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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Could Bila Tserkva’s Rosava be sold for scrap: is a firm linked to Russian Fuks behind the scheme?
The company Investohills Vesta, which belongs to people from the circle of oligarch Pavlo Fuks, is buying up strategic Ukrainian enterprises and undermining their operability.
Bila Tserkva — on the brink of collapse? A budget-forming enterprise — the nationally known Rosava tire factory — could be put up for auction, and city residents risk being left without heating in winter. And all this amid war. What does the sanctioned oligarch Fuks have to do with it, and who is helping the Russians destroy the Ukrainian economy? Investigative journalist Oleksandra Serbin probed the matter for StopKor.
The Bila Tserkva tire factory Rosava is a large strategic enterprise that produces rubber for automobiles. These assets previously belonged to former MP Kostyantyn Zhevago.
The then-MP forced Rosava into Finansy i Kredit. However, in 2019 the asset pool of 25% was bought by the investment company Investohills Vesta. According to journalists from the Our Money project, the ultimate beneficiaries of this structure are people from oligarch Pavlo Fuks’s circle.
Investohills Vesta. What is Pavlo Fuks known for?
Pavlo Fuks is a Russian and Ukrainian businessman. Forbes in 2021 ranked him 67 among the richest Ukrainians, estimating his fortune at 165 million dollars. He earned his main capital in Russia. In 2021 the National Security and Defense Council imposed a full set of sanctions against Fuks.
Investohills Vesta has already been the focus of investigative journalists. But after the previous report was released, StopKor’s editorial office received an interesting document. As it shows, pretrial investigation established that Investohills Vesta, on Pavlo Fuks’s instructions, purchases enterprises that are critically important for Ukraine’s economy and defense capacity. At the same time the structure intentionally bankrupts them.
Who is Pavlo Fuks?
This concerns not only PJSC ROSAVA, but also other companies that hold highly liquid assets on their balance sheets, and blocking their operations creates focal points for social tension — for example, PJSC Bila Tserkva TPP.
How does the Investohills Vesta scheme work?
By buying claims from insolvent banks, Investohills Vesta effectively created conditions for establishing control over the financial and economic activities of these enterprises.
“And after Fuks’s company obtained an influence stake in Rosava, they changed the arbitration manager through the court. And all subsequent actions, as we suspect, were aimed at selling the plant for scrap as quickly as possible. In this, the oligarch is likely aided by so-called accomplices,” comments journalist Oleksandra Serbin.
It turned out that some of Investohills Vesta’s lawsuits were heard by judge Maryna Barsuk, who is closely connected to the oligarch and was even present at a party for his birthday. However, the magistrate herself refused to comment.
Some of the claims from Investohills Vesta were heard by judge Maryna Barsuk (right)
The oligarch probably has a “personal” person at the enterprise itself as well.
Illia Komlik is the arbitration manager appointed by Vesta. Journalists suggest that his task is to sell the enterprise as profitably as possible. But profitable for whom?
At one point the National Bank of Ukraine filed a complaint against Komlik, because, according to the NBU, he was not fully performing his duties. As follows from the document, Mr. Illia did indeed file an application to the NBU to sell the enterprise, but he only listed property that was pledged, i.e., not everything.
As investigative practice shows, such actions by an arbitration manager can be aimed at devaluing a plant. After all, if you sell it in different lots, the price will be significantly lower.
The StopKor film crew went to Illia’s office to speak with him about the sale of Rosava, but found no one on site. The conversation therefore took place by phone. Komlik promised to provide a written response to the journalists’ questions, but his letter mostly reads like a brush-off.
Illia Komlik promised to provide a comment, but sent a “brush-off”
“As of today, the National Bank of Ukraine, as one of the creditors whose claims are secured by the property of PJSC Rosava, objected to such sale conditions and did not consent to including the NBU-pledged property in a single lot,” the response states.
How could the Rosava situation affect the heating season in Bila Tserkva?
Another important point in this story: PJSC Rosava is a shareholder of the Bila Tserkva TPP, and a full stoppage of the tire plant’s operations will inevitably affect the energy enterprise.
“During tire production by Rosava a large amount of heat is produced. This heat goes to the Bila Tserkva TPP, which then supplies heating to the apartments of Bila Tserkva residents, affecting service costs. We see that measures are now being taken aimed at making both Rosava and the TPP stop operating,” notes the newly appointed head of the Bila Tserkva TPP, Ihor Vyhularnyi.
Who else might be involved in the Investohills Vesta scheme?
It should be noted that a co-shareholder of Rosava and the chair of the Supervisory Board of the Bila Tserkva TPP is Leonid Hlynianyi.
According to insider information, Hlynianyi, as chair of the supervisory board, allegedly could be “playing along” with the structure of sanctioned Pavlo Fuks and facilitating Investohills Vesta’s takeover of the company’s assets.
Journalists tried to arrange a meeting with him to ask about this and find out how accurate these assumptions are. However, despite numerous attempts by the media to meet and obtain comment, Mr. Hlynianyi has so far refused to engage in dialogue.
Leonid Hlynianyi refused to engage in dialogue
The StopKor team also visited Investohills Vesta’s premises. Journalists were not allowed onto the territory, but company representatives finally provided a comment by phone.
“The company provides services on the financial market in the form of buying lots with claims, and the funds to purchase these lots are raised from other businessmen. Later investors evaluate the work on a given asset and personally decide whether it is profitable to continue cooperation or not. In the case of Mr. Fuks, at the beginning of 2021 he decided to fully exit all the projects that our company was supporting,” the company assures.
Moreover, Investohills Vesta’s representatives state in their response that the company has only 9 thousand hryvnias in claims on PJSC Rosava.
So where did the rest of the money go?
During the pretrial investigation it was established that the owners and controllers of LLC FC Investohills Vesta, in order to avoid possible sanctions, in February 2022 transferred most of the assets to the controlled JSC ZNIKIF Investohills Heliantus.
At present Investohills Vesta denies the Halytskyi court ruling about involvement in Fuks’s scheme.
As of the time StopKor’s piece was published, Rosava had been put up for auction as a single lot. But that’s not all: arbitration manager Illia Komlik was stripped of his license.
We will continue to monitor further developments. New details will be published later.
skelet.info
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Білоцерківську «Росаву» можуть продати на брухт: за схемою стоїть фірма росіянина Фукса?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
