Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Gas Dumping and Swiss Scams: How Vitalii Lohonov, Oleh Tsiura, Serhii Tron and Dmytro Malynovskyi Are Driving OPZ to Bankruptcy
A strategic enterprise is being robbed again.
“The corpse” Dmytro Malynovskyi, Swiss national Oleh Tsiura, “crypto businessman” Serhii Tron, oligarch Dmytro Firtash. These names have surfaced in connection with another high-profile scandal at the Odesa Port Plant (OPZ).
Journalist Andrii Kovalenko writes in his column on Censor.NET that against the backdrop of financial problems and a prolonged shutdown, the Odesa Port Plant conducted two non-transparent tenders for gas supply — the key resource for resuming ammonia and urea production. As a result, the plant signed contracts with little-known firms that not only failed to solve its problems but worsened the situation, endangering the safety and stability of the country’s gas transmission system.
Vitalii Lohonov: “murky” tenders and a criminal past
The first tender held by OPZ on 25 July this year was won by a little-known Kharkiv LLC “Kompaniia ‘Arotorrgrup’” (Company “Agrotorggroup”). This company only “appeared” in 2022 year, when it was among the buyers of seized Russian ammonia sold at a dubious auction through a non-transparent commodities exchange. According to Andrii Kovalenko, the company lacks the experience and resources to fulfill such a large contract. Moreover, “Agrotorggroup” failed to meet its gas supply obligations, which led to a repeat tender in the second half of August.
The second tender was won by a Lviv-based company — LLC “Ukrnaftohazburinnia.” This firm is also unknown on the market; its license to supply natural gas was obtained only in September 2023 year.
An interesting fact: the company has no functioning official website, the presence of which is a mandatory condition for obtaining the aforementioned license, which again highlights the dubiousness of this company’s participation in such significant tenders. Notably, “Ukrnaftohazburinnia” is registered to Lviv biker and co-owner of FC Luzhany, Mykhailo Yaroslavovych Mazur.
According to the author, behind the non-transparent tenders stands Vitalii Lohonov — an informal adviser to the head of the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC). Lohonov also controls Sumykhimprom and has influence over OPZ’s management. The author believes this information strengthens suspicions of corruption in the deals, pointing to possible schemes to siphon state funds through fictitious contracts and intermediary companies.
Suspicion is reinforced by the fact that, as loud cases have shown, Vitalii Lohonov is connected to one of the OPZ tender winners — the aforementioned LLC “Kompaniia ‘Arotorrgrup’.” According to the Clarity Project service, the company’s CEO and ultimate beneficiary is listed as Olga Volodymyrivna Balyuk. Until 10 February this, 2024 year, Olga Balyuk headed another LLC — “LT-Resurs.” The main beneficiary of that company is Lohonov Vitalii Viktorovych. It is obvious that at “Agrotorggroup” Balyuk is Lohonov’s figurehead.
Adding spice to the situation is the fact that LLC “Agrotorggroup” is involved in criminal proceedings No. 72022000410000003 , opened by detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security 5 April 2022 year on charges of tax evasion on an especially large scale.
Moreover: Vitalii Lohonov, according to the portal “Judicial Authority of Ukraine,” appeared as a suspect in criminal proceedings No. 12016220000000106, registered 03.02.2016 year on charges of embezzling property through abuse of official position.
Vitalii Viktorovych was even at one time wanted as a person evading justice.
But, judging by documents posted in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, the case was shelved — Vitalii Lohonov avoided not only a guilty verdict but a trial altogether.
As Andrii Kovalenko writes, the main problem is that both companies from Lohonov’s orbit that won the tenders do not have the necessary funds to pay for the gas supplied. Instead, they are trying to obtain gas from Ukraine’s gas transmission system (GTS) without advance payment, which leads to system imbalance and poses a threat to its stability. More than half of the consumed gas goes unpaid, indicating violations of supply rules and potentially causing significant losses to the state.
The guarantees provided by the supplier companies do not cover the volume of gas consumed by the plant, yet production at OPZ continues despite the actual lack of payment. Under normal conditions the plant should have been stopped until the payment issue was resolved, but this does not happen, raising questions for the management of Ukraine’s GTS operator.
Moreover, the gas price fixed at 17 254 UAH per thousand cubic meters is significantly lower than current market prices, which start at 18 800 UAH. However, since the gas supplier has no own reserves, a reasonable question arises: by what mechanisms will the price difference be covered, especially given that the supplier’s financial resources are limited, if they exist at all?
Oleh Tsiura, Dmytro Firtash, Serhii Tron and Russian “grandmothers”
In September 2024 year OPZ signed export contracts to supply 300 000 tons of ammonia and 360 000 tons of urea with the mysterious Swiss firm UCG Trade AG. The contracts contain numerous anomalies: they do not specify product prices or delivery terms, and the appointment of agents was given to a little-known company from Mykolaiv. Financial settlements under the contracts pass through accounts in Revolut — a startup that is not a bank — which raises additional questions about the reliability of the deal.
Notably, the address of UCG Trade AG specified in the contract with OPZ differs from the address listed in the official Swiss company registry. This suggests a possible repetition of the scheme used in 2015 year with the firm Expotrade Global, when a clone company was created for fraudulent actions (we will stop on that episode in more detail below).
Aschwin Saravanan, who signed the multimillion-euro contracts with OPZ on behalf of UCG Trade AG, was appointed to the position exactly one day before signing. Aschwin Saravanan is an intern from India who was training in the company’s home office associated with Swiss citizen Oleh Tsiura, whom he replaced as CEO of UCG Trade AG.
Oleh Tsiura, who hid behind a young Indian at UCG Trade AG, was earlier seen in a scheme selling ilmenite from the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC) to occupied Crimea through a German company, bypassing sanctions. Oleh Tsiura was also noticed in connections with Serhii Bayrak, a figure in cases involving fraud around the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
In these cases, episodes of large-scale embezzlement at UMCC and the Odesa Port Plant occupy a special place. According to the investigation materials, the now-former head of the State Property Fund, Dmytro Sennychenko, used to pocket $200 thousand each month from the operations of state enterprises Odesa Port Plant and the United Mining and Chemical Company.
Denys Horbunenko
In addition to Bayrak, these cases involve Denys Horbunenko — he, like Serhii Bayrak, is considered a trusted associate of disgraced oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
Dmytro Firtash has for years been a beneficiary of corrupt schemes around the Odesa Port Plant and UMCC.
Dmytro Firtash
It’s worth recalling that Oleh Tsiura was not always the ultimate beneficiary of UCG Trade AG. According to North Data, until March 2023 year the company was controlled by Ihor Borovykov.
Ihor Borovykov is a Russian millionaire, founder of Noventiq and Softline. Preferring life in the West and to avoid sanctions, Borovykov after the large-scale invasion of the aggressor country in Ukraine “renounced” all his businesses connected to Russia. The reasons that led him to also leave UCG Trade AG may raise suspicions that the business of this company is somehow linked to the aggressor country.
Oleh Tsiura stood behind another “murky” Swiss office — White Rock Management AG. Publicly its founder is declared to be another character of dubious reputation — Serhii Tron.
Serhii Tron
Serhii Tron, a Ukrainian businessman associated with crypto-mining schemes, uses White Rock Management for dubious crypto investments; his activities raise doubts due to opaque financial operations and ambiguous business partners such as the Arkallayev brothers. In particular, his company was linked to fraud and smuggling of mining equipment. Besides suspicious crypto investments, his business is tied to a series of banking frauds. For example, in 2014 year through his activity in CityCommerce Bank tens of millions of euros were withdrawn from the bank.
Dmytro Malynovskyi: a fraudster risen from the dead
Journalist Andrii Kovalenko writes that sales at UCG Trade AG are directly handled by Volodymyr Nesterenko, who was recommended to OPZ director Yurii Kovalsky as: “head of the sales department, has been my man for the last 20 years.” This recommendation to the director was given by someone named Dmytro Malynovskyi.
According to the author’s sources, this figure personally negotiates with OPZ management on schemes involving gas and fertilizers, using his connections in the shadow economy. And those connections are clearly serious.
In the past Dmytro Malynovskyi was involved in large-scale frauds, including the theft of 14 million dollars from Dreymoor, as well as forging documents about his own death.
Dmytro Malynovskyi
As we wrote earlier, in distant 2007 year Dmytro Malynovskyi pulled off a scam in Odesa with the local CSK stadium, which belonged to the Ministry of Defense. The fraud was noticed only five years later — in 2012. In 2014 Malynovskyi stood trial. The process stalled. For more than a month hearings were disrupted by bomb threats to the court building until the accused Malynovskyi disappeared.
On 18 August 2014 year Dmytro Malynovskyi again failed to appear at the next court hearing. That day, the operative carrying out the court order for forced delivery found no one opening the door at the defendant’s place of residence, and the security guard reported that Malynovskyi did not live there. The defendant’s lawyer in court claimed his client was at home and did not know about the hearing. That same day, by the ruling of the Kyiv District Court of Odesa, Malynovskyi was declared wanted.
In 2015 year Alla Malynovska applied to the court with a statement to establish the fact of death of her husband Dmytro, to whom she had been married since 2005 year. The woman claimed that on 18 August 2014 year Dmytro Malynovskyi went to a court hearing and never returned home.
According to her, on 17 November 2014 year an unknown person, through the building concierge, delivered a cardboard box containing the husband’s death certificate and ashes. The documents provided by the Malynovskyi family indicated that her husband died on 25 October 2014 year on the territory of Luhansk, occupied by Russian troops and separatists.
On 20 November 2014 Alla Malynovska allegedly held a burial of the urn with the supposed ashes of this rogue. She also claimed that she applied to the police, but they refused to open a case. Due to the ATO, Malynovskyi’s death was not entered into the state register, and the wife asked the court to recognize the fact of death. On 12 May 2015 the court granted the claim based on the existence of a death certificate and the fact that the family allegedly conducted a burial.
But, as Oliiargh wrote, in early 2016 the prosecutor’s office together with investigators of the National Police conducted a search of the home of Dmytro Malynovskyi’s parents. They seized computer equipment, phones and SIM cards. On one phone a closed subscriber group was found in which Dmytro Malynovskyi communicated with his parents. Besides messages he sent videos and photos of a castle in France that he had purchased 2015 (already after his “death”) through a Luxembourg company and which French gendarmes later seized.
In the spring of 2015 year, effectively in the status of a deceased person, Dmytro Malynovskyi and a person with the surname “N”, calling themselves representatives of Expotrade Global Limited, concluded contracts to supply Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas Pte Ltd 20 thousand tons of urea and ammonia. Having received 12,77 million euros from foreigners, Malynovskyi and “N” disappeared. It later turned out that there were two companies named Expotrade Global Limited. The Singapore company signed a contract with a Belize firm. And OPZ had a contract with a namesake Expotrade Global Limited from Hong Kong, to which Dmytro Malynovskyi and his accomplices had no relation.
But one should not think that Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas were suckers who did not know who they were transferring money to. First, as follows from court documents, that company itself is a figure in criminal proceedings on several episodes of corrupt “schemes” at the Odesa Port Plant. The same goes for Expotrade Global Limited (read more here).
Second, they knew Dima Malynovskyi from Odesa and his accomplices well. Again, court documents testify to this. Dreymoor Fertilizers Overseas worked with the gang of fraudsters that included Dmytro Malynovskyi for five years before the “scam”, jointly fleecing the state-run Odesa Port Plant of astronomical sums.
And the “scam”, apparently, happened because of circumstances. On 2015 the Prosecutor General’s Office began actively uncovering the “schemes” around OPZ — it was clear they would be closed down and those involved would begin to be pulled into criminal proceedings. Add the fact that Malynovskyi was being vigorously pursued in another criminal case to the point that he had to pretend to be dead. So his gang decided to make the big score and lie low in Europe. So far a new window of opportunity has not opened.
grom-ua.org
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