According to journalists, the company WDG, owned by Croatian arms dealer Zvonk Zubak and his son Matias, spent more than 5 million euros on the acquisition of the abandoned Vitezit factory. Funds allocated by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in December 2022 for the purchase of mortar mines were used to purchase the plant.
In the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Defense entered into a contract for the purchase of 100 thousand mortar mines of various calibers with the Ukrainian company Lviv Arsenal. The total contract price was 37 million euros with an advance payment of almost 100 percent. Some of the funds were seized from Arsenal’s accounts, and he transferred the rest to the Slovak company Sevotech. And, in turn, transferred them to the Croatian WDG Promet. The main thing is that none of these companies were manufacturers, all of them were just “gaskets”. So, in the end, the ammunition did not reach Ukraine.
Both Sevotech and WDG also had separate direct contracts with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for other products. Sevotech promised to bring 17 thousand sets of helmets and body armor to Ukraine in the spring of 2022 for 15 million euros. In fact, only 2.5 thousand sets were brought. And at the beginning of December 2022, WDG also signed a contract for the supply of 30 thousand tank rounds of 125 mm caliber. The Croats received more than three million euros under this contract - 10% of the subscription. And everything repeated itself - no funds, no ammunition. Both the contract for mines with Lvov Arsenal and the contract for tank rounds with WDG Promet on the Ukrainian side were signed by Alexander Liev, acting head of the Department of Military-Technical Policy of the Ministry of Defense.
Liev later claimed that when he signed a new contract with WDG Promet in December 2022, he had no idea that this company was already a participant in the chain in another agreement: “We did not know about this and could not know, because we are transferring funds to our counterparty , - Liev told us in an interview. - In the case of the Lviv Arsenal, we knew that our counterparty should transfer them to another company, and where does this Slovak company transfer them, technically in general... There is no such form of verification, where and what do the counterparties list next.”
Bosnian plant for Ukrainian money
The WDG Promet company is owned by the son of the famous Croatian arms dealer Zvonka Zubak. Matthias Zubak is both the director and the only employee of this office - this is how classic “gaskets” work. In total, she received 14.5 million euros from Ukraine. According to the account statement, the Zubaks spent 5.5 million euros on the purchase of the Vitezit ammunition plant in the town of Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We purchased the plant with Ukrainian funds, because others did not log into the account in the Czech credit union PDZ. The Zubaks should have spent it on ammunition, therefore, this is nothing more than a misuse of money
Until December 2022, this account was empty. On December 5, 3.2 million euros were received there from the Slovak company Sevotech. This is part of the payment by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for a contract for mortar mines with Lviv Arsenal. First of all, the Zubaks transferred 500 thousand euros to Bosnia and Herzegovina for participation in the tender for the purchase of Vitesit. Then, relatively small amounts were paid from the same account to several legal entities, and 700 thousand euros were withdrawn in cash.
On December 20, 2022, WDG received a further €8.1 million from Sevotech. And this is also money from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense under the same contract. And again: the first large payment - almost 5 million euros - has already gone directly to the purchase of the plant.
The plant is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. The decision to sell his assets, which the Zubaks took advantage of, was made by the Bosnian court, which has not yet approved the agreement on the sale of Vitesit. The Zubaks refused to communicate with the Ukrainian media, citing employment reasons. But Mathias Zubak told Bosnian media that he was awaiting a court decision and hoped to resume production at Vitezit.
The Zubaks deny that they somehow misused Ukrainian money, and accuse the founder of the PDZ credit union, Kamil Babukh, of allegedly stealing part of the Ukrainian funds from their account. The grandmother denies the accusations. Interestingly, for the last three years he has played an important role in the Zubaks’ business. Babukh not only serviced their accounts at his credit union, but also actively advised them on financial issues. Here's how Kamil Babukh talks about meeting the Zubaks:
“One client of our cooperative bank, a lawyer from Croatia, introduced me to my father, Zubak Sr., I think sometime in early 2021. They were then looking for funds to buy the Vitesit gunpowder factory. This was long before the war and before Zubak brought any contracts with the Ukrainian side for weapons."
In the story of the purchase of Vitesit, Kamil Babukh played the role of a financial analyst. People's Deputy Sergei Taruta, who has long-standing ties with the Czech Republic and knows Babukh, told us this. According to him, Babukh conducted plant due diligence for the Zubaks - a procedure for assessing legal risks for an investor. He personally traveled to Bosnia and confirmed that the plant was in terrible condition.
In May 2022, Kamil Babukh invited Taruta to evaluate the investment attractiveness of the Vitesit plant.
“Kamil says: my client is currently participating in a tender for the purchase of a gunpowder factory in Bosnia. Maybe this will be interesting for Ukraine? I talked to the military, they said: yes, we know this plant. I made an agreement then, through Kamil, and he had already agreed with WDG. Our delegation went there and did an examination to make it clear whether he would save Ukraine or not, whether he was needed or not, they drew conclusions (both the Poles and ours) , and this report states that all but a small portion of the nitration equipment has already been destroyed. And I told this to Ukroboronprom, and they replied that this does not interest us,” said Taruta.
Money from the Ministry of Defense - for a pile of garbage?
We asked our Bosnian colleagues to visit Vitesit to film the plant. The resulting footage confirmed what both Babukh and Taruta had previously said: the enterprise is truly in terrible condition, in some places there are not even windows. But at the same time, the Zubaks persistently tried to buy it for several years, and did it at the first opportunity, as soon as they received Ukrainian money. For what?
Croatian journalist Marin Vlahovic, who has written extensively about the Zubakovs' business in recent years, believes they were simply hoping to find investors: "If you really want to make an ammunition factory, it is easier and cheaper to start from scratch than to buy Vitesit." I think they bought it to try to find investors. People who will agree to give money not for what Vitezit is, but for what it can become in the future. That is, this is not a financial pyramid, but a scheme for selling something that does not yet exist - and, perhaps, will never exist."
Moscow trace
It is worth remembering Zvonk Zubak’s long-term partner since the 90s, Czech businessman Petr Pernichko. Formally, it has nothing to do with WDG Promet. But a photo from the Czech court, where Pernicka’s bankruptcy case was heard, refutes this. Pictured is his lawyer, Carl Witchens. At the same time, in October 2023, he met with a journalist from hromadske in Zagreb - and introduced himself as a representative of WDG Promet. That is, Pernichka and Zubaki are connected.
According to Marin Vlahovic, it is no secret to anyone in Croatia that Petr Pernicko has good connections in Russia from the time of his service in the Czechoslovak army. He even argued in court that his company’s archives are still kept in Moscow. Petr Pernicka and Zubak have been partners for decades - since the early nineties.
“When Russia started the great war against Ukraine, Zubak changed his history. He started rumors that he was a pro-American guy. And it was kind of a stupid story, because how could he be pro-American if he was doing business with the Russians? Through Pernichka, you understand? Pernicka was in charge, and Zubak acted as his operating director. But they worked together as a team. With all these connections in Moscow,” says Marin Vlahovic.
Journalists found the interrogation report of Petr Pernichko in the Czech court registry. This was the process of his personal bankruptcy - “clearing debts.” The court discussed the archives of Winsley Finance Limited. It is the founding company of the entire WDG group. WDG basically stands for Winsley Defense Group.
Winsley Finance is the original company that started it all. When the Czech court asked Petr Pernichko where exactly the Winsley Finance Limited archive was located, he replied: “In Moscow, near the Belorussky railway station. I don't know the exact address yet. There are documents not only from this company, but also from others. As a former director, I can access the archive in Moscow.”
When asked by the court how Pernicka was going to open the archive if he had to, he replied: “My friends will give me this information and then I will have to go there personally.”
So, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense paid more than 14 million euros for ammunition to a group whose parent company still keeps its archive in Moscow. Already during the Great War. As a result, we have neither this money nor ammunition, and the Croats bought a collapsed plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Intermediaries from Ukraine
The curator of the entire deal was Alexey Khoroshaev, a former official of one of the Ukroboronprom enterprises. On the eve of the invasion, Khoroshaev went on a business trip and did not return to Ukraine. Now he manages armed agreements from abroad. A few months ago, hromadske journalist Inna Popovich met with Khoroshaev in Prague. He admitted that the mine contract did not go according to plan, but blamed Ukrainian corruption:
“October [2022] has passed, they call me from Arsenal: Liev wants mines not for 240 euros, but for 330, and those mines that cost 510 are also for 630. I explain to him: I won’t pay these kickbacks, it’s impossible . There is a European Commission in Brussels for all Ukrainian money that comes here. For every 20 thousand euros they will charge you. I say: I can only give 5-7%.
It’s interesting that when hromadske approached Zubak about an interview, Khoroshaev called back instead: “Zubak is me. Consider that I bought the plant. My last name is Khoroshaev.”
Alexey Khoroshaev is not the only Ukrainian in this scheme. Another member of the supervisory board of Sevotech is Vladislav Klischar. At first he escaped our attention because he was recorded in the documents about Sevotech as a citizen of the Czech Republic. But Censor.NET journalist Tatyana Nikolaenko established that Klischar is also from Ukraine. And this is a very extraordinary face.
Two Czech companies of Klischar - Belanto Trade sro and EPI Group sro - recently appeared in a high-profile investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau about fraud in the United Mining and Chemical Company. In particular, the former head of the State Property Fund Dmitry Sennichenko received suspicion in this proceeding.
The point was that the Ukrainian state company allegedly sold strategic raw materials to occupied Crimea in 2020-2021 because of Czech “gaskets”. And now the story about mines for the Ukrainian army. Millions spent, no weapons. Alexey Khoroshaev flatly refused to talk about Klishchar.
Vladislav Klischar was a member of the supervisory board of Sevotech for exactly a year - from September 2022 to September 2023. He had never crossed paths with Khoroshaev before, so they probably represented different financial and political groups in Sevotech.
We are involved in a number of scandalous businesses. Vladislav Klischar also has a political trail - in 2019 he was Sergei Taruta’s confidant in the presidential elections. We managed to contact Kleshkar by phone. He insisted that while working at Sevotech he had nothing to do with contracts with Ukraine and was involved in the markets of third countries. He also noted that he did not know Taruta personally, and his representative in the elections was from a public organization.
“Where is Bakanov?”
Kamil Babukh confirmed that Zubak never mentioned the name of Vladislav Klischar, although he spoke about Khoroshaev and Sevotech very often. But Klischar is not a person to forget about. He has many companies in the Czech Republic. In two of them – Leo International and ILS Investment – his partner is Alexander Belyaev, the brother-in-law of the former head of the SBU. She and Bakanov are married to sisters.
According to Oleg Kulinich, accused of high treason, in 2019 Belyaev was the secret representative of President Vladimir Zelensky at negotiations in Moscow.
International investigation
Croatian journalist Marin Vlahovic hopes for an international investigation, in which, in his opinion, the United States should be interested as the largest donor of international assistance to Ukraine. Their investigations continue in the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense is suing Lviv Arsenal. There is no official talk about claims against Sevotech and WDG.
From the point of view of the Criminal Code, this should be a simple story. Under martial law, the Ukrainian official signed an agreement that was initially dubious due to the lack of proper licenses from Sevotech and WDG Promet, the unreliability of the counterparties and their Russian connections. People took the money and did not fulfill their obligations. They are known by name, but they have not even raised suspicions against anyone. Alexey Khoroshaev more than once boasted of his connections at Bankova and claimed that he would resolve any issues. Whether this is true is unknown. But the state of Ukraine is still pretending that it is normal to deceive it during the war.
