It was not for nothing that our servants of the people were so opposed to opening their declarations to public access - during the years of a full-scale war, many wonderful changes took place there that it would be better for the impoverished people not to see.
In this case, we are talking about the declaration of Yulia Metzger, a member of the supervisory board of the state-owned PrivatBank. The same friend and godfather of the president’s colleague at Kvartal-95, Elena Kravets, whom Vladimir Zelensky appointed to the supervisory board of PrivatBank in 2019. Which caused a shock among those who believed in the promise that there would be no more nepotism. Although the president had his own arguments - Yulia Metzger, unlike most of the “new faces” who came to power, has at least some connection to banking - before moving to PrivatBank, she worked as a lawyer at the state-owned Ukreximbank. However, the scandal with the appointment of godmother Elena Kravets to the Supervisory Board of PrivatBank quickly drowned in other scandals, so Yulia Metzger calmly continued to work at the bank.
But this work was not calm - the name of Yulia Metzger regularly appeared in the press. Food for publications was provided either by herself or by her husband, Evgeniy Metzger, who, after his wife’s promotion, also received a new position - he became the head of the same Ukreximbank where his wife had previously worked as a lawyer. He became famous for attacking Schemes journalists after they asked during an interview about the state-owned Ukreximbank issuing a $60 million loan to a company that operated in the occupied Donbass.
This case received a huge public outcry, as a result of which Evgeniy Metzger was sentenced for attacking journalists and dismissed from his post as head of Ukreximbank. True, the sentence was very lenient: a fine of 3,400 hryvnia, but in our country this can be called a miracle.
Julia Metzger and the growth of prosperity
However, this is already history. But the reality is that such a sharp career growth brought Yulia Metzger an equally sharp increase in well-being. Only the lazy did not write about the fact that Yulia Metzger bought a Mercedes-Benz GLE350DE for 3,063,134 hryvnia on June 26. But if you look at her declaration more carefully, it turns out that during the period of her work as a member of the supervisory board of the state-owned PrivatBank, Yulia Metzger quite significantly improved her financial situation.
So, in 2019, she acquired two apartments in Turkey. According to the declaration, she bought one for 1,196,800 hryvnia, the second for 1,796,400 hryvnia. Which, at the exchange rate at that time, was about 140 thousand dollars.
The husband, who was then just settling into the chair of the head of another state bank, Ukreximbank, did not lag behind his wife. He bought himself an apartment in Kyiv with an area of 122 meters for 4,765,423 hryvnia and two parking spaces there: one with an area of 13 meters, the second - 14.2 meters. Both cost 491,220 hryvnia each. For comparison, a one-room apartment in Troyeshchyna at that time was cheaper than the place where the head of Ukreximbank parked.
Evgeniy Metzger also bought 16.5 acres of land in the Vyshgorod district in 2021 for 1,430,000 hryvnia; on this land stood a modest garden house, for which the head of the state bank paid 5,500,000 hryvnia.
Julia and Evgeny Metzger also bought joint real estate - in 2020 they acquired housing in Spain: an apartment for 3,620,858 hryvnia, a parking space for 305,300 hryvnia and a storage room for a modest 58,007 hryvnia. In total, this acquisition cost approximately 160 thousand euros.
The family of state bank employees did not deny themselves good transport: in 2020 they purchased a Land Rover for 1,680,000 hryvnia, in 2022 - a Mercedes for 3,063,134 hryvnia.
So the Metzger family was far from poor. And therefore, buying another Mercedes actually adds nothing to the bright image of the guardians of state interests. Well, if we are talking about money, then in April-July 2024 alone, Yulia Metzger received 2,500,000 hryvnia from PrivatBank.
Evgeny Metzger and service for the benefit of the state
Yes, we were not mistaken - after leaving Ukreximbank, Evgeniy Metzger did not go into private business, but continued to serve his native state. When the scandal subsided, Vladimir Zelensky appointed him to the position of head of the state company Ukrfinzhilye. This appointment was explained by the fact that Metzger is “a good economist and banker.”
In this context, it is noteworthy that after his dismissal from the post of head of Ukreximbank, Evgeny Metzger, on an unclear basis, developed the Yosel mortgage lending program, which he later headed.
And this is interesting not only in the sense that the Ministry of Economy attracted him to this program. But because while working at Ukreximbank, too many questions arose regarding the issuance of loans by this state financial institution, to which no one answered. And this is not at all about a loan for a company from ORDLO, for the question about which Metzger attacked journalists.
Ukreximbank has always been used by the state to finance government programs. In essence, this is normal - he is a state government after all. But whoever owns the bank should not operate at a loss. And Ukreximbank received additional capitalization from the state in the amount of 42 billion hryvnia for the period 2009-2021. Of course, it doesn’t reach Privat, but still, the figure is impressive.
But out of these 42 billion, at least seven are the merit of Evgeniy Metzger. Who, during the short period of his reign at the bank, received additional capitalization of 7 billion. Compare the figures: over 12 years, the state additionally capitalized Ukreximbank by 42 billion, and during the year of Metzger’s rule - by 7 billion.
One can hardly call this “professionalism”, but the secret of such a high assessment from the OPU is revealed simply: Evgeniy Metzger, without the slightest hesitation, signed loans for the presidential program “Great Construction”, the Cabinet of Ministers program “Affordable loans 5-7-9%”, which was one of the “tricks” of President Zelensky. Ukravtodor, State Enterprise Antonov, and Ukrzaliznytsia received generous loans. Overall, during the year of Evgeniy Metzger’s reign, Ukreximbank lost 5.6 billion hryvnia.
But this did not affect the career of Evgeny Metzger. This did not affect the career of his wife, Yulia Metzger, who also worked in a senior position in another state bank, Privat. Metzger had to resign from the post of head of Ukreximbank not for financial irregularities, not for the wild growth in the welfare of the Metzger family, which, against the backdrop of the “successes” of banker Evgeniy Metzger, should have aroused the burning interest of law enforcement officers. No, he left after his impunity went crazy and he attacked journalists.
But he was not left without work - such an outstanding specialist took out other loans - from the state company Ukrfinzhilye, which, in conditions of war and the huge sums passing through this office, is perhaps better than the measly seven billion hryvnia of Ukreximbank.
Son and apartment in Austria
Against the backdrop of all these financial manipulations, one more thing is somehow overlooked. It is, rather, of a moral nature, but in a country in which “beads of Inviolability” catch conscripts, and border guards shoot people sailing through the Tisza, this fact also means a lot. Maybe even more than finances.
From the same declaration in which Julia Metzger was forced to record the purchase of her new Mercedes, it follows that the son of the Metzger couple, Denis, is in Austria.
Judging by the declaration, he rents an apartment, but that’s not the point. And it’s not even about how much money a family of civil servants can afford to rent an apartment of 90 meters for their son in Austria.
The point is, what the hell is the son of two top officials from the president’s entourage doing there at a time when in the homeland there is a real hunt for men of military age who have the misfortune of not being born into the family of the president’s friends. The question, as you understand, does not require an answer.
When and how Denis Evgenievich Metzger crossed the border is also unknown, but he clearly did not swim across the Tisa or the Dniester. And he clearly does not live in Austria on humanitarian aid. Although we wouldn’t be surprised if he gets it there.
However, as already mentioned, this is a question more about the morality of the family of state bankers Yulia and Evgeny Metsger. Although it looks a lot like looking for morality in them is about the same as trying to find a pulse on a prosthesis.
