Who bought State Joint-Stock Company UKRBUD and why?

Who bought UkrBud – and why?

I’ve always – or almost always – shed light on everything related to the State Joint-Stock Company ‘Construction Company ‘Ukrbud’‘.

Here’s the deal: the Kyiv business community is still reeling from the news of the purchase of the state-owned company UkrBud for 805 million and 1 hryvnia.

How much is that in dollars, by the way? 19 million US Dollars for the state giant building company. More precisely, Kyiv’s business scene is now sharpening its focus on who might become the owner of this construction monster. And there’s a ticking time bomb involved.

So what do we know about the buyer? Watch closely: the company ‘Petro Oil and Chemicals’ is a scandalous business from a Cypriot offshore, which in turn belongs to an offshore registered in the Marshall Islands, which in turn is tied to Georgian oligarch Bejuashvili. He controls Georgia’s energy sector using Russian money and “fronts” Russian assets in the region – some of which carry the stench of criminal origins.

The Ukrainian subsidiary of the ‘winner’ of the UkrBud auction has a laughable authorized capital of just 1000 hryvnias. It’s headed by a fellow countryman of the oligarch – Irakli Katamadze, a former customs official who held posts at different levels three times. Most recently, in Kyiv.

A quick Google search brings up plenty of amusing videos and articles about his mental state, and how his entire customs career was solely thanks to his father, Grigol Katamadze. He’s the one who launched the family-run leadership scheme in that same “Petro Oil.” Under his watch, the scandalous inflow of Russian-Georgian offshore money into the Kherson port took place.

But now Katamadze Sr. is an influential figure and a deputy in the even more scandal-ridden ARMA (Asset Recovery and Management Agency), with access to classified information. Many of ARMA’s recent asset seizures are happening within his zone of influence. Is it any surprise that in all three phases of the UkrBud auction, Katamadze Jr. consistently bid exactly 1,000 hryvnias more on behalf of ‘Oil’?

Five companies participated in the auction. Most were shell firms with ridiculous charter capitals and no funds – many showing clear signs of being fake. In some directions, the shadow of Chernovetsky’s ‘cosmonauts’ looms large. Incidentally, it was Bejuashvili’s people who helped the fugitive ex-mayor of Kyiv settle in Batumi. And it was also the ‘cosmonauts’ who helped Bejuashvili, back in the 2010s, seize control of Ukraine’s largest insulin manufacturer – Indar plant – and launder Russian energy money from the Caucasus by investing in countless real estate properties in Kyiv and Moscow.

So what were the ‘cosmonauts’ doing at the UkrBud auction this time? Again providing support and crowd control for the Russian-Georgians? Haven’t they heard there’s a war on? Five bidders, supposedly, but no one’s talking, while in reality, it was the stooges of the ‘cosmonauts’ and Georgians with penny-sized charter capitals creating a façade of “legitimacy” for this Russian-Georgian-Cypriot-Marshall ‘respectable investor.’

And now, the latest info from Kyiv bloggers who specialize in inside scoops is truly wild. Behind this Georgian family contract with ARMA (Katamadze) → Customs (Katamadze) → Oil (oligarch Bejuashvili and Russian companies), the shadow of Mindich has long been visible, lobbying on behalf of this octopus and its purchases.

Interesting. The State Property Fund remains silent. Of course! There’s already some off-the-record media feedback from one of its deputies that even most of them are – put mildly – stunned by the buyer who won the auction with a margin of just 26 dollars over competitors, at a price of 805 million. But they’re staying quiet.

Still, this country does have the BEB (Bureau of Economic Security), right? or has Mindich already ‘taken care’ of everything? Do you understand now who will be the new ‘UkrBuilders’ in Ukraine? A family of corrupt ARMA insiders? Mindich’s mafia? Russian frontmen from the Caucasus?

Hey, SBU, are you there?!

Sergiy Naumovych

EMPR