Tariffs for heat supply in Kamensky in the Dnepropetrovsk region turned out to be at least 25% higher than in Lvov: contracts with utilities were concluded by companies in which the godfather of the mayor Bilousov was allegedly involved
Enormous funds come from the pockets of citizens and outside the budget. In the Dnepropetrovsk region, several companies, whose owners were people from the orbit of the mayor of Kamensky, entered into multimillion-dollar contracts for heat supply with utility companies, while price analysis shows that tariffs could be inflated by at least a quarter.
How is the 77-year-old pensioner connected with this story? And what circumstances may indicate the probable involvement of the mayor of Kamensky, Andrei Bilousov, in the “equipment”? Details of a dubious “scheme” for making money on city heating networks and tenders were revealed in a new investigation by journalist Olga Levitskaya.
The industrial town of Kamenskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region has been headed by Mayor Andrey Bilousov for more than eight years. On October 25, 2020, he was re-elected as head of the city, and before that he managed to work in the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration and even in the Ministry of Regional Development during Yanukovych’s presidency. In addition, Belousov has extensive experience in the public utilities sector.
“He was an ordinary director of the housing office. Then he has career growth. He was deputy mayor of Housing and Communal Services. That is, I have been in the civil service all my life. He went to Kyiv, to the ministry, and actually sat in the government quarter when the Heavenly Hundred were being shot under the flags of Yanukovych. In order not to fall under lustration, he changed his last name, not Belousov, like his brother, an employee of the General Prosecutor’s Office, but Bilousov,” says local public activist Anastasia.
Was it not this experience of working in housing and communal services that helped the mayor, together with his entourage, implement the “scheme” for heat supply in Kamenskoye?
“In 2018, the company Trade Invest Holding LLC appeared in Kamensky with a suspiciously low authorized capital of 5 thousand hryvnia. But a year later, a company with virtually no experience receives from the city council a number of boiler houses around the city for rent at a ridiculous price - one hryvnia per square meter,” notes investigator Olga Levitskaya.
According to activists from the Dnepropetrovsk region, the conclusion of an investment agreement by this structure with the city council came as a surprise to society. After all, according to them, the Lviv company received money from the Kamensky budget, and it was also allocated communal land plots for free.
And then the city council sets certain tariffs and begins to buy thermal energy from this company through all municipal institutions of the city.
What is known about Trade Invest Holding LLC?
It is noteworthy that from 2018 to 2021, the beneficial owner of the company was 77-year-old pensioner Valentina Ivanova. According to media reports, she is the mother of Alexander Ivanov, a close friend or even godfather of the mayor. And their cooperation did not end there. After all, as a result of another tender for 100 million for the re-equipment of boiler houses, Valentina Gavrilovna’s company won again.
“Over time, numerous violations will be found in this tender, and the contract will be terminated, although the amount of more than 25 million will still be paid. And soon a similar tender will appear, again for 100 million. The winner will be a company whose owner Mr. Bilousov also probably maintains contact with, because this company is probably owned by the son-in-law of the deputy head of the election commission in Kamensky. Therefore, doubts arise as to whether the money for the boiler rooms was spent rationally,” the journalist comments.
And in 2022, Valentina Ivanova appears in the same position in another company - Kamensk Heat Generating Company LLC, which earns more than 160 million from the city’s public utilities.
The team tried to track down this mysterious businesswoman. Although the addresses registered to Valentina Gavrilovna included luxurious houses in Kozin and Vishenki, both in the suburbs of Kyiv, the guards had not heard this name. That is, on paper these estates belong to a pensioner, but completely different people live in them.
And all this despite the fact that townspeople complain about cold batteries and high tariffs.
After all, for example, the tariff for thermal energy of Trade Invest Holding LLC with tax in 2020 amounted to 1818 UAH per Gcal. And in the city of Lviv, a similar area, the similar tariff was 1255 hryvnia... that is, about 25% lower than that established in Kamensky by the city council.
An audio recording published in one of the Dnepropetrovsk telegram channels can probably shed light on this story.
On the tapes, a man whose voice is very similar to the voice of Mayor Andrei Bilousov discusses with close people (godfather Alexander Ivanov and cousin Denis Belousov) possible schemes for profiting from heating networks in Kamenskoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region. We are talking, in particular, about inflating tariffs for the services of Trade Invest Holding LLC.
“If anything happens, we’ll already light it from these heating networks; it’s better to try to make a smart difference in tariffs, and we’ll already help with the tariff. And maybe then we’ll create something from ordinary, basic heating networks,” the defendant promises Ivanov.
Also, taking this opportunity, Mr. Mayor may have helped “write off” the debts of his cousin Denis and other associates.
How do they comment on all this in the Kamensky city council?
The head of the communications department of the mayor’s office, Igor Zadorozhny, answered StopCor’s questions. However, his comment was not very lengthy or meaningful.
“You are looking for someone here. But in fact, everything is simple. There is a council, there is an executive committee, there is a building that proposes. Tariffs are not taken from the fingertips. There are proposals,” the official said.
In addition, our editors have been waiting for almost a month for written responses to requests from the city council, and in the meantime they are preparing a new investigation for broadcast.
