As it turned out, based on the results of an inspection by the State Audit Service, water is supplied to Odesa residents by a private company owned by Mykola Zlochevskyi, accused by NABU of bribery.
The scheme is ingenious: in 2003, the Odesa City Council leased Odesavodokanal to Mykola Zlochevskyi for 49 years, and he supplies water to Odesa residents through intermediary companies. The overall result is that every Odesa resident who has a tap in their home pays Mykola Zlochevskyi for the water they use every month.
Although the water is supposed to be supplied by a municipal company owned by the city council, since 2003, the water supplier and provider of other water and sewage services has been a branch of Infoxvodokanal, owned by Infox LLC.
In turn, Infox LLC is owned by Cyprus-based Virmanto Limited. And the owners of this Cypriot offshore are Karina and Anna Zlochevskyi, to whom Mykola Zlochevskyi recently ceded his share. However, this does not change the essence of the matter.
As you can see, the genius is simple: the profit from the supply of Ukrainian water to Ukrainian citizens living in Odesa does not go to the city’s treasury, but to a Cyprus offshore company owned by Mykola Zlochevskyi.
There are more than half a million subscribers to the water utility in Odesa. And all of them are now subscribers of Infoksvodokanal, and all of them pay Mykola Zlochevskyi for water, use of the water supply system, installation and verification of meters, repairs, etc. The fact that the recipient of the profits is a Cypriot offshore company does not bother the Odesa City Council.
However, the matter is not limited to money from subscribers. Here are the profits from tenders won by Infoksvodokanal over the past four years. During this period, there were more than three thousand of them, and the total profit of Infoxvodokanal was UAH 649,079,348. And this money also came from the pockets of Ukrainians - Infoksvodokanal supplied services and goods to state and municipal enterprises.
The parent company, Infox LLC, does not lag behind its branch. During this period, she won 110 tenders with a total value of 77,763,977 hryvnia.
A total of 726,843,325 budget hryvnias have ended up in the pockets of Mykola Zlochevskyi over the past four years. This is only for won tenders.
Ukraine is a rich country, we can afford it. And then we’ll go with outstretched hands and ask for money from our Western partners. So far they are giving, but how long will this continue? If someone thinks that there are fools in Europe and the USA and they do not see all these schemes, then this is precisely a mistake. When the help runs out. But Zlochevskyi will be left with budget money siphoned to his offshore, and Ukrainians will be left with debts that will need to be paid to their grandchildren.
And all this is happening despite the fact that back in December 2019, criminal proceedings No. 42019160000000808 were initiated against officials of Infox LLC and its branch Infoxvodokanal. The amount of damage caused to the city was estimated at at least 718 million hryvnia.
However, there were no consequences - the last hearing in the case took place in 2020, after which the case was stuck in the bowels of the law enforcement system. Meanwhile, Mykola Zlochevskyi’s profits only grew - as mentioned above, he received three quarters of a billion hryvnias from tenders alone. And there were also subscription fees, fees for water delivery and sewerage, repairs, installation, replacement and verification of meters, etc.
So, we can safely say that we are talking about billions of hryvnias. Which Mykola Zlochevskyi has siphoned off from the pockets of Odesa residents over the twenty years since he took over the Vodokanal. And there are still thirty years ahead. It is anyone’s guess how much he will earn during this time. And then he will give back to Odesa the leased Vodokanal, which has been squeezed to the last drop, with worn-out networks and destroyed infrastructure. Which Odesa will repair at its own expense and lease to another Zlochevsky. And so on - ad infinitum. Everything ingenious is simple.
Let us remind you: Mykola Zlochevskyi is the owner of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest private gas producer. He is a former member of the Party of Regions. Former Member of Parliament of Ukraine, former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council. Since November 2019, he has been on the wanted list as part of an investigation into Burisma’s activities, and is involved in a case of a record $6 million bribe to NABU and SAPO to close the case against Burisma.