.”
It was these words of Shalaysky that Yuriy Golyk, the curator and coordinator of the Velike Budivnitvo program, did not like. By the way, he works in this capacity for free. Well, if you believe him, since Golik has repeatedly stated that he does not receive wages in this capacity.
Let us repeat – there is nothing to object to Yuriy Golyk about what Shalaysky wrote. But the resentment remained. Although, maybe he was offended not by the above, but by the following: “With the beginning of the” Big Construction”, Yuriy Golik joined the presidium of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, which is headed by Boris Lozhkin, his former employer from the Ukrainian Media Holding. Also, the presidium includes Valentin Reznichenko, another native of the “UMH”, who now heads the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration”?
If someone thinks that Shalaysky’s post smacks of anti-Semitism, then this is just a mistake. Yuriy Golyk noticed something offensive for himself not in this. And this information is not offensive, to be honest, but it clarifies the essence of who is behind all this bacchanalia with stealing money for road repairs.
The fact is that Shalaysky placed the composition of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine:
There is no need to explain who Igor Kolomoisky is. Regarding another member of the Confederation – Valentin Reznichenko – we will briefly explain. This is the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. The current one, appointed by Zelensky. And before that, Reznichenko led the same ODE in 2015-2019. At the “damned dealer”.
And he became famous for tender frauds on the roads. And it was Yuri Golik who headed all these schemes. The piquancy of the situation was given by the fact that the tenders were almost always won by companies that are wanted by Interpol: LLC “Stroyinvest Engineering”; LLC “Capital Stroy Group”; LLC “Alias-Company”; LLC “Stroymax-Company”; LLC “Mistokombud”; LLC “Ukr-Remmontazh”; LLC “ABC BUILD Service”; LLC “Kommunalschik”; LLC “Dniprospetsliftservice”. According to media reports, most of these firms are associated with odious citizens of Ukraine, Israel and the United States at the same time-brothers Vladimir and Leonid Dubinsky.
The experience was not lost in vain – both (Yuriy Golyk and Reznichenko) were in demand under Zelensky. Maybe it was the fact that Shalaysky dug this train from the past that offended Golik? And he decided to sue an excessively truth-loving journalist? And since it was dangerous to refute something from what was said – you can accidentally build an avalanche of compromising material – then Yuriy Golyk did not come up with anything better than to cling to some trifle from the biography of a journalist and pass it off as a huge victory?
In this regard, pay attention to the list of the top ten of those who won contracts for the construction of roads:
Compare the firms that connect with Yuriy Golyk – “Highway-South”, “SUNP Highway”, “Techno-stroy-center”, “Onur Construction International”, “Rostdorstroy”, and ” PBS ” – and the percentage of contracts from the total part of the state order. And go back to the beginning of the material, comparing these names with those who last year mastered 2/3 of the funds allocated for road repairs.
And, by the way, we recall that Budinvest Engineering LLC is a company of the odious Dubinsky brothers, who have been wanted by the FBI for more than ten years and asks Ukrainian law enforcement officers to help in the arrest. But for some reason, the domestic Themis is blind.
By the way, about Kolomoisky. The publication newsworldcars put forward an unexpected version about his real role in the “Big Construction”: “Yuriy Golyk is actively sawing the budget of the “Big Construction” not only for his own benefit, but also on the advice of his patron Igor Valeryevich Kolomoisky. In fact, the embezzler Yuriy Golyk literally rolls the rating of President Zelensky into the asphalt, destroying it in the bud.”
Judging by the fact that Zelensky’s brave speeches and videos about the” successes “of the” Big Construction ” often dissonate with reality, the version has the right to exist.
However, it may be that the president is simply “in the share”. For how to explain the fact that Golik has been overseeing the cutting of giant budgets at the “Big Construction Site”for almost a year and a half? Recall that last year, 121.8 billion hryvnias were allocated for this program, and this year – 89 billion. Which is 210 billion hryvnia. And, if Umansky is right that 30-40% of this money is stolen, then it turns out that at least 60 billion hryvnias have settled in various pockets. Almost the defense budget of a belligerent country. This money is enough to bribe anyone you want, not just a clown from the “Quarter”. However, draw your own conclusions. But the fact remains that for a year and a half in a row, the curator of the “Big Construction” Yuriy Golyk daily gets into scandals related to the theft of money from this project. And-continues to lead him.
