Who is Shmygal’s adviser Stefurak connected with and what secrets of a luxurious life does his beloved hide behind a closed profile?
Advisor to Prime Minister Denis Shmygal Sergei Stefurak is considered the main lobbyist of the corrupt EDAPS consortium, which from 2021 to 2023 received 2.3 billion hryvnia from the Ukraina printing plant.
Several years ago, a corrupt organization returned to Ukraine. Unified State Automated Passport System (EDAPS) under a new name. We are talking about a company that issued international passports with supposedly “exclusive holograms” for a lot of money. One of the lobbyists for this return is Sergei Stefurak, an advisor to Prime Minister Denis Shmygal on a voluntary basis.
What kind of company is this with a corrupt background?
Back in August 2023, there was a loud public scandal associated with the name of Stefurak. Then the media reported that it could lobby the government for the resumption of corruption schemes from the mid-2000s associated with the EDAPS concern, which under Yanukovych monopolized the production of security documents. EDAPS today has a new name: Industrial Innovation Group and a branch in Ukraine called “Polly-Service”.
Apostrophe journalists found out that from at least 2021 to 2023, the government, under the influence of Stefurak, made a number of decisions that allowed EDAPS to resume its activities. In particular, the government changed the requirements for passports, driver's licenses and technical passports, introduced a monopoly on the production of notary forms and returned the hologram to the excise stamp. Materials for all these productions are now supplied only by the Polly-Service company, which belongs to the former EDAPS. printing plant "Ukraine", the largest customer.
And this despite the fact that since 2019, a pre-trial investigation into the Polygraph Plant has been underway, as reported to the StopCor editors in an official letter by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. According to their information, a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings dated October 19, 2019 established that the Estonian company OU FEATURE, the ultimate beneficial owner of which was the former director of the State Enterprise “Printing Plant “Ukraine” (hereinafter referred to as the Printing Plant), registered rights with the Intellectual Propeny Office (EUIPO) intellectual property for industrial designs, in particular, designs of implanted protective elements that are used in forms of Ukrainian documents.
OU FEATURE bought these protective elements from the French manufacturing company HOLOGRAM INDUSTRJES (later called SURYS) and sold them to the Polygraph Plant at prices three times higher. In 2017, after a change in management, the Polygraph Plant began buying protective elements directly from the manufacturer of the company S URYS, however, the latter, due to the registration of ownership of the designs of implanted protective elements by the Estonian company OU FEATURE, was forced to pay royalties to it. At the same time, it was also established that the design of the protective elements was not developed by the Estonian company, and royalties were included in the price of the product that the Polygraph Plant bought from the SURYS company.
At the end of 2021, the National Bureau contacted the VHI of Ukraine and the Polygraph Plant with a description of this situation and a proposal to consider the possibility of changing the design of implanted protective elements that are used in document forms, the intellectual property rights for which are registered by the Estonian company OU FEATURE with the intellectual property office. The purpose of such actions was to eliminate the causes and conditions that contributed to the commission of a criminal offense, namely the seizure of funds from the printing plant by its officials.
According to the UNIAN news agency, the government and the Ukraina printing plant claim that technologies, materials and suppliers were changed at the initiative of the National Anticorrosive Bureau. At the same time, it was the bureau that reported that no proposals to change technologies, materials or suppliers of implanted protective elements were received from the National Bureau.
Who is Sergei Stefurak and his team
A native of Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Sergei Stefurak, who owns a number of companies in the woodworking industry, amber mining, sand, construction, agricultural sector and trade.
In addition, Stefurak worked in the structures of Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding, in particular, in the Favorit trading network and the supervisory boards of other companies. Sergei Stefurak is associated with Bakhmatyuk because of Nadezhda Novikova. Until 2021, he was the director and owner of 1% of Favorit Trade and Consulting Group LLC, 99% of which belongs to TM Favorit LLC,
where Nadezhda Novikova was and is today the leader, and both companies belong to the Ukrlandfarming group.
Back in 2018, the media reported that under the leadership of Stefurak, Bakhmatyuk’s companies tried to circumvent tender rules for the supply of food products, for which they were fined by the Antimonopoly Committee.
Moreover, last spring, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal and his adviser Sergei Stefurak blocked the work of the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries (CRAIL). And this happened because they deliberately did not appoint a fourth member of the commission. Since there was no quorum in this way, KRAIL could not revoke the licenses of companies associated with the Russian Federation and included in the sanctions list. Gaming market participants noted that this situation was beneficial to one of Vbet’s beneficiaries, Arthur Granz, who was a partner of Andrei Ivanchuk. It was the late Ivanchuk who was considered Stefurak’s patron. By the way, since Stefurak is an adviser specifically in the economic area, he also influences fiscal and customs policies related to Duty Free activities. Again, it is Arthur Grantz who is associated with Duty Free
Sergei Stefurak’s mother, Maria Vladimirovna Savka, was the first deputy chairman of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration during the period when it was headed by Denis Shmihal, and today she is a deputy of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council from the Servant of the People faction. It is interesting that in 2015 she also ran for deputy from the pro-presidential European Union party of Petro Poroshenko. True, it didn’t work then.
Father, Savka Vasily Vasilyevich, according to YouControl, owns Voronovsky Sand Quarry LLC and Lipovsky Stone Quarry LLC.
True, according to official data, there is currently no career income.
Luxury - living at the expense of your loved one
So if Sergei Stefurak himself is far from a public figure, then his beloved woman Alina Nagirnyak actively leads Instagram, showing her luxurious life. The Telegraph information source showed and commented on the wardrobe. They note that Nagornyak publishes numerous photos on social networks of vacations in the UK and the USA, showing off his collection of expensive bags. The cost of branded items that journalists saw is 480 thousand hryvnia (11.6 thousand dollars), which is commensurate with the price of a used car in good condition, and this is only part of her collection.
The bag that Telegraph journalists show in the photo is from the famous luxury brand Louis Vuitton. These brands usually have high prices for their products. Therefore, this bag costs 2,250 euros (99,965 UAH), the Gucci belt costs 520 dollars (21,387 UAH).
Other photos show a white patent leather Prada bag, which costs more than 2,300 euros (102 thousand UAH), a mini Gucci Ophidia GG bag for 1,100 dollars (45 thousand UAH), a black Louis Vuitton Alma PM bag for 2,500 euros (111 thousand UAH). .UAH), where a textile belt can be purchased separately for additional money.
There you can also see Prada shoes for 930.00 euros (41 thousand UAH), a Burberry shirt for 520 euros (23 thousand UAH) and again a Jacquemus bag for 790 euros (35 thousand UAH).
As you know from Alina’s Facebook page, she works as a manager at TenantCloud. This is confirmed by TenantCloud itself on its Facebook page. And before that, he was a project manager at Ukietech.
TenantCloud has American beneficiaries. According to official data, they employ only 5 employees in Ukraine.
So, it is unlikely that both managerial positions gave Mrs. Nagornyak the opportunity to get hold of such expensive things.
By the way, Alina Nagirnyak herself does not have a publicly available photo of herself with Sergei Stefurak. The fact that Alina Nagirnyak is probably Stefurak’s favorite is evidenced by his mother’s comment under Alina’s post with her daughter on Facebook “My girls.”
Here the woman posts photos of bombed cities and the horrors of war, but on Instagram, where her luxury lifestyle is shown, the page is closed.
As we see, advisers are not random people, but those with an extraordinary corruption background. Therefore, is it worth saying in this case how precarious the state’s security, not only political, but also economic, can be?
To understand Stefurak’s connections with EDAPS, Granz and Bakhmatyuk, StopCor analysts sent a request to NABU. They also asked for clarification of the situation with Stefurak in a request to the Cabinet of Ministers. Additionally, the editors tried to contact Alina Nagirnyak with a request for comments on Facebook messenger.
