While active hostilities continue in part of Ukraine, restoration work continues in the rest of the territories – blown up bridges, destroyed settlements, bombed critical infrastructure. Due to huge economic losses, there is a critical lack of money for everything.
But not for road maintenance in Dnipropetrovsk region. Here, one private company has already received one and a half billion hryvnias for this since March. This is a record by a large margin compared to the financing of road reconstruction in all other regions of Ukraine.
The name of this company: “Budinvest Engineering”. Who does it belong to?
The “Scheme” investigation established that the co-owner of the company is closely related to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration Valentyn Reznichenko, with whom she regularly traveled abroad. It is the OVA headed by him that decides to whom, for what, and in what amounts to allocate budget funds.
The second half of the company, which is absorbing billions during the active phase of the war, can be controlled through a close person by the businessmen Dubinsky brothers, who have been officially declared wanted by Ukraine’s partner state, the United States of America, on suspicion of financial fraud.
Exactly which road sections are being repaired for record state sums – it is impossible to find out officially, the information is not published due to the war.
But “Schemes” gained access to the company’s financial documentation, and together with analysts identified suspicious transactions worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
During the preparation of the investigation, it became known that the journalists of Ukrainian Pravda publication are also working on this topic. Therefore, the editors agreed to publish the materials simultaneously. The text of “UP” is at this link .
The Big Construction program , the flagship budget project of President Volodymyr Zelensky since February 2022, has actually frozen. Money “from the roads” was transferred “to the war”. In the spring and early summer, heavy road equipment could mostly be seen only on the reconstruction of blown-up bridges and the restoration of completely blocked road connections. This is an episodic, urgent “mobilization repair”, classified and out of tenders.
But in August, investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov , who systematically investigates corruption in the spending of budget funds, drew attention to an anomaly. The State Treasury service “E-data” began systematically making multimillion-dollar payments to the accounts of one company in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Appointment – “on mob. repair of roads in Dnipro. oblast”. The recipient is the company “Budinvest Engineering” . The customer is the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration .
“The phenomenal success of this company was that in three summer months it received a billion hryvnias for the repair of roads in the Dnipropetrovsk region. This is an abnormal skew compared to other Ukrainian regions, ” said Nikolov, who was the first to publicly draw attention to this in his investigation on the “Our Money” website.
Yes, no other region even ordered road repairs for similar amounts.
- From March to October 31, the Dnipropetrovsk region has already spent a record 2 billion 314 million hryvnias on road repairs.
- For comparison, this is more than Kyiv region, Kharkiv region, Sumy region and Odesa region spent in the same time, combined. Including regional centers.
At the same time, the road infrastructure of Dnipropetrovsk region did not undergo significant destruction, compared to other regions where active hostilities were conducted, say analysts of the KSE Institute project “Russia will pay” .
“In terms of road management, the losses of Dnipropetrovsk region are not significant compared to other regions where active hostilities took place. For example, two bridges have been damaged in the region since February. One of state and one of local importance. And in general, more than 300 bridges and overpasses were damaged across the country, ” the Kyiv School of Economics responded to “Scheme’s” request.
It is practically impossible to find out exactly which objects these funds are directed to, contracts are not published.
“What kind of repair it is, which section of the road it concerns, in which settlement – it is absolutely unknown. Wartime, information is hidden, ” says Nikolov.
However, due to contracts from the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration during the Great War, the Budinvest-engineering company has already jumped far ahead compared to other road contractors throughout Ukraine, almost twice overtaking even such a giant as Avtomagistral Pivden , last year’s favorite. Big construction”. Since March, “Budinvest-engineering” has already mastered one and a half billion budget hryvnias for the repair of roads in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Schem” journalists found evidence of a direct connection between the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, and the owners of the company, to which the OVA headed by him in 2022, under simplified procedures, already directed one and a half billion budget hryvnias.
Companion
Who owns the company “Budinvest Engineering”?
Its authorized capital is divided equally between residents of the city of Dnipro – Yana Khlanta and Pavel Chuhn .
Who is Yana Khlanta?
34-year-old professional athlete, master of sports in powerlifting. Now she works as a trainer at the Human fitness club in the center of Dnipro.
The fact that this is the current place of work of Yana Khlanta was confirmed in the fitness club itself, where the “Schem” journalist visited.
What is the relationship of a sportswoman to road repair?
Immediately, several sources from the power circles of Dnipropetrovsk region told “Schemes” that Yana Khlanta is… the girlfriend of the head of the region Valentin Reznichenko , they are in a relationship. Reznichenko himself is an unmarried man – according to the civil status register, he divorced his ex-wife back in 2015.
“Schemy” established documentary evidence of a direct connection between him and Yana Khlanta, to whom half of the company “Budinvest Engineering” was registered.
Reznichenko and Khlanta have traveled abroad together many times in recent years. “Schemes” obtained data from sources in the border service, and compared that only during 2020-2021 they made at least eight joint flights.
In 2020, they flew to Riga for Christmas. In February, they returned together from Berlin, passing passport control in Boryspil with a difference of one minute. In July 2021, they flew to Istanbul for a long weekend. In October of the same year, they flew to Munich together.
They were in the same city twice more at the same time: in 2020 in Vienna for Valentine’s Day and in December 2021 in Prague – on Yana’s birthday, getting to these two locations on different flights.
Already after the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, Yana Khlanta no longer crossed the border with Reznichenko. But 4 times she traveled outside of Ukraine by herself in a Kia Sportage car. “Schemy” established that the owner of the car is a company that is 100% owned by the head of Dnipropetrovsk OVA, its name is “Seventh Consulting Group” .
In addition, it was in this company of Reznichenko that Yana Khlanta received a salary at least during 2020-2021. This was established by “Schemes” thanks to sources in the tax service, where relevant reports were submitted.
It turns out, on the one hand, that Valentyn Reznichenko, as the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, being in a state position, obviously has an influence on decisions regarding the distribution of budget funds between private contractor companies. And at the same time, contracts for the largest amounts are received by the company co-founded by his close person, with whom he travels together, to whom his company provides transport for use and pays salaries.
FBI wanted
At a time when the Ukrainian economy is suffering a historic blow due to Russia’s aggression, when Ukraine is more dependent than ever on the financial support of partner countries, the second co-owner of a private firm to which the state sends the most money for road repair during a full-scale war draws special attention.
In addition to Yana Khlanta, Pavlo Chuhno has the same share in the ownership structure of Budinvest Engineering. He is also a sports representative. Chukhno is the vice-president of the Dnipro basketball club “Prometheus”.
Is Chukhno really the real and not the nominal owner of half of the company that builds and repairs roads in the Dnipropetrovsk region?
He is the manager and partner of the Dnipro businessman brothers Volodymyr and Leonid Dubinsky .
Volodymyr Dubinsky, in fact, owns the Prometheus basketball club, which is managed by Pavlo Chukhno. Chukhna’s wife, Olena, received a power of attorney to represent interests from the mother of Volodymyr Dubinskyi’s children. Moreover, on the website of BC “Prometey” it is reported that the general sponsor of the club is the company “Budinvest Engineering”, the largest recipient of budget funds of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
What’s wrong with that?
The fact is that the brothers Leonid and Volodymyr Dubinsky… have been wanted by the FBI (USA) for 10 years . Their portraits can be found on the website of this institution among the criminals wanted by American justice – on charges of fraud with real estate in California.
“The brothers are most likely in Ukraine. If you have any information about their whereabouts, please notify your local FBI office or the nearest US embassy or consulate,” the ad said.
Thus, professional athlete Yana Khlanta and basketball functionary Pavlo Chukhno, who have equal shares of Budinvest Engineering, seem to be directly related to the head of the Regional State Administration Valentyn Reznichenko and the wanted businessmen the Dubinsky brothers.
About the allocation of record funds to “Budinvest Engineering” and personal connection with the co-owner of this contractor, “Schemes” tried to communicate directly with Valentyn Reznichenko.
For two days, journalists unsuccessfully tried to catch him at his workplace – in the Dnipropetrovsk regional administration, called his personal number and sent messages asking for a comment – the head of OVA never responded.
Journalists also visited the country house, which, according to local media, he uses, but he was not found there either. The editors sent a request to OVA in the name of Reznichenko with a complete list of questions, and also sent them separately to Reznichenko’s press secretary.
Schemy” tried to contact Yana Hlanta to ask how she managed to become the owner of a share in a large company that receives large orders from DOVA, and what exactly connects her with the head of DOVA. Journalists called and sent a complete list of questions to Khlanta’s personal number, but did not receive an answer. Separately, the film crew left their contacts at the fitness club, where they reported that she was not there, and promised to give her an interview offer.
Journalists managed to get in touch with the other co-owner of the main contractor of Dnipropetrovsk OVA – Pavlo Chuhn. He listened to questions about the multimillion-dollar contract of “Budinvest” and its subcontractors, as well as about a possible connection with the wanted businessman Volodymyr Dubinsky, but then he stopped answering. Later, the press secretary of “Budinvest” contacted the journalists on his behalf, so the journalists passed the question to her.
Journalists also sent a request for comment to Volodymyr Dubinsky himself, searching for his mobile number. According to “Scheme”, he lives in Dnipro – and although he rarely appears in public, he does not hide. Schemy” asked him about whether Pavlo Chukhno really holds a share in the company “Budinvest Engineering” in his interests and what connects him with the head of Dnipropetrovsk OVA.
The editors will publish the answers as soon as they are received.
What do the billions go to?
Due to the state of war, the state does not oblige contractors to publish the essence of state contracts and estimates. On the official website of “Budinvest Engineering” you can find photo reports and promotional videos about road repairs that the company carries out in the Dnipropetrovsk region. But from them it is impossible to make a complete picture neither of the scope of the works carried out, nor even more so of their cost.
At the same time, as “Schemes” found out, the Bureau of Economic Security is currently conducting an investigation, the materials of which indicate that this company, among other Dnipropetrovsk contractors, directed part of the funds to a “front” company – that is, with signs of fictitiousness.
Therefore, “Schemy” decided to independently analyze the financial and economic activities of the main contractor of Dnipropetrovsk OVA, obtaining closed tax information and studying data from the state service “E-data”. And they discovered that Budinvest Engineering resorted to several suspicious schemes at once when disbursing budget funds.
Scheme #1: “alchemy”
The first is that the key subcontractors with which the Budinvest company cooperates, namely BNM LLC, DZMK LLC, Maxi-Bud Plus LLC , do not, according to the documents, purchase materials for road works from such volumes in which they are sold to Budinvest.
One of the examples is the company “BNM” with a charter capital of 5 thousand hryvnias. For the entire year of 2022, it bought a total of only 1,300 tons of sand, crushed stone, and a crushed-sand mixture from its counterparties. But it sold almost a hundred times more of the same building materials – more than 100,000 tons in total.
” This is similar to a well-known scheme, the so-called “commodity-free operations”. This means that according to the contract between the companies, the transfer was supposed to take place – here the goods, and here the money for these goods, but in fact the goods did not go, because they are not there, but the money went, – explains Yuriy Nikolov, an investigative journalist of the publication “Our Money”. – That is, it is “alchemy”, familiar to every tax collector.”
Scheme No. 2: overpricing
The second scheme that emerges from the study of the financial and economic activity of “Budinvest” is a significant increase in the price of construction materials on the way from the manufacturer to the state contract.
For example, after the beginning of the invasion, the main contractor of the Dnipropetrovsk OVA made two large purchases – a total of about 2 thousand tons of crushed stone, which is used in the construction and repair of roads. In one case, “Budinvest” paid the company “Maxi-bud Plus” 1,258 hryvnias per ton, in another even more – 1,466 hryvnias per ton. However, the journalists’ analysis revealed that during the same period, “Maxi-bud Plus” bought exactly this type of crushed stone from manufacturers at least 6 times cheaper – for 185 and 233 hryvnias per ton. That is, it turns out that “Maxi-bud plus” resold crushed stone to “Budinvest” at a price that was several times higher, and this obviously had an impact on the final cost of the contract for the state.
Scheme #3: dubious subcontractors
In addition, last year the State Tax Service recognized “Maxi-bud Plus” as a “risky taxpayer”, in particular, due to the fact that the company with millions of profits (for example, more than UAH 300 million only during the period of full-scale invasion) works… 1(one) man. True, later the company “repelled” these claims through the court of first instance, and later won the tax authorities both in the appeal and in the cassation – due to their violation of procedural points – they missed the appeal deadlines.
“Schemy” went to the address of the company “Maxi-bud Plus” in Dnipro to see for themselves what the office of one of the largest subcontractors of “Budinvest” looks like.
The building, at the address of which “Maxi-Bud Plus” and “BNM” are registered
The already mentioned firm “BNM” is also registered at the same address. And… at least 40 other firms. Neither “BNM” nor “Maxi-bud Plus” have been heard here.
“We have many companies here that only rent offices, pay and take something away once a year,” added one of the security guards whom the journalists met at the entrance to the building. Journalists were also unable to call both companies: the numbers are not serviced.
Unanswered questions
“Schemes” turned to the Department of Housing and Communal Economy and Construction of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which is headed by Andriy Kolomoets . They were asked to provide copies of contracts and estimates regarding specific works and services ordered from the firm “Budinvest Engineering”, for which the department has transferred one and a half billion budget hryvnias during March-October 2022.
The office only confirmed that they had received the request, but did not specify when the answer would be. Attempts by journalists to talk to the head of the department by phone were also unsuccessful – he did not respond to messages and calls. During two days in Dnipro, journalists did not manage to find him in the OVA building.
“Schemes” also tried to interview representatives of the company “Budinvest Engineering”. Despite the modern look of the site, the phone number listed on it is “not serviced”.
At the company’s main address listed on the website, the security guard refused to answer any questions about Budinvest Engineering, including where to find the company’s representatives. The director of the company did not answer the journalists’ calls to his mobile number.
Tod “Schemy” went to one of the asphalt concrete plants, the company “Budinvest Engineering” in Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk region. However, the guards reported that no one from the management was there.
Questions about the details and estimates of agreements with OVA, about the connection of the co-owner of the company with the head of the Dnipropetrovsk military administration as a factor that could have an impact on receiving multimillion-dollar contracts, as well as about the principle of selecting subcontractors – “Schemes” were directed to the address of the company “Budinvest” in in writing and are waiting for a response.
“Consultant”
To what extent is Valentyn Reznichenko independent in matters of financing the reconstruction of infrastructure in the region he leads?
First, the budget of any region is formed not only from its own revenues, but also depends on subventions and subsidies from the national state budget. Dnipropetrovsk region is no exception, and has already received almost two billion hryvnias in the form of subsidies and subventions “from Kyiv” in 2022. The region already spent about the same amount “on roads” this year.
Secondly, the “Great Construction” project, which is currently being transformed into “Great Reconstruction” – is openly coordinated with Bankova.
It is here that the meetings of the first heads of state and with the participation of international partners are held, where the Fast Recovery Plan is developed – a plan for the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine from the consequences of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. This is where numbers are counted and priorities are determined.
These meetings, as a rule, are held under the chairmanship of Kyril Tymoshenko , the deputy head of the OP, who is officially appointed by Zelensky to coordinate infrastructure projects.
Sometimes the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak presides, and Prime Minister Denys Shmygal , relevant ministers, as well as foreign ambassadors of countries that help Ukraine financially are invited here .
But at all these meetings you can see one more person who does not have an official status and formal powers to perform any state functions.
This is Yurii Golyk .
Since Golyk de jure does not hold any official position, but de facto is deeply involved in these processes, the media usually call him the “curator” of “Big Construction”. He himself describes himself as a “consultant” of the presidential project.
Now he is also integrated into the processes of rebuilding Ukraine’s infrastructure and, for example, accompanies Kyril Tymoshenko during his trips to the affected regions.
It is logical to assume that Yury Golyk is the connection that makes the head of Dnipropetrovsk region much closer to the president’s office in matters of coordination of the “great reconstruction” than any head of another region of Ukraine.
Reznichenko and Golyk are old associates. They crossed paths back in the 2000s, when Valentyn Reznichenko was the vice-president of Borys Lozhkin ‘s UMH media holding , and Yuriy Golyk was the head of the holding’s advertising department in the Luhansk region.
It is known from open sources that in 2012 Reznichenko invited Golyk to work at the central office of the UMH in Kyiv.
When President Petro Poroshenko appointed Reznichenko to lead the Zaporizhia region, Golyk became his adviser.
In the same tandem, Reznichenko-Holyk went to Dnipro, where Reznichenko also headed the Regional State Administration.
“Yes, they called at night: “Let’s go to the Dnipro.” Reznichenko called me again. For the past few years, I have actually worked for him as a deputy,” Golyk said in 2021.
Volodymyr Zelensky, after being elected president, first fired Poroshenko’s protégé. But then in 2020 – returned him to the post of head of Dnipropetrovsk region. At that time, Golyk was already so integrated into the presidential project “Great Construction” that he publicly called himself one of its ideologues.
In addition to a long joint career path, some formal connections between Reznichenko and Golyk can be traced even now. For example, Reznichenko ‘s company Seven Consulting Group rents an office in the Creative State Dnipro business center , which Golyk co-owns. Or another interesting detail: both Golik’s mother and Reznichenko’s mother are registered as natural persons-entrepreneurs, indicating in the state register… the same mobile phone number.
“Schemes” asked Yury Golyk to comment on what caused such an asymmetric distribution of state finances in favor of roads in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and whether it had an influence on the choice of a contractor for road works in the region, led by his long-time associate. Golyk read the message from the journalists, but did not react to it.
Position of the Office of the President
The revealed facts of the connection of the head of Dnipropetrovsk OVA with the largest contractor of road works in this region, “Schemes”, were laid out in requests to the name of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who appointed Reznichenko, as well as to the name of the deputy head of the President’s Office, Kyril Tymoshenko.
Journalists also asked how control over the effective and targeted use of budget funds for infrastructure reconstruction, in particular, road repair and construction, is carried out, and in what status Yuriy Golyk plays his role in these processes.
Bankova received the same response to both requests: the OP press service, referring to the state of war, reported the “impossibility of providing information” and the “postponement of consideration of the request” until its end. At the same time, it was noted that “the office of the President of Ukraine is not the administrator of local budgets” and that this issue “is within the competence of local authorities and relevant ministries.”