The head of «Kievgorstroy», Igor Kushnir, has been linked for several years to scandalous construction schemes in Ukraine. Under his leadership, the holding has become a typical financial pyramid, with hundreds of millions disappearing.
Kushnir is also linked to Sergey Levochkin and close contacts with Mayor Klitschko.
The main scandals around Igor Kushnir are related to the opposition of citizens against the development of Kiev, one of the numerous stories of this kind was published by the resource «Kievvlast»: «Such an ambiguous situation occurred in February 2016 — the reason for the conflict between the construction company and Kiev residents was the construction of another high-rise on a disputed land plot at per. Sviatoshynskyi, 2. The citizens assured that the plot was allocated back in 1992 for the construction of a kindergarten and was illegally transferred to the ownership of “Kievgorstroy”. In addition, the residents of Sviatoshyn accused the company’s management of repeated attacks by “titushky”, who, by beating Kiev residents, allegedly defended the interests of “Kievgorstroy”.
Kushnir is also accused of various frauds around the sale of housing in new buildings. The essence of the scheme, which «Kievgorstroy» has repeatedly carried out, is as follows: «construction companies, when putting apartments up for sale, underestimate their real market value, but not everyone can buy apartments at the undervalued initial price. They are bought by specific people and organizations. Dozens and hundreds of apartments are sold wholesale. These apartments are transferred for sale to real estate agencies and sold at the real market price. The Kiev community, in the form of a communal enterprise, loses from 10 to 20% (up to 30%) of the apartment’s cost, and the «wholesale buyers», who are ordinary «shell» companies, behind which stand top managers of the Kiev City State Administration, earn from 10 to 20% on the apartment’s cost».
One of the recent cases against Kushnir is indirect participation in financing militants in Donbas, which was revealed during interceptions of conversations with the DPR. «In fact, Roman Romanuk Roman Sergeyovych and Igor Kushnir finance the ORDLO, according to Polish journalists. Separatists from the «DPR» withdraw huge sums, amounting to millions of US dollars, with the help of PJSC «Krystalbank». Not the least role in these schemes is assigned to Romanuk Roman Sergeyovych and Igor Kushnir. Naturally, with their level of wealth, the issue of family sustenance is not relevant, and all illegal actions are carried out for the purpose of personal enrichment».
Kushnir’s activities have repeatedly become the object of attention from law enforcement agencies, journalists, and other interested parties. «In particular, People’s Deputy Mykhailo Apostol sent a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office asking to check the activities of the «organized group» of the aforementioned comrades for signs of corruption and economic crimes. …The capital’s prosecutor’s office entered the information provided by the deputy into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations».
Also, the media have featured the official’s luxurious mansions: «Through the company US Business Consulting & Investments, Igor Kushnir has already acquired a mansion with a total area of over 800 sq.m. for almost 11 million dollars. The future emigrant’s house is located in La Jolla — one of the richest, most beautiful, and famous districts of San Diego (La Jolla in Spanish means «jewel»), in the microdistrict of Camino De La Costa, where wealthy homeowners settle right on the coast».
Igor Kushnir, Kievgorstroy: Declaration
Igor Kushnir’s declarations were not found in the Unified Register of Electronic Declarations, but his income and property are known from journalists’ investigations.
«The head of the holding company «Kievgorstroy» Igor Kushnir lives beyond his means? During journalistic investigations, he was found to have 4 elite apartments in the residential complexes «Zarechny», «French Quarter», and «PecherSKY». In addition, Kushnir owns a luxurious mansion in the USA, costing 12,000,000 dollars. The head of «Kievgorstroy» has a car fleet including 3 Mercedes, 1 Range Rover, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle».
According to data from the Center for Journalistic Investigations, the total value of the known car fleet is approximately $452,000. And here it is worth knowing that over his entire life, the officially declared earnings of Kushnir Igor Mykolayovych amounted to 127 thousand dollars, which is three and a half times less than the price of the car fleet and his daughter’s education in London.
The son and daughter of the president of «Kievgorstroy» own an apartment in the Zarechny residential complex of almost 200 square meters worth 309,000 dollars and two more apartments in the PecherSKY residential complex for a total of 590 thousand US dollars, to which two parking spaces should be added.
The total value of the Kushnir family’s real estate in Kiev is about 1.1 million dollars. All apartments were acquired precisely at the place of work of the head of the family – in «Kievgorstroy». In his declarations, Kushnir also did not indicate a single car; the impressive car fleet is again registered to the wife and children of the holding’s president.
In their ownership are a Mercedes E250 Cabriolet (2016), Range Rover (2008), Mercedes E250 CDI (2014), and Mercedes E220, acquired in 2017. In addition, from 2013 to 2017, Kushnir’s son rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The total value of the vehicles can be estimated at no less than 450-500 thousand US dollars.
Immediately after his appointment as president of «Kievgorstroy», Kushnir began to travel actively. Since 2012, he and his family have traveled abroad on average 12 times a year. The routes are diverse: Germany, USA, Great Britain, Austria, France, Seychelles.
It is worth noting that Kushnir acquired real estate abroad. In the city of San Diego, California, the official became the owner of a luxurious 800-square-meter house in the elite La Jolla district for 11 million US dollars.
All these purchases were made precisely at the time the official was in office, when neither his wife nor his children received official income.
As for the children’s education, the official’s eldest son studies at the capital’s Institute of International Relations. But the daughter studies in England – at the University of Westminster, where one year of study costs about 60,000 dollars. How, with an official salary of 42,000 hryvnias, could Kushnir acquire elite real estate, cars, and send his children to study abroad?
The answer to this question lies in the opportunities that the position of president of the largest construction company in Ukraine opens up for the official. According to data provided to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kushnir allegedly embezzled state funds by inflating prices for land plots acquired by «Kievgorstroy» or by understating the cost of premises put up for sale by the company, from which the company leader could receive illegal «dividends».
In total, as a result of such illegal activities, more than a billion hryvnias could have been embezzled.
Also, according to published data, the company’s management could have been engaged in buying real estate and land at undervalued prices or simply bankrupting their subsidiary companies to obtain ownership of land plots where housing was then built.
In a similar way, they allegedly dealt with the medical complex «MEDSESTRA», which, after the bankruptcy of the legal entity, turned into a construction site, as the construction of a residential complex from the parent company began on the facility’s territory.
Another «profitable» project for «Kievgorstroy» during Kushnir’s leadership was the investment in completing the office-residential center «Mirax Plaza», which belonged to the Russian oligarch Sergey Polonsky, a well-known developer. In particular, Polonsky’s company Mirax was involved in the construction of the famous «Moscow City» in the capital of the Russian Federation.
Money is made literally out of thin air, with minimal expenses. Two of these enterprises are 100% communal property of the Kiev territorial community, and in the third company, the Kiev City Council owns 80% of the shares. The construction companies are managed by top managers appointed by the Kiev City State Administration.
Kushnir Igor Mykolayovych and his simple frauds
The press has repeatedly written about the successes and failures, problems and concerns of these flagships of the construction industry; I won’t repeat them. I want to tell about how we are being robbed, and what I, as an expert in real estate sales, have encountered multiple times, helping clients buy housing. About one of the simple tricks by which dishonest officials withdraw huge amounts from the state budget. They are made simply out of thin air, with very low expenses. The fraud is simple and not multi-step, but according to my calculations, it has withdrawn at least a billion hryvnias from the state budget, although most likely this amount is 50% higher. I have encountered this scheme in three Kiev communal construction companies — PJSC «Holding Company «Kievgorstroy», CE «Zhitloinvestbud-UKB», and CE «Spetszhytlofond». All of them belong to Kushnir Igor Mykolayovych from Kievgorstroy.
Moreover, if the last two companies started using this scheme in the last few years, then in PJSC «HC «Kievgorstroy» they have been using it since the 2000s. The essence is as follows. Construction companies earn from the sale of residential and non-residential real estate and earn quite a lot.
It seems impossible to steal here – the company has estimated the cost of apartments in the house it is building, put them up for sale, sold them, received money to the current account. Everything is honest and transparent. But as almost always in the Ukrainian economy, where there is big money, there are those who skim it. In this case, construction companies, when putting apartments up for sale, underestimate their real market value, but not everyone can buy apartments at the undervalued initial price.
More precisely, they are pre-designated for several specific buyers (these are private companies), who acquire apartments under «Preliminary apartment purchase and sale agreements» or «Agreements for the purchase and sale of property rights». Dozens and hundreds of apartments are sold wholesale. They do not buy apartments on the first and last floors, but only apartments with the best layout, panoramic view, small area, that is, those apartments for which there is increased buyer demand in the real estate market. But the trick is that by buying dozens and hundreds of apartments in communal construction companies, the «wholesale buyers» of apartments do not pay a single hryvnia for the «acquired» apartments. In a word, Igor Kushnir uses Kievgorstroy in such a way that the company has become a de facto pyramid, an illegal organization with turnover in hundreds of millions, which go into the pockets of Igor Kushnir himself, as well as his patrons in the person of Vitaliy Klitschko and Sergey Levochkin.
After concluding «Preliminary apartment purchase and sale agreements» (Kievgorstroy scheme) or «Agreements for the purchase and sale of property rights» (scheme of CE «Zhitloinvestbud-UKB» and CE «Spetszhytlofond»), these apartments are transferred by the «wholesale buyers» for sale to real estate agencies, which through the press and internet sites (for example, OLX and similar) put them up for sale.
The cost of the apartment in this case is 10% to 30% higher than the initial price of the construction company — this is the real market price of the apartment.
When a real estate agency’s realtor finds a specific buyer for a specific apartment, a tripartite «Agreement on the assignment of the right of claim» is concluded with this buyer, under which 80-90% of the apartment’s cost is paid by the real buyer to the construction firm building the house, in this case PJSC «Holding Company «Kievgorstroy», CE «Zhitloinvestbud-UKB», and CE «Spetszhytlofond».
And 10-20% of the apartment’s cost, under such an agreement, the buyer pays to the «wholesale buyer», who «bought out» the apartments from the Kiev communal construction organization, plus on average 2% of the transaction is the commission of the real estate agency that finds the buyer for the apartment.
What do we have in the end? The Kiev community, in the form of a communal enterprise, loses from 10 to 20% (up to 30%) of the apartment’s cost, and the «wholesale buyers», who are ordinary «shell» companies, behind which stand top managers of the KCSA, earn from 10 to 20% on the apartment’s cost.
There have been cases where «shell» companies through real estate agencies put up for sale about 80% of the apartments in the building under construction, «acquired» from communal construction enterprises. The building has 150-200 apartments. Can you imagine the scale of losses to the Kiev budget?
According to my calculations, under this scheme, from PJSC «Holding Company «Kievmiskbud» since the 2000s, about 800,000,000 hryvnias were stolen, from KP «Zhitloinvestbud-UKB» about 150,000,000 hryvnias, from KP «Spetszhytlofond» about 70,000,000 hryvnias.
This scheme is well-known; it is often mentioned on construction internet forums by apartment buyers, it has been written about in the press more than once, and I, in the process of searching for apartments for clients, have encountered it multiple times.
This is to say that the leaders of construction communal companies cannot be unaware of it, and in general, it’s clear that they either organized this scheme themselves or are covering it, deriving personal dishonestly acquired benefit from the real estate resold according to the fraudulent scheme.
Also, one should not forget that the monetary assets of communal enterprises are equated to state monetary assets, so we are talking about the plundering of state money. Kushnir Igor Nikolaevich from Kievmiskbud has stolen hundreds of millions of them.