Back in 2007, the young team of the “space” mayor of Kyiv Leonid Chernovetsky came up with a scheme that brought millions in income to its inventors.
We are talking about tow trucks. The capital's officials hid behind a good goal: to free the city from illegally parked cars, thereby making travel more free. Chernovetsky went over to the side of evil long ago, but his cause continues to live. Although now she is replenishing the pockets of her former prosecutorial comrades.
Every Kiev resident - be it a pedestrian or a car owner - could definitely see tow trucks with large “Express-T” signs on the streets of the capital. It is these trucks that most often take cars parked in violation of traffic rules to the impound lot. On average, together with a fine, stay on site and transportation, a violator has to pay about 2,000 hryvnia. At the same time, only 340 hryvnia of the fine goes to the capital budget, and the largest amount - 1200 UAH - is paid for transportation services by a tow truck and ends up in the wallet of the owner company.
According to journalists' calculations, one tow truck transports seven to ten cars a day and receives from 8,000 to 12,000 hryvnia. Thus, in a month you can earn about 300,000 hryvnia with just one tow truck.
According to the Department of Transport Infrastructure of the Kyiv City State Administration, in 2023, 8 enterprises had the right to tow cars in Kyiv. Among them are two communal, four private and two individual entrepreneurs
Expedition 777 LLC has the most tow trucks in its fleet – 30 units. Obviously, it is this company that has the greatest benefit from the evacuation of transport in the capital. However, it turned out that this enterprise is directly related to the Express-T mentioned above.
Express-T LLC was created in 2010 and is under the constant leadership of the Priymakov family - Natalia Vasilievna Priymak, her husband Oleg Mikhailovich Priymak and son Alexander Olegovich Priymak. According to the YouControl analytical system, the company increased its revenue at an incredible rate in 2023, despite martial law and the fact that for some time the evacuation of cars violating traffic rules was prohibited. It is also noted that Express-T owns 344 units of various types of transport and another 162 in use.
Until 2022, Oleg Priymak was among the founders of Express-VR LLC, formerly called Atlant Stroy Development LLC. It operates in the construction industry. In the same 2017, the beneficiaries of the company were Valery Reznik, Vladimir Palchik, Business Offers LLC and Legal Business Consulting LLC.
In turn, Vladimir Palchik as of April 2024 was the ultimate owner (controller) of Carrot Group Concrete. And Valery Reznik was the head of this company until December 2023. Now the beneficiary is Vladislav Danko, who also runs a company with a similar name, Kerrot Concrete LLC, and another one, Your Security 2022 LLC.
Although these companies have different legal addresses, they have the only contact phone number. Moreover, the address st. Melnikova (now Ilyenko), 12 is a virtual office that is used simply for registration and receiving correspondence.
Another participant in “Carrot Concrete” was Artem Vengrenyuk, who in turn is now the founder of “Expedition 777”. The same one that has the largest number of tow trucks in the capital and, accordingly, earns more than others.
Thus, tow trucks with the inscription “Express-T”, although they do not have a direct agreement with the Kyiv City State Administration for the activities of car evacuation in Kyiv, but through the “Expedition 777” controlled by it, replenish the pockets of the same individuals.
And now the most interesting thing: who is really behind the mentioned companies and earns millions from car towing in the capital? According to the publication’s source, Vladislav Danko, manager of Carrot Concrete, is a full-time lawyer serving the interests of former Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema - Anatoly Danilenko and his business partner, ex-Kyiv City Council deputy Gennady Ilyin. Carrot Concrete was among the companies that participated in the construction of the Yaroslavov Grad residential complex, which Danilenko and Ilyin built on the site of the Sennaya Market on Lviv Square.
Danilenko worked in the Prosecutor General’s Office when it was headed by Vitaly Yarema. By an interesting coincidence, in 2008, when Chernovetsky decided to return tow trucks to the capital again after a short break, Yarema helped him prepare the corresponding order. Then Yarema was the head of the Kyiv police.
In 2009, Vitaly Yarema, while in the position of head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, announced the signing of agreements with companies that would perform car towing in Kyiv. Since then, the work pattern has remained virtually unchanged. Every year in December, the Kyiv City State Administration signs relevant agreements with companies that have expressed such a desire. In this case, no tenders are held, and the main amount of earnings, both then and now, does not go to the capital’s treasury, but replenishes the budget of private companies.
The source adds that Yarema is unlikely to enrich himself now thanks to the evacuation of cars; he has given this area to the management of Danilenko and Ilyin. Therefore, every time you go to pick up a towed car at the impound lot, remember that 1,200 hryvnia of your payment goes directly into the pockets of these two comrades. And do you still have questions about where the former prosecutor and ex-deputy got the money to build a huge housing complex in the center of Kyiv?
