Oleksandr Liemienov, Ukrainian investigative journalist, founder of the StateWatch group believes and alleges that the companies of Oleh Tsyura, German and Swiss businessman, can help the world’s largest producer of ferrochrome MidUral belonging to Serhii Gilvarga to circumvent international sanctions.
Oleksandr Liemienov writes about it in his blog on the website of the leading Ukrainian publication Ukrainska Pravda.
He notes that Oleh Tsyura is a non-public businessman, but his name appeared in the media in connection with a scam with state companies – Odesa Port Plant and the United Mining and Chemical Company, the losses from which were estimated at UAH 10 bln.
Liemienov reminds that at the end of October, the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine left unchanged the preventive measure for Dmytro Sennychenko, former Head of the State Property Fund.
“He is subject to arrest as the organizer of a criminal group that caused losses to the state in the aforementioned amount. Two more participants in the criminal transaction, Mykola Synytsia and Yurii Lypka, are also subject to preventive measures in the form of bail. The remaining accomplices, including Dmytro Sennychenko, left Ukraine and are having a good time abroad,” writes the journalist.
But, as the investigator notes, there is another participant in this story, Oleh Tsyura, who is a business partner of one of the suspects, Sergii Bairak.
According to Liemienov, Tsyura most likely does not have Ukrainian citizenship, which makes it difficult for the anti-corruption authorities of Ukraine to bring him to justice. Therefore, the international legal department should promote the implementation of the principle of inevitability of punishment by German or Swiss prosecutors.
In his blog, Oleksandr Liemienov talks about Oleg Tsyura’s business interests abroad.
“In 2005, Tsyura became a co-owner of ITS International Trade & Sourcing GmbH & Co. KG. Also, for 2 years, Tsyura headed another company with a similar name, ITS International Trade & Sourcing Verwaltung GmbH. The most interesting thing is that both German companies are registered at the same address and have a common co-owner – Sergii Bairak. I already mentioned him a little above. Bairak also appears in the “Sennychenko case” as one of the three key co-organizers of the scheme,” writes the journalist.
He notes that, according to the investigation, Bairak, by prior agreement with Sennychenko, organized a scheme of mediation between state-owned enterprises and commercial buyers of the products of these enterprises at deliberately low prices. Bairak’s additional function was to mediate communication between Sennychenko and another person involved in the case, namely Andriy Hmyrin.
Also, according to declassified NABU audio recordings, for their participation in the corruption scheme, Bairak and Hmyrin received 25% of the transactions, Sennychenko – 50%. Currently, according to unofficial information, Bairak is allegedly giving incriminating testimony.
Oleksandr Liemienov believes that, despite the fact that neither Oleg Tsyura nor the relevant companies appear in this case, his direct connection with Bairak through joint German companies and related businesses with the scheme organized by Sennychenko should interest at least specialized experts dealing with the issue of sanctioning Russian entities involved in the war.
“It is currently known that the aforementioned German company of Zyura and Bairak – ITS International Trade & Sourcing GmbH & Co KG – participated in the auction for the sale of a batch of zirconium ores from the state-owned Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in 2018. A win of UAH 1000, with a total lot price of UAH 45m, seems quite strange,” believes the investigator.
He notes that later a re-competition was held due to an even more strange decision of the commission, as a result, another German company – Buss&Buss Spezialmetalle GmbH – was recognized as the winner. And later a lawsuit was filed against the ITS company, and, as a result, the legal and business story went through all three court instances, where the commission’s decision was legalized.
“It is logical to assume that these strange “body movements” regarding zirconium supplies have stopped, because the Tsyura-Bairak duo understood: a direct connection with the management of the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMChC), Peter Davis, has been recorded. By the way, Bairak was an advisor and partner of Davis, who was appointed during the term of Dmitry Sennychenko. Already in 2020, Tsyura’s ITS International Trade & Sourcing GmbH & Co “lit up” in a case regarding the supply of ilmenite ore from the Irshava Mining and Processing Plant, which is part of the UMChC,” notes the journalist.
He recalls that until 2014, the said plant had been steadily supplying ilmenite ore to Crimean Titan, which is currently located in the Russian-occupied Crimea. There have been currently unconfirmed allegations in the media that in 2020, supplies were also made in this final direction, albeit with illegal elements.
“For your understanding, Crimean Titan was controlled by oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who had two business partners – Serhii Liovochkin and Ivan Fursin. In turn, the Liovochkin family not only sat in parliament, but also owned the Clearing House bank, where the aforementioned Peter Davis was a member of the supervisory board. And Sergii Bairak also worked as Director of the UA-Media LLC, which was connected with the Firtash-Liovochkin structures,” Liemienov writes.
He emphasized that Tsyura’s main business is legal and financial representation services in Switzerland for the establishment of trade activities of production and agricultural holdings from Ukraine and the Russian Federation. According to them, Oleg Tsyura’s company has been focusing on management of private and family assets since 2015. At the same time, according to Liemienov, for clients from the Russian Federation, in addition to withdrawing funds abroad, such services allow them to avoid sanctions imposed on Russian companies.
The founder of the StateWatch emphasizes that Oleg Tsyura has close cooperation with representatives of the Russian business community. In particular, he can help Russian business bypass Western sanctions imposed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thus, in 2015, Tsyura became a co-founder of the LINVO group, which offered asset management services, private and family funds. Among LINVO’s clients is Russian Nikolai Korobov, owner of one of the largest developers in St. Petersburg – the MAVIS company.
Also, according to the investigator, Oleg Tsyura provides support in managing the trading structure of the Russian corporation MidUral, a chemical and metallurgical complex of enterprises in the Urals specializing in ferroalloys and chemical products, owned by Russian Serhii Gilvarga.
“Evidence of Tsyura’s direct connection with Gilvarga is changes in the management of Interchrome AG and replacement of Oleg Tsyura in the position of a Russian citizen, Lyubov Mkhango, who also works at LINVO and is also one of the directors of the offshore company from Cyprus, MidUral Holdind LTD. In addition, the company Phoenix Resources AG, owned by Oleg Tsyura, exports Russian MidUral ferrochrome around the world. At the same time, when supplying to India, Russia is directly indicated as the manufacturer of the product,” writes the journalist.
At the same time, the investigator emphasizes that when supplying ferrochrome to Estonia, which is a member of the European Union, its manufacturer is already listed as Uzbekistan, which is not under Western sanctions.
According to the journalist, the next step for Ukrainian law enforcement is to check the connections between Oleg Tsyura and Sergii Bairak.
“If Tsyura facilitated or directly carried out supplies from or to sanctioned jurisdictions, then it seems quite logical to sanction the specified person first, at least in Ukraine. Also, we should not forget about the role of the “ferroalloy baron” Serhii Gilvargo, who, according to our data, is not under sanctions in any of the Western democracies,” concludes Oleksandr Liemienov.
