Everything for sale: Black Sea Shipping Company was auctioned off. Requiem for the Black Sea Shipping Company ChMP cargo ships tkh chernivtsi
The editorial office received a letter from the staff of the State Shipping Company "Black Sea Shipping Company". The "Inspector" cites the entire appeal of the ChMP team.
Dear journalists, the staff of GSK "ChMP" appeals to everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of the country and the fate of enterprises that have recently become the pride of the country and have made a significant contribution to its economic might.
We do not particularly believe that our appeal will somehow affect the fate of the plundering and shameless misappropriation of the country's property into private pockets, but we cannot remain silent. Especially in light of the latest events unfolding in the city of Odessa.
On December 2, 2011, on all TV channels in the city of Odessa, a story was broadcast about the laying of the first stone of the future Sunday parish school on the territory of the Inter-cruise base of sailors, not far from the 10 April square.
What good intentions! Who can find arguments against such a holy cause? And, as always, all the best undertakings in our glorious city are headed by one of the benefactor fathers - Kivalov S.V.
Both the regional administration and the city council give permission for the construction of a school on the territory of a state enterprise, namely the State Shipping Company "Black Sea Shipping Company", and without the approval of the Ministry of Infrastructure (now the Ministry of Transport).
We are not against the very idea of building a parish school somewhere on the territory belonging to the National Academy of Law, but against the construction on the territory belonging to the State Insurance Company "ChMP".
The state shipping company "Black Sea Shipping Company", as you can see, is living out its last days. The scam of the century, conceived by the "patriots" of Ukraine and democrats, proudly singing the anthem of Ukraine and kissing the flag of Ukraine, enthusiastically telling about the struggle for independence, is coming to an end.
If earlier there was a question: who is behind the clearly planned strategy of destroying the shipping company, which has been going on since the first days of independence until now? Now it is quite obvious that for the public there are antagonistic groups, parties, governments, presidents of the country, but in fact all are close in spirit to profit, lies, priority of their personal, clan, family interests, complete disregard for the interests of the country.
The idea is one - everything should belong to those who have seized power for a short moment. When they come to power, they declare common truths: "Do not steal, thieves should be in prison, everyone will be punished." In fact, everyone who has got hold of any information about the plunder of the ChMP GSK chews off the next piece, blackmailing the previous ones.
More than once they tried to raise a question in the Verkhovna Rada about the state of affairs in the State Insurance Company "ChMP", but so far this question is hanging in the air. And this is after that huge number of letters, appeals from the staff of the State Corporation “ChMP”, veterans of the fleet, the public of the city to all government agencies over the past four years. The addresses contained not just desperate cries, but facts and figures, from which it was clear that the shipping company has the opportunity and resources to revive, to exist with dignity. But the solution was put into the hands of Prime Minister Tigipko S.L., who was directly related to the plundering of the ChMP fleet in the mid-90s and its transfer to companies located in offshore zones. I wonder if the state treasury was filled with these "strategically wise", as we were told, decisions to hide the fleet from arrests, or whether the filling was limited to the pockets of all those who planned and still carry out, control and try to complete the destruction of the ChMP ".
The Black Sea Shipping Company, which had authority all over the world, possessed huge assets, the owner, in addition to the fleet, of the richest real estate, is still the subject of the coveted plans and designs of the same gray cardinals. Leaving the ChMP to exist means constantly living in fear that any documents, facts, information will emerge, where and into what hands not only the passenger, cargo, but also the technical fleet, children's pioneer camps located in the expensive areas of the resort area of Odessa and the region, a recreation center on the Canary Islands, the Moryak hotel built by the ChMP, where the Economic Court is now sitting, the Chernomorets recreation center in Lustdorf and the stadium itself in Shevchenko Park.
At the end of the nineties, the office "Ukrspetsyust", organized under the Department of Justice, was actively working, which sold our property for a pittance. Without an auction, without the presence of GSK "ChMP".
At one time, Prime Minister Tigipko S.L. at a press conference in the State Sports Complex "ChMP" he expressed an opinion on the inexpediency of the existence of the shipping company and the need to transfer its property to create the State Commercial Shipping Company, separately highlighting the issue of transferring the inter-cruise base of sailors to the municipal property of the city.
If it is impossible to ruin us from the outside, then it is necessary to appoint such managers of reorganization who will give up and plunder everything themselves.
Until recently, under the Ministry of Economy, in the bankruptcy department, there was an institution of arbitration managers, reorganization managers, and liquidators.
All the managers appointed to us for the restructuring, which has been going on since 2006, only met the latest definition. They pursued the goal of ruining, destroying the ChMP.
In September 2008, V.A. Shnyakin, the result of which was a criminal case that thundered in the media throughout the country in connection with the fact that he almost deprived the ChMP of all real estate in the amount of 450 million courts of Ukraine (refusals up to the Supreme Economic and Supreme Administrative Courts). In addition, he simply ruined the ChMP, practically destroyed the accounting, ravaged the inter-cruise base of sailors, the motor vehicle fleet, farm complexes, tore up lease agreements that made it possible to conduct economic activities, fired most of the personnel workers.
The next reorganization manager Gorobchenko V.A., appointed by the economic court on February 28, 2010, taking into account the mistakes of the previous one, acted insinuatingly. True, "acting" is not really about him. Due to his constant absence, complete sabotage of the enterprise, he was removed after 4 months. For three months he fought for recovery, which he achieved, having recovered in September 2010, and three months later he wrote a letter of resignation. In November, the next criminal case was opened against V.A. Gorobchenko.
Since February 2011, he has been appointed manager of the reorganization Haylo N.V., who, when presented to the team of the ChMP GSK, stated that he was the head of the organization of arbitration managers. But even this fact did not warn him against violations.
In GSK ChMP, he behaves like an owner - he agrees to conclude agreements on the transfer of real estate to GSK ChMP for 1 hryvnia, instead of concluding agreements on the transfer of them to lease in order to generate income and create conditions for settlements with creditors (GSK "ChMP" is in the stage of bankruptcy).
So lease agreements were concluded with the prosecutor's office of the Odessa region for two floors of an administrative building on the street. Deribasovskaya, 4 for 1 hryvnia per year and with the National Law Academy on a 7-storey building on the territory of the Inter-cruise base of seamen for 1 hryvnia per year.
He also concludes contracts for the use of vehicles on enslaving terms for the ChMP, evaluating them as rubbish, and on the other hand, after repairing vehicles, he uses them without bringing us a dime of income.
Thus, the reorganization manager Haylo N.The. does not try to find ways to get GSK "ChMP" out of the economic crisis, but distributes movable and immovable property to the right and to the left.
There is no longer even hope for a just solution.
We just want everyone to know what lies behind the fervent speeches of our leaders and that Ukraine is rightfully ranked 152nd in the world in terms of corruption, alongside Kenya and Zimbabwe from 183 countries.
Respectfully yours, the team of GSK "ChMP".
However, the saga with the plundering of the former pearl of the USSR passenger merchant fleet did not end in 1992. It continued over the next two decades. Realizing the scale and fantastic prospects of corruption enrichment on the assets of the Black Sea Shipping Company during the two years of Ukraine's independence, the high-ranking men decided to approach their "carve-up" systematically.
First of all, they decided to replace the head of the ChMP Viktor Pilipenko with their own, more reliable person.
The official reason for his dismissal was the fact that he combined two positions - the head of the ChMP and the head of the State Department of Maritime Transport of Ukraine, created in November 1992, to which the functions of state regulation of the fleet were transferred.
Initially, it was planned to appoint Alexander Vinnitsky, the captain-mentor of the Black Sea Shipping Company, as president. However, behind-the-scenes political leverage was used.
Not without the help of the former mayor of Odessa, Eduard Gurvits, in November 1992, the ChMP was headed by Pavel Kudyukin, a little-known hitherto, who previously headed the Ship Traffic Control Center in the Odessa port.
Despite the great losses suffered by the Black Sea Shipping Company during the period of its leadership by Pilipenko, it was still a powerful enterprise.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the total deadweight of the Ukrainian merchant fleet as of January 1, 1993 was 6.177 million tons.
Moreover, the share of the Ukrainian merchant fleet in the world merchant fleet was about 1%, which allowed the country to take the 25th place in the ranking of the largest maritime countries in the world. By the way, 17 years later, in 2010, the deadweight of the domestic fleet totaled only 904 thousand tons, which threw Ukraine to 72nd place in the ranking.
Consequences of "corporatization"
The second step on the way to "deriban" the assets of ChMP was its privatization. For this purpose, in August 1993, by decree of President Leonid Kravchuk, on the basis of the Black Sea Shipping Company, the joint-stock shipping concern "Blasco" was created.
As an appendix to the decree, Kravchuk approved the list of enterprises included in the structure of the concern and subject to corporatization. Each division of the concern was incorporated separately and received the status of an independent legal entity.
The personnel department of the concern began to be called Blasco-Crewing, the bunkering department - Blasko-bunker, the bulk fleet department - Blasko-bulk, and the information department - Blasko-inform.
Since Kravchuk's decree contradicted the then Constitution and the privatization laws adopted in 1992-1993, the Verkhovna Rada vetoed the decree, but the president did not cancel it. He issued a new decree, which allowed the concern to continue its work, despite the parliamentary veto.
Creating ASK "Blasco", President, First Deputy Prime Minister Yefim Zvyagilskiy, Deputy Prime Minister Valentin Symonenko, Director of the Department of Sea and River Transport Yuliy Kruk and Kudyukin's team pursued far from state goals.
At first glance, their intentions were good: to hand over fifty ships to the management of specially registered "subsidiary" companies abroad to search for cargo, collect freight and pay the expenses of the fleet of experienced managers.
And thus - to increase the efficiency of the use of ships and infrastructure of the ChMP.
To accomplish this task, at the end of 1993, a presidential decree on double reflagging was issued. For example, a vessel is registered in Cyprus for financial purposes, and then the national flag is returned to it in Odessa.
The shipping line of the shipping company then cost about a billion dollars. By the decree on double reflagging, the management of "Blasco" received not only the right of a national carrier in their native ports, but also the possibility of transferring ships as collateral abroad, if necessary.
What this led to is known: the state has lost control over its own fleet. As a result of the violation of the legislation, the courts found themselves in a kind of "double" ownership - both of the state of Ukraine and individuals or legal entities that managed to obtain a foreign residence permit.
Thus, under the guise of reorganizing the fleet, a scam was carried out to withdraw the most profitable ships of the ChMP to offshore zones.
The management of the courts was fragmented between different companies that did not report to the ChMP. According to sources, for a certain bribe such an agreement was drawn up that at the end of its validity the state would lose these vessels.
On the security of Ukrainian courts, the managers "authorized" by the management of the concern received multimillion-dollar foreign loans, which, due to conditions known in advance, could not be returned to investors.
For example, the British company Silver Line Ltd part of the ships of the ChMP were transferred with the right of subsequent redemption. Some of the ships had to work off loans, and on such conditions that these loans could never be worked out, since freight rates were lowered and operating costs were overstated.
As a result, the ships became unprofitable, they were charged with huge debts that the shipping company could not pay. After that, the courts were arrested and sold at auction at discounted prices.
Huge sums in the form of "bonus" or "kickbacks" for the sold Ukrainian ships were transferred to accounts in Swiss banks opened in the names of relatives or dummies of officials and the management of JSIC "Blasco".
In two years, according to this scenario, Ukrainian ships were arrested in ports around the world. The most modern, comfortable and competitive ships have become the subject of the hunt for foreign companies. The state did nothing to free the ships of the ChMP.
Deputy Commission
In early 1994, the Verkhovna Rada decided to check the Black Sea Shipping Company. An investigative deputy commission was created under the leadership of Yuri Karmazin, the former prosecutor of the Primorsky district of Odessa.
He explained: the audit began due to the fact that the activities of the concern were suspiciously unprofitable.
According to him, ordinary employees of the concern did not receive a salary for three to four months, and this has become a common practice.
Also, during the audit, it turned out that the foreign currency accounts of "Blasco" in Ukrainian banks were empty. All of the concern's currency was deposited in British and German banks.
The commission found that the management of "Blasco", violating the legislation and instructions of the NBU, made decisions on the illegal opening of accounts in foreign banks to conceal foreign exchange earnings and tax evasion.
Such accounts were opened at Dresdner Bank in Hamburg, Chemical Bank in Frankfurt am Main, British banks Hambros, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland.
According to the commission, the management of the concern entered into unprofitable contracts for Ukraine on the transfer of profitable vessels to the management of foreign shipping companies. Half of the 228 ships were transferred to foreign firms.
Under most of the contracts, the company paid 200 thousand DM per year for the management of one vessel to its foreign partner, regardless of the financial result of this management.
The commission also found out that Pavel Kudyukin set too high rates of foreign exchange travel allowances in the shipping company. In addition, according to the commission, this decision of the President of "Blasco-ChMP" caused significant damage to the shipping company.
The commission found that managers of the firm, while abroad, received large sums from foreign firms. For example, Kudyukin himself in 1993 in Germany received 65 thousand DM in cash from the German company Transocean Tours, allegedly for travel expenses.
The Commission received information about the unjustified use of the concern's funds. By order of Kudyukin, about $ 2.5 million
This center was supposed to have a representative office of "Blasco" in Kiev. However, no such center was built. Where the money went is unknown. According to Karmazin, the total amount of Blasco-ChMP's debts exceeded $ 300 million.
The commission also found an interesting document. In 1994, Kudyukin issued to German citizens - employees of the company Dr. Vagner Ohrt partners Gunther Wagner, Wolfgang Orth and Volker Hertlig - power of attorney for the management of financial resources and material property of the concern.
According to the members of the commission, with this power of attorney, Kudyukin granted foreigners more rights than he himself had. The commission considered: since Kudyukin transferred the right to dispose of state property of Ukraine to foreigners, the issuance of this power of attorney was an infringement on the economic sovereignty of Ukraine.
Strange condemnation of Kudyukin
In September 1994, the Ministry of Transport removed Kudyukin from the post of president of JSIC "Blasco-ChMP" and dismissed him from the concern. However, Kudyukin ignored the decisions of the Ministry of Transport and continued to fulfill his duties.
It is known that Kudyukin filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Transport, and the court reinstated him in office.
However, in October, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine sent an order to the Department of River and Sea Transport to dismiss Kudyukin from his post.
Only after that Kudyukin left his post.
On the basis of the data of the parliamentary commission on January 24, 1995, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against him.
Although during the reign of Kudyukin, the shipping company lost only thirteen ships, most of the fleet turned out to be unknown where, operating under the flags of different countries. Another 60 ships were under judicial arrest.
After Kudyukin was detained, President Leonid Kuchma abolished the Blasko-ChMP ASK and ordered the creation of the State Shipping Company Black Sea Shipping Company on its basis.
Kudyukin was accused of abuse of office and misappropriation of foreign currency. However, Kudyukin was tried in Nikolaev, and not in Odessa.
At first, he was charged with the theft of 456 thousand German marks, which threatened with 12 years in prison, but then, through the efforts of interested persons, he was convicted only for apartment fraud. As if more than 70 steamers had not been skipped.
Only one listing of violations, which were announced in November 1998 in the Nikolaev regional court, where his case was heard, contained hundreds of pages and was read out for six hours.
On November 11, the Supreme Court ruled on Kudyukin's cassation appeal against the verdict of the Nikolaev regional court.
He was sentenced to ten years in prison with confiscation of property, foreign exchange earnings and securities in the amount of 1.3 million German marks, placed in German banks, as well as compensation to the ChMP of losses - 456 thousand German marks.
On March 23, 2000, Kudyukin, who had served half of his term, was released from prison for health reasons. Kuchma granted him amnesty.
Interestingly, after his release, in 2002, the first deputy prosecutor general Nikolai Garnik brought new criminal charges against Kudyukin.
The first episode was the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to an Italian firm during the renovation of the ChMP office building on Deribasovskaya.
The second is the misappropriation of more than 100 thousand German marks, transferred to his personal account in one of the banks in Bremen as compensation for the order for the installation of navigation equipment of the Lloyd Werft company on the motor ship Belorussia.
The third was receiving a large bribe for those times for allowing a Cypriot company to use the Peter the First motor ship as a floating ophthalmological clinic.
However, thanks to Kuchma's suspicious favor, the new case against Kudyukin was closed.
http://www.epravda.com.ua
LOADED FLEET. How the Black Sea Shipping Company, the world's largest shipping company, was scrapped and why no one went to court. Requiem.
On 01.01. In 1995, the Black Sea Shipping Company had 221 ships plus 53 ships in the joint ventures of Vietnam and Greece. The number of employees of the ChMP was 32 thousand people, of which 27 thousand were the crew. It was the world's largest shipping company. The landslide decrease in the Ukrainian fleet occurred due to the massive transfer of ships to offshore companies. This is how the Black Sea Shipping Company was racked up ...
Only in 1996-1997, the Ministry of Transport issued permission to transfer the following vessels to offshore companies: Captain Soroka, Captain Polin, Petr Smorodin, Mikhail Stelmakh, Vasily Matuzenko, Vladimir Gavrilov, Roman Carmen "," Captain L. Soloviev "," Pyotr Yemtsov "," Captain Slipko "," Captain Chirkov "," Aldebaran "," Ivan Shepetkov "," Captain Djurashevich "," Captain G. Baglai "," Nikolay Chernyshevsky ", "Yakov Bondarenko", "Boris Andreev", "Mechanic Bardetsky", "Captain V. Trush", "Kremenchug", "Grigory Petrenko", "Pavel Mizikevich", "Petr Aleinikov", "Engineer Yamburenko", "Leninsky Pioneer" , "Valentin Zolotarev", "Valeria Barsova", "Vinnitsa", "Brest", "Agostinye Netto", "Nikolay Cherkasov", "Zhitomir", "Izvestiya", "Alexander Ognivtsov", "Knud Espersen", "Ernesto Che Guevara, Captain Mezentsev, Engineer Ermoshkin, Stepan Artemenko, Captain Medvedev, Peter the First - 42 vessels in total.
All named vessels were written off the balance sheet of GSK ChMP and physically transferred to offshore companies. As a result of this policy of the Ministry of Transport, as well as the constantly changing leaders of GSK ChMP (for 5 years - 6 managers), the world's largest shipping company - the Black Sea Shipping Company disappeared from the face of the earth.
Hardly anyone will be able to remain indifferent after reading this brief reference. First of all, pain comes, a misunderstanding of how it could happen that Ukraine voluntarily abandoned a whole squadron of modern sea vessels. Many will see behind the numbers - a phenomenon, a whole system that allows you to "wash" huge funds from the state budget, to take away state property with impunity ...
For a long time, wave after wave of the problem of combating corruption has been rising in Ukraine. It rises and breaks, leaving almost no trace, not even foam. As a result, corruption in Ukraine, as a phenomenon, is recognized at all levels of power, but there are no specific corrupt officials. Why?
In many ways, the answers to these rhetorical "Why?" give the conclusions of the Accounts Chamber, whose auditors in almost every audit reveal a special "approach" of officials of the highest rank to the legal field of managing state cash flows and state property.
Abuses are committed under the "cover" of regulatory and administrative acts, which are supposedly issued in pursuance of legislation on budget issues, but in fact contradict the current legislation. After the creation of such, if I may say so, a regulatory framework, financial flows, now legally, are directed not to socio-economic transformations and the goals provided for by the Law on the State Budget, but to satisfy purely selfish personal interests.
How this happens in reality, the time has ripened to illustrate on one episode, or rather a subsystem - the system of misappropriation of state - people's property.
The President of Ukraine gave an official order to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to take a number of cardinal measures to get the country's fisheries out of the crisis, to develop and approve the Program for the renewal of the Ukrainian fisheries fleet for the period up to 2005 within three months. The program was developed and approved.
On January 17, 2002, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the National Program for the Construction of Vessels of the Fishing Fleet of Ukraine for 2002 - 2010 by the Law of Ukraine, which was signed by the President.
The need to develop the Program, as noted in this document, is due to the deplorable state of this fleet, "a catastrophic decrease in its quantitative and typical composition, which gives rise to an aggravation of a complex of economic, social and other problems, and negatively affects the state of food supply for the population of the state."
And what about the Program for Renewal of the Ukrainian Fisheries Fleet for the Period up to 2005? No one remembered about it because of a complete failure, and no one was and will not be held responsible for it. On the contrary, the new National Program will be implemented by the same “specialists” from the same former Ministry, then the Fisheries Committee, and now the Fisheries Department. But these are details, administrative pranks. Over the past ten years, there have been over three hundred such "programs".
Let's return to one of the points of the above-mentioned Instruction of the President of Ukraine, on the implementation of which ten times more budgetary funds were spent than on the Program itself. Here it is: "to provide financing for the completion of the construction of nine fishing trawlers at the Black Sea shipyard with subsequent leasing to fish industry enterprises in Ukraine" (term - during 1997 - 1998).
Implementing it, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Pustovoitenko V.P. signed an order dated 20.08.97 No. 460-r, in which he approved the proposed by the chairman of the State Fisheries Committee of Ukraine Shvedenko N.N. the illegal scheme for the creation of a state-owned fishing company in the offshore zone - British Virgin Islands - called "Fishing Company S.A." To complete the construction of ships at the Black Sea Shipyard, the Ministry of Finance was instructed to issue bank loans to the newly created Company in the amount of almost 11 million US dollars under its guarantees.
An interesting point - the order, and not the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, was issued "with the aim of removing the state enterprise Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant from the crisis state." As UNIAN reported on January 29, 2002, this plant was in the stage of bankruptcy. Well, well ... "They brought me out" of the crisis state.
But let's go back to the state-owned offshore fishing company and try to figure out what this phenomenon is and why it was created. Everyone is well aware that the transfer of business to offshore zones pursues, first of all, such a main goal as avoiding taxes, their maximum reduction. In our case, the Government creates a state offshore company, which is tantamount to the state's desire to avoid paying taxes to itself. This is exclusively Ukrainian know-how.
In world practice, to create preferential financial regimes to support, develop certain strategic projects, industries or territories, free economic zones, technology parks and the like are being introduced. But in such zones, preferential terms can be used by all interested business entities. In our case, the Government created an exclusive in the form of perpetual tax holidays for a specially illegally created one company.
But, the end justifies the means, and on September 4, 1997 the company "Fishing Company S.A." was registered in the British Virgin Islands. On the basis of the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance (Mityukov I.A.) provided guarantees, and the offshore company in the State Savings Bank of Ukraine received a preferential foreign currency loan in the amount of USD 10.6 million for a period of one year. Sources of loan repayment in the signed and implemented loan agreement between the State Savings Bank and Fishing Company S. A. have not been identified. And as time has shown, it is no coincidence.
For state funds, this offshore company purchased two trawlers from the Black Sea shipyard. And what did the state get in return?
This question was answered by the Board of the Accounts Chamber, which on December 15, 1999 considered and approved the Report on the results of the audit of the use of budgetary funds by the fishing offshore company "Fishing Company S.A." Here are some of the Panel's findings:
“… The current legislation of Ukraine does not provide for the registration of state enterprises in offshore zones. By its decisions regarding the registration of the state enterprise "Fishing Company S.A." in the offshore zone, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the State Committee for Fisheries violated Art. 5, 6 of the Law of Ukraine "On Enterprises", Art. 8 of the Law of Ukraine "On Entrepreneurship", as well as Art. 2 and clause 28 of Art. 4 of the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated November 6, 1997 No. 1250/97 "On the Regulation on the State Committee for Fisheries of Ukraine".
The company, legally and in fact, removed from the control of government bodies, is a non-resident, it received the money from the state budget illegally. Goskomrybkhoz (Shvedenko N.N.) and the Ministry of Finance (I.A.Mityukov) no measures to return the loan by Fishing Company S.A. did not undertake.
As a result:
The implementation of the settlement scheme through the company "Fishing Company SA", which was registered in the offshore zone, caused losses to the budget in the total amount of $ 2.5 million in connection with non-payment of taxes and other obligatory payments by the company, and value added tax by shipbuilders, since trawlers were exported;
Attraction of credit resources of the State Savings Bank for lending to the company "Fishing Company S.A." in foreign currency, in the absence of a mechanism for repayment of foreign currency loans, resulted in the bank's losses (in the form of an unpaid loan and interest for the use of credit resources as of October 1, 1999) in the amount of about 42.4 million hryvnias;
The implementation of this project by the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Fisheries Committee of Ukraine led to the loss of two trawlers by the state, worth $ 8.54 million. "
The conclusions of the Board of the Accounting Chamber were sent to the Cabinet of Ministers. Having passed through the system of all resolutions-orders of the Prime Minister, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance - consideration and preparation of the response dropped to the level of those performers who were just supposed to ensure the legality of the creation of the company, the efficiency of using budgetary funds whose visas were at their disposal The Cabinet of Ministers, crossing out the provisions of the three laws of Ukraine.
As a result, the Accounts Chamber received a response signed by Deputy Finance Minister V.V. Reguretsky, which states that: "... the creation of a fishing company is based on the laws of Ukraine" and discusses the effectiveness of the current "project".
Indeed, when you manage the entire budget of the country, is it really money of UAH 42.4 million? And two trawlers - is this property ?!
"... with regard to compliance with the law when establishing and registering a fishing company" Fishing Company S.A. " we report the following:
The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine carried out a check on this in 1999. Based on its results, a submission was made to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the elimination of violations, including regarding the creation and registration of a company in an offshore zone. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has considered the issue, but in fact violations have not been eliminated.
In this regard, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine carried out an additional check, as a result of which a letter was sent to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the need to urgently take measures to unconditionally fulfill the requirements specified in the submission and eliminate the identified violations. However, the government, in response, with reference to regulatory legal acts, noted that the creation of the company was carried out in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. "
As you can see, there is a system in which the official who committed abuses is instructed to recognize them, to prepare measures to correct and punish himself. Naturally, first of all, he will deny the very fact of abuse, inventing cleverly wise replies. And the leadership giving the assignments, as a rule, does not have time to study and dive into the problem. After all, most of them are semi-politicians, semi-professional specialists. And no one bears any real responsibility.
Having received contradictory answers to the conclusions of the Board of the Accounts Chamber from the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the General Prosecutor's Office, the auditors of the Accounts Chamber constantly monitored this problem, repeatedly drawing the attention of the highest executive bodies to the illegality of their actions.
And the actions were as follows:
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, instead of requiring the company to repay the debt to Sberbank for the loan it received, in December 1999 turned to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a proposal, agreed with the Sberbank of Ukraine, to restructure the debt of the offshore company to the bank as of March 1, 2000. Is this not an example of a proper program-targeted attitude towards budget money?
Debt restructuring took place by formalizing it in accordance with the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 21, 1999 No. 1456-r with treasury bills in the amount of UAH 46.8 million. A small, perhaps, but essential detail, this order is one of the last ones signed by Prime Minister V.P. Pustovoitenko, who by the Decree of the President from 22.12.99. dismissed from this position.
Despite the fact that the said debt, in violation of Art. 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On State Internal Debt" was not included in the state internal debt, in 2000-2001 UAH 26.7 million was paid from the State Budget of Ukraine. in repayment of the company's obligations to Sberbank. This was already under the new government, which was headed by V.A.Yushchenko, but under the old Minister of Finance, I.A.Mityukov.
Illegal actions of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine led to the fact that, due to the non-fulfillment by the offshore company of the terms of the agreement with Sberbank regarding the payment of funds in the amount of UAH 46.8 million, the debt obligations to pay the loan were automatically transferred to the Ministry of Finance, and later on to the state budget. It should be noted that at this time the results of the company's financial and economic activities allowed it to independently, albeit not yet in full, fulfill its debt obligations (the Company's revenues for 1997 - the first half of 2001 amounted to $ 2.4 million).
But the offshore company was not going to pay off the loan. You remember that the loan agreement “accidentally” did not specify the source of its repayment. As a result, according to the first - the minister, then - the chairman, now - the director of the fisheries department N.N.Shvydenko, no one owes anything to anyone, although they paid for everything with the money of the state budget, i.e. taxpayer money. And what about the property, which was actually acquired for state funds, especially since during this time the company acquired two more trawlers? Who do they belong to?
The documents available in the Sevastopol Sea Fishing Port indicate that the 100% owner of the Captain Rusak is already the Fishing Fox Ltd. company, registered in Cyprus. The Alexander Buryachenko is owned by Fishing Lion Ltd., registered in Cyprus, and Professor Mikhail Alexandrov was owned by Fishing Seal Ltd., which is also registered in Cyprus, which is an offshore zone.
And where is our "state" offshore company "Fishing Company S. A." from the British Virgin Islands, what does she own?
The results of the second check, carried out by the auditors of the Accounting Chamber, revealed that today, according to the order of the State Fisheries Committee, the property of the company "Fishing Company S. A." pledged as collateral against a foreign loan in the amount of $ 5 million for a period of 3 years at 10 percent per annum, taken by the International Fishiries Pool (Livingstone Sippsng Inc.), which, in addition to Fishing Company SA, included others, and unprofitable fishing companies, which gives grounds for the conclusion that there is a real threat of loss of the vessels of the Fishing Company SA, which were actually acquired at the expense of the state budget.
In December 2001, the Board of the Accounting Chamber, based on the results of monitoring and additional verification, considered this issue a second time and made a decision, taking into account the government's practice of considering the previous findings of the Accounting Chamber, as well as the fact that the state budget expenditures for the implementation of this project already amount to UAH 59 million. ., and the state does not receive any income, while there is also a real threat of loss of ships bought for state money, send materials on this issue directly to the President of Ukraine for taking measures to preserve state property.
The President of Ukraine reacted clearly and posed the question to the next Prime Minister: “Who will be responsible? and instructed to “deal with such activities.” Following the instructions of the President of Ukraine, the government created a Special Commission to consider this problem.
Twice in January and February 2002, this commission held meetings within the framework of the government committee on reforming the agrarian sector, however, its final document did not give clear, intelligible answers to the two main questions posed by the Accounting Chamber in a letter to the President of Ukraine:
First. Why does an offshore company, which in all documents are identified as the borrower of the loan, work profitably, but does not return the loan, but rather uses these funds to build up its own assets?
Second. How is it necessary to formalize the state's rights to floating crafts, which were actually acquired for state money, to ensure their operation for the benefit of the state and not to lose this state property?
At the meetings of the commission, timid statements were made about the lack of legislative regulation of the procedure for registering companies in offshore zones, which could lead to sad consequences. However, they drowned under the exalted pressure of representatives of those departments who from the very beginning initiated this project and carefully accompanied it.
As a result, under persistent pressure from the State Fisheries Committee and the Ministry of Finance, the emphasis was once again shifted in a completely different direction, which became the reason for the conclusions made, which do not have a convincing legal and economic nature, but, on the contrary, are based on dubious, not documented, information and , the so-called expediency.
Here are the findings of the commission:
“... The implementation of government decisions on this issue ensured the work of the shipyard, the receipt of payments from it to the budget, the preservation of the domestic technology for the construction of large-tonnage fishing vessels, and the result of the company's activities is direct and direct investments in the Ukrainian economy in the amount of about $ 22 million, the creation of 570- These new jobs for seafarers.
The members of the government committee for reforming the agrarian sector, having considered the materials of the Special Commission to study the creation and functioning of Fishing Company SA, after hearing its report, agreed with the conclusion that the State Fisheries Committee and the Ministry of Finance, when using state budget funds, acted within the framework of the regulatory and legal field. " ...
What "legal field", may I ask ?! Is it not the one that was created by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers and replaces the laws of Ukraine? In which you can ignore everything and everyone, guided by only one goal - to break off a bigger piece of the budget pie, while firmly knowing that you will not have to answer.
The interest of the officials of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economy, which by all means support the authors of this project from among the leaders of the State Fishery Agency, is corporate, or you cannot call it otherwise. The same deliberately untrue arguments are launched into the course, the main of which boil down to the following two points. The first is to convince everyone about the seemingly state Ukrainian status of the company "Fishing Company S. A."
But let us note the following. The current legislation of Ukraine does not provide for a combination of the status of a state enterprise with the status of a non-resident, which this company actually is, and which operates in accordance with the legislation of another state, where this company is registered.
This company is not registered in the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine, the purpose of which is to ensure unified state registration of entities. It includes only the representative office of this company in Ukraine, as the property of a legal entity of another state.
Trawlers owned by the company did not pass registration in the State Ship Register of Ukraine in accordance with the requirements of the Merchant Shipping Code of Ukraine, and certificates of ownership of ships and certificates of sailing under the State Flag of Ukraine were obtained fraudulently.
The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine also states that the company has actually been created, registered and operates in the territory unsupervised by the prosecutor's office. So what kind of state-owned company is this ?!
By the way, according to the Memorandum and Articles of Association of September 4, 1997, according to the laws of the British Virgin Islands, the name of the registered company is "Fishing Company S.A." and not "State fishing company" Fishing Company S.A. " as it is arbitrarily interpreted in all of its documents by the State Fishery Committee, and after it - and all other departments.
The only documentary evidence of ownership of this company is a Certificate for 50 thousand shares worth $ 50 thousand (shares, by the way, were not issued), issued in the name of the State Committee for Fisheries of Ukraine. But what is it worth when:
These property rights of the Goskomrybkhoz are not included in its assets. The State Property Fund of Ukraine also knows nothing about them;
Funds in the amount of $ 50 thousand were not transferred by the State Fishery Committee of the company, i.e. there is no documentary evidence of the fact of the financial transaction itself to repurchase shares;
The unregistered financial rights of the State Fishery Committee are estimated at $ 50 thousand, which is as much as 0.3 percent of the company's assets, which are already estimated at $ 14.5 million;
Goskomrybkhoz, as the owner of the certificate, had the right to receive dividends in favor of the state, but did not receive a single kopeck for 1997-2002.
The second argument of the apologists of the Accounts Chamber is generally from the realm of fantasy, since it boils down to the fact that although the company received a foreign currency loan in the amount of $ 10.6 million, it should not return it.
A thorough analysis of all documents, starting with the feasibility study of this project, confirms that the loan (borrowed) nature of its financing was envisaged, which means the need to return the funds received. At the same time, the emphasis was placed on the payback of the project, by significantly increasing the supply of fish products, primarily to such budgetary institutions as the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and others.
The Goskomrybkhoz itself, by order of 12.09.97 No. 4-4-19 / 63, designated the company as the borrower of the loan, which it received according to the loan agreements from the Savings Bank. Another thing is that the company was not going to return the loans it received, and the heads of the State Fishery Committee and the Ministry of Finance did it for it at the expense of the State Budget of Ukraine.
Back in 1999, the Ministry of Finance acquired in relation to the company all the rights of a creditor and, accordingly, the right to present claims against the debtor, but it never used these rights in the interests of the state. And the amount of claims against the company is 59 million hryvnia.
As you can see, the situation is interesting. The offshore non-resident company received from "rich" Ukraine, in fact, a gift in the form of three new modern fishing trawlers, each of which, under the most unfavorable circumstances, has the opportunity to bring more than $ 1.5 million in net profit per year. Whom it brings is unknown, but it is known for sure that it brings profit for four years in a row. And it is just as well known that it is not the state.
Is it possible that no one in Ukraine is able to find out who gets these state-owned revenues and influence the termination of the so-called ruinous experiment for the state? Auditors of the Accounts Chamber can unleash this problem. But for them the revenue side of the state budget is a “taboo,” also one of the purely Ukrainian know-how in the system of budget control. One can only imagine what financial resources, not under the control of state controlling bodies, serve someone's personal, by no means state interests.
It got to the point that even the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, in connection with this position of the government, is forced to inform that it has already exhausted the powers granted to it regarding bringing the status of this company into line with Ukrainian legislation. And the fact that violations of the current legislation took place during the creation of the company, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine twice submitted a presentation to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine back in 1999.
One gets the impression that the bitter lesson of the disappearance of the mighty fleet of the Black Sea Shipping Company did not teach anyone anything, although some elements of insight are coming. I will quote a few phrases from a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Kozachenko, received by the Accounts Chamber on March 28, 2002, which confirm our worst assumptions:
“… Re-registration in Ukraine (of a company) is premature, since before registering a company in Ukraine it is necessary to settle accounts with non-resident creditors of Ukraine. For this, the company needs to obtain loans in Ukraine in the amount of 35 million hryvnia. In addition, the company's ships are pledged for loans received from non-residents of Ukraine. The noted makes it impossible to obtain loans in Ukraine.
... Taking into account the above, we believe that the most realistic way to solve the problem of re-registration of the company is its work on the current conditions until the end of September 2004 without concluding agreements for obtaining new loans secured by courts.
... After making full settlements for the loans received, it will be possible to resolve the issue of registering a company in Ukraine. The relevant instructions on this issue have been given by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy ”.
But this is in the future, and today the implementation of the "Fishing Company S. A. project", through specially developed "rules of the game", made it possible to rob the state almost legally. At the same time, the level of fish production in 2000 by 1990 amounted to 33.5%, and the sale of fish per capita in 2001 in Ukraine amounted to ... 59 grams per month.
But why am I writing about this, because practically everyone knows about the position of the Accounts Chamber and the position of the leadership of the executive branch. There were more than enough articles in the media on this issue.
But on the other hand, one cannot remain silent - a state with access to two seas should not turn into a coastal state. It hurts and insults for the state!
Photo relic from the ChMP archive: 1962. The ChMP ship delivers cargo to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis. An American fighter is flying over it from the Guantanamo base.
Thousands of sailors need a documentary memory of the shipping company. During the years of their naval work, the archive of this shipping company was located in the Baskomflot building.
The order of business, established in this huge warehouse, was considered exemplary for the whole country. But not everyone knows that it has been deployed on Primorskaya Street, 11/13 for more than 10 years. And it is located in a long one-story building in the courtyard where the famous Dubnerian English language courses were once located. This is also indicated by the plywood attached above the door with the handwritten pencil inscription "ARCHIVE".
Finding it, perhaps, is all the more difficult because the building located parallel to it, facing Primorskaya, has been transferred to someone's property. The new owner, as far as he could, transformed it into a hotel, but his money became tight. A courtyard with piles of abandoned construction waste looks scary for a visitor. But it is not necessary to work your feet looking for the archive: the necessary certificate from it will be sent to the sailor by mail!
The written answer to the editorial request, what is the procedure for obtaining certificates in the ChMP archive, was signed by the General Director of the ChMP GSK I. Yu. Belov. On the company's letterhead it is printed that "All necessary certificates are issued according to the established model and within the specified period in accordance with the legislation in force in Ukraine."
Usually, former employees of the shipping company, including veterans of the fleet, need certificates of salary or in order to "break through" social benefits for themselves. The type of certificate is indicated in the application... It is written in the name of the General Director of GSK ChMP I.Yu. Belova.
Further: from whom, that is, write your last name, first name and patronymic. Next, write your address and phone number. All this is in the upper left corner of the sheet.
The following is a standard sample application:
“To apply for a preferential pension, please provide me with a certificate of work (salary). He worked as a sailor (waiter, 2nd mechanic, chief officer - in a word, indicate the position) from such and such to such and such a year (say, from 1980 to 1987) on a ship (indicate its name, for example " Berezovka "or" Matsesta "). I am enclosing a copy of the work book in duplicate and a copy of the passport in duplicate.
Number. Signature".
Next, send the package by registered mail with notification. At the address: st. Lanzheronovskaya, 1. Odessa. 65026. GMK ChMP. Office.
The answer from the archive also comes by mail, as a rule, no later than a month later. The service is free!
The intensity of the issuance of certificates is high: letters of this kind are received daily. Moreover, the shipping company office asserts that "none of the appeals was left without attention and consideration." Responsibility is emphasized by the words “if you know of cases when certificates were not issued, or their issuance is unreasonably delayed, please inform or send copies of the application / complaint. An official investigation will be carried out on these facts ”.
The complexity of the situation is that the construction businessman intends to take the one-story archive building and the entire courtyard from the shipping company in order to turn it into a hotel complex. Most likely, the repository will have to move from Primorskaya, 11/13.
- It seems that for this the ChMP bosses found a room on Peresyp, - they say in the State Archives of the Odessa region at 14 Zhukovskogo. Some of the materials from the ChMP archive are already being transferred to its shelves. So far, only "constant" is accepted, that is, documents on the main labor activity of the enterprise, for example, orders that are of interest to the national economy, and therefore stored indefinitely.
And the personal files of the ChMP workers, in particular, of the same crew, salary statements, orders for enrollment and transfer from ship to ship are supposed to be saved up to 75 years. (Here, please: not to be confused with the ship's roles, which are stored in the capitals of the ports).
75 years is the longest life span for temporary storage documents to confirm the employee's seniority. The storage time can be, for example, 10, 20 years or 1 year, depending on the significance of the document. Then the commission draws up an act of liquidation, and the materials are burned.
From the doors of the archive room in the courtyard, the smell of dampness and old papers emanates. It looks like there is no ventilation. This spoils the documents. And, perhaps, the affairs of the sailors should even be transferred to a more reliable storage location. This could be the city Department of archives and office work on the street. Stolbovaya, 17. But so far, a small part of the materials have been transported to the street. Pirogovskaya, 29 in the former party archive. The relevance of such a transfer will increase sharply if the ChMP changes the state form of ownership to private.
For those who carried weapons
Often, misunderstandings, and sometimes even dissatisfaction with archivists arise due to the fact that sailors turn to the archive for confirmation of their status as a "participant in hostilities." But this is not part of the functions of the steamship archive! And it is the parish of the Commission of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on the consideration of materials on the appointment of participants in hostilities, created by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 16 of January 13, 1995.
According to clause 2 of article 6 of the Law of Ukraine "On the status of war veterans, guarantees of their social protection", the workers (in particular, sailors) who worked in the countries where the hostilities were taking place were recognized as participants in hostilities. And also, if they themselves participated in these hostilities, or provided the combat activities of the troops. Easier, as they said in the ChMP, carried weapons to ports where the war was going on. And where did they really shoot!
The list of such countries and periods when it was recognized that hostilities were fought on their territories was approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 63 of February 8, 1994. There were seven changes to it. The last number 744 is dated June 17, 2009.
So, only those who were in the composition of the crews on the ships of the ChMP can be considered participants in hostilities. For example, in Algeria from 1962 to 1964. In Angola from November 1975 to November 1979. In Bangladesh from 1972 to 1973. Further - in Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt (United Arab Republic) and other countries. A complete list of them, together with dates, is attached to the Resolution.
(Part 1)
Today, few people know the Indian port of Alang, but the time will come when the story of the tragic death of the Black Sea Shipping Company (ChMP) will be written, and then Alang will sound as ominous as Tsushima. But, if Tsushima is not only tragic, but heroic pages of our fleet, then Alang is a shame of the leadership of the ChMP, the leadership of Ukraine. Alang is a lighthouse fifteen miles south of Bhavnagar, on the sandbank of which ChMP ships were thrown out at night, sold by temporary workers for a pittance or written off for metal. Alang is a ship graveyard. (In addition to Alang, ships were sent for cutting to Chittagon, Aluaga, Calcutta, Turku - ed.)
After the collapse of the USSR and the division of the property of the Ministry of the Navy, Ukraine got the most delicious piece of the naval pie - the world's largest Black Sea Shipping Company. The structure consisted of 11 ports, 3 shipyards, the Cherazmorput technical fleet management, the ASPTR expeditionary detachment, and a repair and construction trust. More than 100 thousand people worked at the enterprises of the shipping company, including about 30 thousand sailors. In 1990, the ChMP had 367 ships on its balance sheet, which brought the state net income in the form of currency. For example, each voyage to the USA (1.5-2 months) of one Mossovet type vessel (gas carrier - ed.) Brought 1 million US dollars. dollars freight. But literally in 8 years of independence (independence), the new owners destroyed the once flourishing shipping company.
With the transition to market relations, state-owned enterprises have become feeding troughs for directors. So, for example, a number of objects of the Odessa port were transferred to foreigners for joint activities. At the same time, the rates for the transshipment of goods were understated. Inspection act of KRU Odessa region. it was recorded that in the first 6 months of 1996 alone, the state suffered damage in the amount of US $ 4,605,379 during the transshipment of oil products. dollars
Temporary workers, under the guise of reorganizing the fleet, carried out a shameful scam to take the most profitable ships of the ChMP to offshore zones. The management of the courts was fragmented between different management companies that were not subordinate to the ChMP. For a certain "bribe" such an agreement was drawn up that at the end of its validity the state lost these ships. For example, the English company "Silver Line Ltd" part of the ChMP ships were transferred with subsequent redemption, some of the ships had to work out loans, and on such conditions that these loans could never be worked out, because freight rates have been lowered and operating costs have been inflated. As a result, the ships became unprofitable, huge debts were hung on them, which the shipping company could not pay. After that, the courts were arrested and sold at auction at discounted prices. For example, the “Med Sky” motor ship, one of the highly profitable ships of the ChMP, was under arrest for more than two years, for overdue debts ChMP to creditor firms was sold on November 19, 1997 at an auction in Rotterdam for 2.7 million dollars. The average selling price of other multipurpose vessels is US $ 1 million. dollars, while the cost of a new vessel of this class is about 20 million US dollars. dollars and more expensive.
In addition to sales at auctions, ships were intensively sold for scrap, and such that they could still work and work. For example, the ship "Ismailia" in 1995 was repaired in China. The repair cost 600 thousand US dollars. dollars The repairs were carried out to a high standard, a new satellite navigation system was installed on the ship. The Maritime Register confirmed the class of the vessel until 2000. A year later, "Ismailia" was sentenced to be dropped in Alang. The buyer purchased the ship along with all the documents at the price of scrap metal and put it back into operation.
The scale of such activity can be judged by the figures that were leaked to the press. So the management of ChMP only from August 1995 to March 1997 sold abroad and decommissioned about 60 ships for metal. More than half of them found their last refuge in Alang, Chittagon or Calcutta. In the first 10 months of 1996 alone, 28 ships were sold for a pittance. In total, in 1997 ChMP planned to sell 44 vessels. The total amount of the proceeds was hidden.
In 1995, the president of the joint-stock shipping company Blasco - (ChMP) P. Kudyukin was arrested and put on trial for "striking activity" in stealing the fleet. But Kudyukin was tried in Nikolaev, not in Odessa. First, he was charged with theft of 456 thousand Germans. marks, which threatened with 12 years in prison, but then, through the efforts of interested persons, he was convicted only for apartment fraud. As if the Black Sea Fleet was not squandered by Kudyukin together with ex-President Kravchuk. According to the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine G. Omelchenko, Kudyukin and a number of foreign companies allocated about 1.3 billion US dollars. dollars to personal foreign currency account No. 457, opened on February 4, 1993 in a bank in St. Maurice (Switzerland) in the name of Alexander Kravchuk, the son of the ex-president. Justice did not deal with these scams.
In 1997, the South Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case on the illegal sale of twelve ships. V. Solodovnikov, head of the fleet technical exploitation department of the Black Sea Shipping Company, was arrested for official forgery and embezzlement of state property through embezzlement, embezzlement or abuse of office.
But the destruction of the fleet continued. The management of the company changed one after another. The affairs of the company were so complicated that it was impossible to say how many and what ships the ChMP had, how many and to whom it owed. So, for example, the motor ship "Taras Shevchenko" since 1996 was owned by the company "Ukrpasflot" - a subsidiary of GSK ChMP. In 1998, Ukrpasflot transferred the vessel for operational management to the offshore Liberian firm Cable Navigation. At the same time, "Ukrpasflot" put up the ship as collateral for a loan received from the "Graf-Credit" bank. In connection with non-payment of the loan, the bank initiated a lawsuit. In February 1999, "Taras Shevchenko" was sold at auction to the British firm "Clean Finance". "Ukrpasflot", the prosecutor's office of the Odessa region and "Cable Navigation" appealed the results of the auction in the Supreme Arbitration Court of Ukraine, and in December 1999 the transaction was declared invalid. At the same time, the company "Clean Finance" at the end of 2000 sold the ship to the Illichivsk Sea Fishing Port, which is part of the ARC "Antarctica". The vessel is now at the berths of the Ilyichevsk shipyard, where repairs ordered by Antarctica are underway.
At the same time, the Minister of Transport of Ukraine Valeriy Pustovoitenko announced that the Cable Navigation company belonged to the state of Ukraine, but this did not prevent the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine in 2002 from imposing a ban on the national registration of the motor ship "Taras Shevchenko", stating that it was inexpedient to raise the Ukrainian flag on a ship that can be taken out of the country as belonging to owners from abroad. The ship is currently claimed by two organizations: the Ukrainian joint-stock fishing company "Antarctica" and the Liberian offshore company "Cable Navigation".
The teams under the leadership of the presidents of the ChMP A. Diordiev in 1997 and S. Melashchenko in 1998 tried to somehow save the situation, began work on an inventory of accounts payable and the entire property of the ChMP, tried together with the Greeks, Germans and Russians to create a Financial and Industrial group with the aim of reviving the fleet. However, this did not like those companies that have enriched themselves at the expense of the shipping company, and the Ministry of Transport did not like it either. There, another task was set for the fate of the shipping company, and these workers were dismissed.
Foreign companies, sensing that such a state of affairs could make good money, inflated the shipping company's debts several times, arrested the ships, and sold them at auction. For example, the largest creditor of ChMP - the Swiss financial and commercial company “Planmarine” presented in 1997 ChMP a debt in the amount of 53 million US dollars. dollars However, this amount was not documented in any way. An audit of leasing contracts and agreements signed between ChMP and Planmarine showed that the debt was only US $ 18 million. dollars But despite this, the Planmarine firm arrested more than a dozen ships of the ChMP. The ChMP ships were hunted all over the world. Dozens of ships were under arrest in foreign ports. The following figures show the scale: in 1997 more than 25 ships were arrested. 16 went on sale, 19 were purchased. More than 20 vessels of the Ukrainian passenger and merchant fleet were under the threat of sale. The maritime industry collapsed. Of the two hundred ships that were listed by this time on the balance sheet, less than twenty remained afloat. The pride of the ChMP was arrested - the motor ship "Odessa", "Karelia", written off for scrap "Ivan Franko".
The money raised was deposited in foreign accounts, and the crews were not paid their salaries for months. People were dying of starvation. This is how the electromechanic Lapshin died on the motor ship "Odessa".
Telegrams were sent to the leadership of the GSK ChMP and the KMP of the trade unions - a cry from the heart, but no one answered them. Motor ship "Svetlogorsk" 6.02.97 - “Your silence is incomprehensible. The ship ran out of diesel fuel, food, detergents, bed linen did not change for three weeks, there is nothing to buy cigarettes. The crew has been working for nine months, extremely agitated, with nothing to feed or prepare food. Requires payment of debt in foreign currency for August-February 73000 am. dollars, replacement by the ship ChMP. Captain Boogun. "
Motor ship "Professor Kudrevich" 6.02.97. - “The vessel was abandoned by the ship owner, operator Blasco, without a bunker, provisions, which led to an extremely difficult situation. We ask for help with advice, contact the Israel ITF requesting practical assistance to the crew. The arrival of the port of Ashdod began an indefinite protest action until the full repayment of all types of debt. They demanded KM (captain-ed.) To apply to the port authorities to provide assistance to the vessel with a bunker, provisions secured by the vessel, cargo. We are waiting for your help, advice. If our problems are not resolved, the crew will be forced to leave the ship and go ashore. At the request of the crew of the preprofessional committee of Gorbenko. "
The crews were forced to go on strike. A strike is a powerful tool, but, unfortunately, this method did not work then. The shipowners were not interested in the preservation of the ships - they were not responsible for anything, they simply left them to their fate. The ships were sold for a pittance. The sailors lost their jobs.
The crew committee was at one with the administration. The crews were unable to unite their few strike committees and take the work of the courts and the ChMP administration under their control. The sailors, like the entire working class of the USSR, were not ready for this. In conditions of plundering of socialist property, the crews of the ships could not fundamentally change anything.
It was a crash. By 2001, only 3 ships remained in the ChMP. The internal debt of the campaign reached UAH 207 million, the external confirmed debt amounted to US $ 81 million. dollars, and the same unconfirmed. But the management of the maritime industry saw the reason for the collapse not in the criminal squandering of public property, but, according to the chairman of the Association of Shipowners of Ukraine A. Kurlyand, in ... the inability of managers to work in market conditions.
On June 21, 2001, the Minister of Transport Pustovoitenko, at a meeting of heads of the maritime industry in Odessa, said that the ChMP had actually ceased to exist, that the state did not have the means to revive the campaign. ChMP will exist until the complete elimination of its own debts. The funds were allocated only for the work of the ChMP bureaucratic apparatus on settlements with 271 creditors. According to the Minister of Transport Pustovoitenko, the external debts of the ChMP are assumed by the state, and the internal debts are to be written off. This means that the inhabitants of Ukraine will pay with their labor for everything that was appropriated and squandered by the leaders of the ChMP and those who stood behind them.
Today, 93-95% of Ukrainian cargo is transported by foreign ships. 27 thousand Ukrainian sailors sail under foreign flags. But the nascent bourgeoisie needs its own navy, and Pustovoitenko, at the same meeting, announced the need to create a new shipping company capable of taking over the functions of the ChMP. It will have to deal mainly with commercial transportation with a minimum share of government orders.
This role is claimed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). She began to implement the Orthodoxy Fleet program. The UOC-MP, together with the Odessa City Hall and other investors "from Zaporozhye, Nikolaev and Donetsk, bought out a controlling stake in the Atlas shipping company for $ 40.5 million.
The former president of the ChMP, Pavel Kudyukin, became the director of the new shipping company Atlas, the one who led the destruction of the ChMP. Kudyukin said that the company intends to use the received profit for the needs of the church, as well as the acquisition and construction of new ships. Thus, according to the "Orthodoxy Fleet" Program, it is planned to create a fleet of 120-150 ships within 10 years. The main goal is the return of Ukrainian sailors under their native flag and the revival of the honor of Ukraine as a Great Maritime Power.
The interest of the church in the navy is understandable - it is a very profitable business, especially if you do not disdain smuggling. Not so long ago, the border patrol met one of the Atlas ships carrying barrels of contraband alcohol. However, the team managed to throw the contraband goods overboard. Believers in the best parishioners of the village of Severnoye (Black Sea region), having caught about fifty such barrels (each with 168 liters of alcohol), staged a Neptune holiday. According to a long-standing maritime tradition, an ownerless cargo is considered a "prize" of the one who found it, but the Ukrainian militia did not know such a tradition and, ensuring the rights of private property, began to seize the gifts of Neptune. Moreover, the manufacturer was indicated on the barrels with alcohol - the German company Mauser. However, for this "Caesar of the sea" punished the policemen - they got drunk on free alcohol and died ...
In seismically active regions of the World Ocean, tsunamis (from the Japanese "wave in the harbor") are observed, arising as a result of the displacement of sections of the seabed during underwater earthquakes. Having reached the coast, and concentrating its energy, this wave produces devastating destruction on land. There is no tsunami on the Black Sea, but nevertheless the Black Sea Shipping Company destroyed the tsunami - the tsunami of greed and permissiveness, which was generated in Ukraine by capitalism and its basis, private property.
OIAC, 2002
(Part 2)
The Black Sea Shipping Company (ChMP), established in 1833, by 1990 was the largest in Europe and the second in the world. On its balance were 295 sea vessels of various classes with a total displacement of 5 million tons and about 1.1 thousand units of the auxiliary fleet. The shipping company had an annual income of over a billion dollars. The ChMP employed 27 thousand sailors, 22 thousand of them now sail under a foreign flag and will never return here, the number of employees is up to 80 thousand, the cost of the company's entire property is 6-7 billion US dollars. dollars, net annual profit of 160 million US dollars. dollars to 1 billion US dollars, it alone brought income in the amount of 10% of all foreign exchange earnings of the Soviet Union
In 1991, after the destruction of the USSR, the ChMP came under the jurisdiction of Ukraine. The problems of the ChMP of that time differed little from the problems of other sectors of the economy, which had previously been of all-Union significance. At first, the new owners did not know what to do with it. For a long time now, the seagoing ships of Ukraine were sailing under the flag of the destroyed USSR. But the then Prime Minister V. Fokin publicly declared: “And what about that fleet for us? If it will be necessary to transport, then two chapels will be hired and transported! ". After that, the fleet was doomed and thieves of all stripes and ranks, from ordinary racketeers to the president, began to plunder the ChMP.
The first powerful blow to the ChMP was delivered when V. Pilipenko was at its head. It was under him that mysterious things began to happen to the ships of the ChMP. Having supported the Emergency Committee, he tried by any means to rehabilitate himself before the new authorities, first in Moscow and then in Kiev. The money earned by the ChMP, not controlled by the state, was spent on bribery of officials of various ranks. On ships, as part of the ship's crews, important dignitaries were busy on targeted tours as backup for senior command personnel, for example, to buy cars in Japan, while they received a salary and huge travel allowances. The management staff of ChMP began to pay part of their salaries in foreign currency.
Seeing the incompetence of the Kiev authorities, the naval embezzlers began to create an atmosphere of unprofitability of the ChMP, and sometimes even bankruptcy. Fewer and fewer of our ships began to enter Ukrainian ports, more and more cargo operations were carried out in the ports of foreign countries, ship repairs were carried out at foreign bases, bunkering of ships took place in foreign ports.
Such actions made it possible to move monetary transactions (receipt of earned money, expenses for repairs, fuel, maintenance) to foreign banks, making it impossible to control the operation of the fleet, over cash flows, from the controlling organizations and, thus, created the possibility of freely launching thieves' hands in state pocket. The process of destruction of the ChMP fleet flourished with the transfer of some of the ships to Sovcomflot, where they gave a series of bulk carriers that brought the shipping company about 25% of the profit, as well as the cost-effective passenger ships Fyodor Dostoevsky and Maxim Gorky. In exchange, ChMP received 18% of the shares, but in the chaos of the first year of independence, ChMP's percentage of shares in Sovcomflot was mysteriously reduced to 1.4%, that is, almost to zero. At the same time, the ChMP vessels that were in Sovcomflot were not returned.
By the arrival of the next head of the shipping company in 1992, the main robbery was completed. Of the 360 ships that were in the ChMP before the arrival of Pilipenko, only 239 remained. The rest, the best, were taken away. Debts on loans from ChMP were already about $ 170 million.
In 1992, by decree of the then Prime Minister Fokin, Pavel Kudyukin was appointed head of the ChMP. The personality is unique, because of all the leaders of the ChMP, only he was ultimately convicted.
Thus began L. Kravchuk's scam - “Blasco”. Kudyukin began with the transformation of the company into a joint stock company. In 1993, by the decree of the President of Ukraine, the joint-stock shipping concern "Blasco" was established. He also decided to renew the composition of the ChMP ships at the expense of foreign loans.
Further plundering of the fleet was of a sophisticated nature, the main strategy of which was to reduce the size of the fleet. In addition, there was a plan to transfer ChMP vessels to offshore companies, supported by the then Prime Minister of Ukraine Kuchma and President Kravchuk. The newly minted head of the ChMP signs two agreements with the German trade and transport group "Stinnes" on the transfer of 30 highly profitable bulk carriers to it for commercial management. The deal turned out to be ineffective for ChMP - much less revenue was received in Ukraine than expected. But the main fatal blow to the ChMP was inflicted upon the conclusion of an agreement with the British company Silver Line and its subsidiary, Wee-Sheep, which was transferred to control 50 ships. Silver Line has pledged to provide approximately $ 1 million in annual operating revenue for each vessel. However, the company used the received vessels extremely ineffectively, on average 10 vessels of the shipping company were idle. Meanwhile, ChMP has consistently paid out agency fees for operator management, totaling $ 5 million. Due to the lack of an effective accounting system, the incoming currency funds of the Silver Line shipping company were used without the shipping company's knowledge to settle their own financial problems.
Thus, this company received a number of loans from foreign banks totaling over $ 42 million. The pledge was 15 ChMP vessels. Silver Line independently sold to various companies the motor ships Sevan, Suez, V. Klochkov, Heroes Panfilov, Captain Anistratenko and others, without the consent of the shipping company and the permission of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, without providing the Ukrainian side even information about the spending of funds received from the sale. The merchant fleet was "melting" before our eyes, and the foreign partners of ChMP rubbed their hands, concluding super-profitable deals.
At the same time, private companies disappeared quickly and without a trace, leaving ships with unpaid debts for parking, bunkering, etc. As a result, the courts were arrested and sold. And although formally the loss of ships at Kudyukin was only 11 units, in reality, most of the fleet was nowhere, working under the flags of different countries. For this activity, as head of the ChMP, Pavel Kudyukin was convicted and imprisoned.
But on the other hand, new shipowners appeared in Greece and Cyprus, linked by close ties with the families of the former leaders of the ChMP. Especially fatty fish began to be caught in the murky waters of arrests of ships for the debts of the shipping company. For the scanty debt of a small tug belonging to the ChMP, such liners as "Taras Shevchenko" were arrested. The most expensive ships in the ChMP, bringing fabulous profits, suddenly turned out to be unprofitable. They could be sold by writing off the ChMP's balance sheet for two crates of whiskey. The supply of, for example, m / v "Dmitry Poluyan" worth several million dollars was carried out at the price of scrap metal, along with all property, spare parts and mechanisms.
In place of the removed Kudyukin, Aleksey Koval was appointed. During his short career as head of the ChMP, he tried to figure out which vessels of the ChMP and where are located, and began an audit. But without achieving anything, losing another 30 ships, he was fired.
And then A. Stognienko came. He started out like everyone else - with loans, which all ships were sent to work off. And then, as ordered, all over the world begin mass arrests of ships of the ChMP. For a variety of reasons. What does the owner do? Sues, asks to wait, bargains? - No, the owner removes the crew and is relieved to auction the vessel. So what to do? Arrest debts must be paid, interest on bank loans must be repaid. As a result, a situation arose in which the newest ships were sold to pay off interest on loans taken for the construction of new ships. Of course, there is no evidence of malicious intent in this situation and cannot be. Everything is within the law. But over the two years of the reign of Mr. Stognienko, from 1995 to 1997, ChMP lost 171 ships !!! At the same time, Alexander Stognienko left the post of head of the ChMP completely calmly, without consequences.
In total, under three subsequent leaders, “only” 36 vessels “evaporated” in five years. By 2008, the number of courts became two, and even then one of them was arrested in Turkey.
Where are the ChMP ships now? Under whose flags are they sailing the ocean? Who do they bring income to? Nobody knows! A mystery shrouded in darkness.
No one will give an unambiguous answer to the question why the ChMP suffered such a defeat in peacetime? Too much has been done in secret, too much stupidity and greed. To understand exactly how it all happened, you need to study the history of each ship separately. Here's an example. Together with the ChMP, Ukraine got such a ship as "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin", built in 1971, with a displacement of 45,000 tons. Foreigners estimated it at $ 500 million. And Ukraine sent it to India in 1996 to be cut up for scrap, selling it for 765 thousand dollars, that is, 17 cents per kilo. How did it come about? First, "Gagarin" was abandoned in the Yuzhny roadstead, leaving it unsecured, since the ChMP did not have money. Then the ship was handed over to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. He didn't have any money either. But there were those who wanted to privatize valuable equipment separately from the vessel. He was visited several times by officers of the gallant Armed Forces, and all equipment disappeared from all his 110 laboratories. And then the ship was sent on the last voyage. And now the question, "Who is to blame?" Sailors who dragged along a little? The officers who removed the instruments? Or, after all, those who were not able to dispose of the property they had inherited, but were solving the most important tasks of reforming alphabets, adopting hymns and changing signboards in schools?
The participants in this scam were high-ranking officials.
The first wave of plundering of ChMP property was replaced by the second: V.A. - Head of the Economic Court of the Odessa region, V.I. Galanternik - Deputy of the Odessa Regional Council from "Our Ukraine", A.F. Dubovoy. - People's Deputy of Ukraine, elected according to the lists of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, member of the Batkivshchyna party, President of the International Charitable Organization "Fund of Good and Love", Shnyakin V.A. - appointed as a sanator of the ChMP by the Economic Court of the Odessa region. With their help, property worth about UAH 400 million was alienated. At this time, such objects as the inter-cruise base of sailors with an area of over 13 hectares, an administrative building on Deribasovskaya street, the Black Sea yacht club, a boarding house for fleet veterans and other institutions were gone.
The completion of the deriban proceeded as follows. In Odessa, they talk about one notorious company called the joint-stock holding company Sea Trident, headquartered in Kiev, to which in the summer of 1999 a part of the remaining ChMP ships was transferred, with a total value of about half a billion dollars. The deal concealed further embezzlement of the fleet, but through foreign offshore companies, where it is no longer possible to “get” vessels for Ukrainian legislation.
As of today, neither Sea Trident nor its related commercial structures have a fleet left. 35 vessels were handed over for the ChMP's debts, although an inspection by KRU in 2003 did not find documents explaining the nature of the Sea Trident's debt obligations to foreign companies. That is, the ends are in the water. No fleet, no money. The property, which was taken away, in value was ten times higher than the debts of the shipping company.
So sadly ended the life of the world's largest shipping company - the Black Sea Shipping Company.
Who will be responsible for this? - That's the question!
Odessa Information and Analytical Center - OIAC, 2012
Bolshevik newspaper, Odessa