Whose money funds Artem Vitko from Luhansk to seed a district in Poltava region

Whose money funds Artem Vitko from Luhansk to seed a district in Poltava region

ATB, Kernal, and the Batkivshchyna party are the main donors to the “parliamentarian-protector”

Poltava region is struck by the incredible generosity of MP Artem Vitko, who skillfully cultivates the electorate in his electoral district No. 149 (Karliivskyi, Kobelyatskyi, Kozelshynskyi, Mashivskyi, Novosanzharskyi, Chutivskyi districts).

Vitko, traveling around the district, gives gifts, greets people for holidays, talks about his active social position. And most importantly, he does not stint on stage stars – Pavlo Zibrov and DZIDZIO. The price of such “friendship” is not cheap: a party with DZIDZIO at the end of last year cost 20 thousand dollars, and Pavlo Zibrov charged for his entertainment at least 8 thousand dollars. To pay the salaries of the scene’s masters, Vitko spent at least 72 thousand dollars in June.

At the same time, the deputy has never officially declared large fortunes. In 2016-2017 years he had only a bare salary up to 240 thousand hryvnias per year. So formally he was one of the poorest deputies in the parliament. Where did the enormous money come from? A public movement Chesno’s request regarding Artem Vitko was left unanswered.

The story of contacts with his main sponsor began as early as February 2015 year. Vitko submitted a deputy inquiry to the General Prosecutor’s Office demanding to hold owner of the ATB supermarkets chain Gennadiy Butkevych responsible for financing terrorism and tax evasion. Vitko was one of the co-authors of the bill 2689, proposing nationalization of the entire chain’s property. At that time he clearly worked for the interests of ally on the faction Serhiy Rybalka. He is the former son-in-law of Butkevych, with whom the ATB owner entered a deadly duel.

After rumors that signing withdraw requests could fetch 500 thousand dollars, Vitko suddenly executed a dizzying turn. He not only withdrew his signature but also publicly apologized to Butkevych.

“I offer my deepest apologies to the customers and owners of ATB, as I did not possess all the information at that moment,” said the “consistent” deputy.

And immediately turned against his party colleague Rybalka, approved the SBU’s attack on his corporation S.Group, and predicted that Rybalka would soon end up behind bars.

Vitko’s “patriotism” no longer bothered him that Gennadiy Butkevych actively conducted business in the occupied Donbas and registered a company in the annexed Crimea to maintain control over his assets.

The alliance with Butkevych had far-reaching consequences for Vitko. First, he gained access to a powerful media resource – the Central TV channel (formerly City). Former Poltava regional council deputy Oleksandr Zaluzhnyi recently sold it to Gennadiy Butkevych’s daughter Hanna. As a result, Vitko’s “bright image” does not leave the screens of this channel. Interestingly, Vitko’s aide Oleh Hudz runs the NGO “Center for Public Monitoring Look,” and the founder of the organization is former owner of the City TV channel Oleksandr Zaluzhnyi.

Second, Gennadiy Butkevych provided his protégé with financial support, enabling the deputy to mount a wide campaign praising himself for the pre-election campaign.

Through Hudz, a direct link is traced between Vitko and former MP Andriy Verevskyi – president of the Kernal Group holding (the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, a powerful agrarian latifundist).

In the Verkhovna Rada, there operates an active lobbying group in favor of Kernal. And Artem Vitko is an indispensable part of it. Not by chance is he listed as a member of the Committee on Agricultural Policy. In July 2018 year, lobbyists managed to push through the Verkhovna Rada a bill 7010 allowing agricultural holdings to buy rail cars with compensation 30% of their cost. In other words, state subsidies to the Kernal agriholding could grow by 5 billion UAH. Artem Vitko was one of those who voted for this bill and helped it pass through the relevant committee.

Information about other illegal “earnings” of Vitko was voiced by his former boss – Radicals’ leader Oleh Lyashko. As early as September 2015 year Vitko announced his exit from the faction and moved to the BPP sector (in fact, he is still formally listed among the Radicals).

“The story with the scoundrel Vitko is very simple. He was bought with his guts… They took him on a kompromat and paid perhaps another three kopecks… Vitko is actually in the BPP sector, Ko-nonenko and Tretyakov keep him on a leash,” Lyashko’s confidant revealed.

What is notable is that Vitko himself, together with Oleksandr Tretyakov and a group of other colleagues from the presidential faction, arrived at the Feofania hospital near the Institute of Cardiology named after Strazhesko to hinder legal actions by NABU against the scandalous head of the State Fiscal Service, Roman Nasirov. This confirmed the words of his former political boss Oleh Lyashko.

Thus, there are three possible explanations for where Artem Vitko’s money for the large-scale pre-election campaign came from. First – large financial injections from ATB owner Gennadiy Butkevych and his Poltava media resources. Second – money for lobbying Kernal Group’s and Andriy Verevskyi’s interests. Third – funds obtained from the BPP for betraying the Radicals and synchronized voting by Vitko together with Petr Poroshenko’s people.

Author: Mykola Sushko