"The Overseer" of 15 Billion: How Former MP of OPZZh Ihor Abramovych Could Return to the Big Game Through the Tax Service and the Prosecutor's Office

Recent exposés by anti-corruption agencies could catalyze personnel changes in the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) and the tax authorities. Employees of the OPG have come under the scrutiny of NABU and SAP, and potentially staff from other agencies and even well-known politicians may be next. In this process, the inadvertent participant could be former MP of the now-banned party "Opposition Platform — For Life" Ihor Abramovych.

This was reported by the publication "Komenty"

From Kharkiv to Kyiv via parties and business — how to become an MP

It must be said that there is nothing in the official biography of the future politician that foretold his career. Ihor Abramovych, who was born 24 August 1984 in Kharkiv, would seem not to have had the means to finish school in Britain. However, family connections helped — his grandfather Illia Abramovych held a PhD in engineering, was a professor specializing in urban water supply issues, and his father Oleksandr Abramovych had already gone into business in 1995, founding LLC "Fais." In short, the future politician was financially provided for.

In 2007, at the age of 23, Ihor Abramovych was already working at some construction holding and was also an assistant to MP from BYuT Oleksandr Feldman. Interestingly, in those same years the famed Kharkiv politician’s assistant was the future MP’s own father — Oleksandr Abramovych. It was likely the father who arranged his son’s job at an unnamed company and with MP Feldman. However, it was probably not only paternal patronage that mattered when in 2012–2015 Ihor Oleksandrovych became deputy chairman of the board of JSC "Concern AVEK & Co" — the core business structure of Oleksandr Feldman.

Overall, the Abramovych father and son displayed feats of political tightrope-walking, much like Oleksandr Feldman himself, who in 4 recent convocations of the Verkhovna Rada since 2007 always entered under different banners (BYuT, the Party of Regions, nonpartisan and "Our Land", later OPZZh). Abramovych Sr. was Feldman’s assistant in 3 convocations and participated in elections to the Kharkiv regional council.

As for Ihor Abramovych, he achieved success — having been Feldman’s assistant until 2012, in 2019 he was elected an MP on the list of the now-banned OPZZh, where he ran at a high number, №14. However, he should be grateful to quite different people for that.

The "Kharkiv clan" at the origins of Ihor Abramovych’s successes

According to his official biography, after 2015 Abramovych Jr. went into developing his own business, for example as president of the engineering company INTER ENERGY GROUP. IEG was involved in gas extraction in Poltava region. As "Economic Truth" claimed, the future MP was a shareholder and president of LLC "DV Oil and Gas Extraction Company," while the company’s owner was another Kharkiv businessman, Pavlo Fuks. Journalists reported that Ihor Abramovych was "Fuks’ man," who handled issuance of special permits for gas extraction through Derzhgeonedra in 2017–2018. He was introduced to the prominent countryman by Kharkiv city council deputy Semen Syrota, whose daughter Maryna married Ihor Abramovych. In doing so, by the way, he also gained access to Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov, of whom Syrota was deputy on housing and communal services until 2021.

In short, Ihor Abramovych gained access, one might say, to all the most influential members of Kharkiv’s business and power establishment.

Moreover, according to analytical service YouControl, he owns 50% of LLC "Ukrgaz Invest" (activity — engineering, geology and geodesy, provision of technical consulting services in these fields, charter capital — 100 000 hryvnias). At the time of the elections in 2019, another 50% was owned by MP from the Revival party Vitalii Khomutynnyk. Currently Abramovych’s partners are brothers Serhii and Oleksandr Buriaky, who themselves have repeatedly served as MPs. Both Khomutynnyk and the Buriaky brothers are natives of Donetsk region, which again connected Ihor Abramovych to another powerful regional business group in the country.

"Active slacker" — Ihor Abramovych in the Verkhovna Rada

It must be said that Ihor Abramovych’s activity in the Rada was rather contradictory. According to some journalists, in about 22 months he became the author and co-author of around 100 draft laws, 8 of which were adopted. However, his discipline, including party discipline, was clearly weak. For example, in 65,7% of cases he voted differently than the entire OPZZh faction.

Overall, Abramovych missed about 90% of all votes in 2020 and partially addressed criticism in 2021, when he missed between 57% and 80% of sittings of parliament and his committee. Note that in parliament he held the position of deputy chair of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, one of the Rada’s main committees.

At the same time, the MP’s main activity was external management of Kharkiv and the region. Abramovych’s control over the Kharkiv mayor was explained by the MP’s great influence over three political forces in the Kharkiv city council that together constitute a majority without which the city council cannot make decisions. These are OPZZh deputies, whom Abramovych controls directly and personally along party lines; the Kernes Bloc deputies, whom Abramovych can manage together with Terekhov; and a portion of "Servant of the People" deputies, whose mandates he could control via the Presidential Office.

Ihor Abramovych finally distanced himself from parliamentary work in 2022, when after the Russian invasion he "fled" Ukraine and lived on the French Riviera, where he was filmed by the crew of "Ukrainska Pravda." However, this did not prevent him in the same year from creating the deputy group "Restoration of Ukraine" together with others like him — former members of OPZZh.

In February 2023 Abramovych briefly appeared in Ukraine only to submit his resignation from parliamentary powers and then left the country again after the Rada approved his decision. Presumably the politician had no time — he was "doing business," if one can call what he was directly accused of in 2023.

Wealthy, fond of coats worth 450 thousand hryvnias and offshore business worth 456 million hryvnias

It should be noted that Ihor Abramovych, who officially engaged in business from 2015 to 2019, was wealthy and never hid it. Already in 2019 he declared a number of luxury cars, Swiss watches (Hublot, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Breguet), jewelry (Jacob & Co, Cartier, Tom Ford), and works of art (paintings by Dudu Hershtein and others). The politician declared 88 million hryvnias in cash.

In his last MP declaration for 2023 he listed 10 real estate objects registered to him, his wife, and companies, 9 cars leased by him, shares in 5 companies and corporate rights in 4 companies. His taste for luxury is evidenced by a list of 54 pieces of art, watches and clothes. For example, he owns a Loro Piana cashmere coat he bought in 2021 for 450 thousand hryvnias, about 14 thousand dollars, and a Patek Philippe watch for 1 million 555 thousand hryvnias, i.e., over 55 thousand dollars at the exchange rate of that same 2021 year.

His incomes for 2023 are striking — the former MP reported income of 484,8 million hryvnias, of which only 306 thousand came from parliamentary salary. The lion’s share — 470 million hryvnias — were dividends and proceeds from the sale of companies he owned abroad. According to recent data, Abramovych retained only 2 firms — namely 50% in LLC "Ukrgaz Invest" and the Slovak company Original Copy sro.

It must be said that the former MP’s official business is complicated. In the declaration for 2023, 50% in LLC "Ukrgaz Invest" brought the MP dividends of 14 million 481 thousand hryvnias, but according to YouControl the company’s income for the same year was 31,2 million hryvnias, so for such dividends to be paid to a 50% owner, the company did not have sufficient income. By the way, there is no reporting on the company’s activities after 2024 available publicly.

The Slovak Original Copy sro is also complicated — officially the company does computer programming, and its income for 2025 was only 340 euros with a statutory capital of 5000 euros.

At the same time, the sale of three foreign companies brought Ihor Abramovych 456 million hryvnias, and interestingly all these companies were registered in offshore zones: NISYOMI INVESTMENTS LTD. (British Virgin Islands), IMEANI INVESTMENTS LIMITED (Nevis) and SAMALENI FINANCE LTD. (Belize).

Why did the sale of offshore businesses bring the former MP hundreds of millions of hryvnias? It is possible that their sole purpose was money legalization.

"The one who watches" over business with kickbacks of 15 billion hryvnias — what Oleksandr Abramovych does abroad

As far back as 2023, the surname of the then-former MP surfaced in connection with tax fraud, specifically kickbacks from excisable goods. Shadow producers of excisable goods were said to pay 6 hryvnias per liter of alcohol, 3 hryvnias per half-liter of vodka and 20 US dollars per carton of smuggled cigarettes.

A whole chain of people were named as implementing these schemes at various levels and reaping "dividends" from them. These included sitting MP Danylo Hetmantsev, former MP Ihor Abramovych, former first deputy head of the Department for Economic Protection of the National Police Serhii Viazmykin, former deputy head of the National Police Ihor Kupranets and the former director of the relevant department.

Taking into account legal production of excisable goods and the "shadow" share of them, kickbacks for producing this product group could range from 13,5 to 15 billion hryvnias. The lion’s share of this "business" falls on "illegal" alcohol — about 8,6 billion hryvnias annually; alcoholic beverages bring about 4 billion hryvnias. Revenues from cigarette smuggling may also reach several billion hryvnias, but precise figures are practically impossible to calculate.

Proceeds from this "business," or rather a share of these kickbacks, may have flowed into the accounts of Ihor Abramovych’s offshore companies, providing him with legal-looking income. And the sale of those companies could have given him a legal status worth one billion hryvnias.

Thus, in his last MP declaration Ihor Abramovych listed 77 million hryvnias in cash and bank accounts, another 13,2 million he had lent out. He had 960 thousand euros in cash, lent out as much as 1 million 449 thousand euros, and he preferred to keep all dollars — 16,1 million. Abramovych also held 43 thousand pounds sterling. Against the backdrop of such assets, his wife Maryna’s 300 thousand dollars and 9000 euros do not seem that large.

As a result, Ihor Abramovych’s legal standing can be estimated at approximately 932 million hryvnias, of which 716 million correspond to 16,1 million dollars, 124 million hryvnias — that is 2,4 million euros, about 90 million hryvnias in cash, and the "small change" such as 2,5 million hryvnias or 43 000 pounds sterling.

At the same time, losses to the state budget from fraud in the excisable goods market in Ukraine are estimated at about 30 billion hryvnias annually.

From the Tax Service to the Rada — why Ihor Abramovych is dangerous for many

The existence of powerful patrons for Ihor Abramovych and his kickback business from excisable goods was spoken of openly as early as 2023. One of the "friends" could have been chairman of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev. Abramovych was his deputy until February 2023, and it is hard to imagine tax machinations in the country occurring without the knowledge of the person regarded as the curator of the tax sphere and who chairs the relevant parliamentary committee. In addition, the MP’s wife lives in the apartment of the politician’s mother in Nice, very close to Monaco, so by visiting his wife and mother the politician can easily go to Monaco and talk with his former deputy, since the trip takes literally 30 minutes.

However, not only Hetmantsev — Abramovych’s ties may reach other figures in parliament and his native Kharkiv. For example, regional center mayor Ihor Terekhov repeatedly stated that the former OPZZh MP was the main person who helped the city in 2022, providing both food to residents and everything needed for territorial defense.

But a more interesting position is that of the head of the "Servant of the People" faction in the Rada, MP Davyd Arakhamia. In his Telegram channel on 6 February 2023 he highly praised Ihor Abramovych’s work in the Rada, effectively calling him a "planted agent" within OPZZh.

"His exit from the OPZZh faction on the first day of the full-scale invasion laid the groundwork for the subsequent disintegration in the Ukrainian parliament. So I hope that today’s decision of his to give up his parliamentary powers will serve as an example for other MPs from the banned OPZZh. Although Ihor, with his pro-Ukrainian stance, never associated with OPZZh’s ideology. Just look at the synchrony of his voting with his former party colleagues. In short, a friend among strangers in the rear of the fifth column," Arakhamia asserted.

The MP also praised Abramovych for creating the last deputy group "Restoration of Ukraine," which supported all the important decisions for the country’s future.

Thus Davyd Arakhamia effectively admitted that Ihor Abramovych worked for the authorities and personally for him, since Arakhamia is considered responsible for correct voting in parliament. Moreover, as early as 2022 it was claimed that Arakhamia "rented out" votes of "Servants of the People" in the Kharkiv city council.

According to RBC-Ukraine, at the beginning of 2026 there was serious discussion of holding elections by year-end, so Davyd Arakhamia wanted to create a party based on the Association of Frontline Cities and Communities. The "face" of the project was to be Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov, and the party’s financier — Ihor Abramovych. The main goal could have been competition with Yurii Boiko and Dmytro Razumkov for votes in the south and east of Ukraine.

At the same time, Ihor Abramovych could become a valuable source for some forces in Ukraine that would like to weaken Davyd Arakhamia’s influence, who, according to journalist Mykhailo Tkach, does not allow the dismissal of Ruslan Kravchenko from the post of prosecutor general. Moreover, the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General himself comes from the tax service and, according to journalist Yevhen Plinsky, retains influence in his former agency.

This concerns the quota for appointing the deputy head of the State Tax Service, and the MP from the "Monaco battalion," Ihor Abramovych, could reveal a lot about schemes in the tax service if all allegations about his control of the "back office" collecting kickbacks from excisable goods turn out to be true. It should be noted that as early as 2022 the State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case for illegal border crossing, and one of its figures was named as the now-former MP. Although since then there has been no information about the investigation, and most likely it has been quietly closed, it is quite possible to find mechanisms to exert influence on the former politician.