Vladislav Belbas: From civil service to private billions or the career path of a weapons baron

During the period of aggression, approximately a quarter of the entire budget of our state is spent on the military budget of Ukraine. The lion's share of expenses is aimed at salaries of military personnel, organizing their accommodation, providing food, uniforms, personal protection, etc. Also, a significant part of the funds from the State budget, which virtually consists entirely of assistance from international partners, is allocated for the purchase of weapons. However, this may end soon. Why? There is only one answer: corruption is to blame for everything, which did not disappear during the war, and in some places even intensified.

Recent weeks have been marked by international conflicts. A number of European countries continued to ban the import of Ukrainian food products, and Polish politicians went further, declaring that they would stop arming our state. For months, forecasts have increasingly appeared in the international press that Ukraine will not be given funds for the purchase of weapons; all contracts will be paid directly by Europeans. This is confirmed by actions. Recently, information appeared that the United States is sending a caretaker to Ukraine - Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch, who will monitor the use of American aid funds.

All these events are not accidental. A significant part of the Europeans' mistrust is played by the Ukrainian Armored Vehicles company, headed by former official Vladislav Belbas. The threads of the corporation stretch to ex-Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and influential politician Sergei Pashinsky.

Gunsmith career

The life path of Vladislav Belbas is the story of a typical excellent student. He was born in 1984 in the city of Romny, Sumy region, graduated from school, then received a higher education as an engineer and got a job at the Korean holding company Hyundai. He proved himself positive in the corporation, so he quickly went for a promotion. After a year, Belbel became director of the service department.

In 2011, he was appointed to the position of deputy director of the domestic automaker, the Bogdan concern, whose minibuses are an integral part of any Ukrainian city. At that time, the company was controlled by the ex-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. At the same time, Belbas first voiced his ideas for creating private enterprises that would supply weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The idea was not initially supported by the authorities (although Poroshenko then served as Minister of Economy and Trade in Azarov’s government). However, Petro Alekseevich’s team wrote down the young specialist’s idea and implemented it after the Euromaidan and Petro Poroshenko’s coming to power.

Billions from SPECTECHNO-EXPORT

2014 until 2022 was the most shocking for Ukrainians: first there was the shooting of the “Heavenly Hundred” on the Maidan, then the flight of Yanukovych, the Russians annexed Crimea and began to destabilize other regions of Ukraine. The state was not ready not only for war, but even for local confrontations - everything was destroyed by the power of the “regionals”. The issue of strengthening defense capability was acute. In 2014, 15 billion hryvnia were allocated for expenses on national security and defense of Ukraine; already in 2015, this amount increased 3 times, reaching 45 billion.

It is clear that as costs increase, corruption risks also increase. After the change of power, Belbas was almost immediately appointed to the position of deputy of one of the most important state enterprises in the field of defense, SPECTECHNO-EXPORT. The 30-year-old specialist immediately took up the company’s foreign trade activities.

Despite the fact that the corporation's authorized capital is very modest - only 86 thousand hryvnia, the enterprise's turnover even in those days reached hundreds of millions of hryvnia. After Belbas’s appointment to a leadership position, one interesting detail immediately catches the eye: SPECTECHNO-EXPORT begins to take out huge loans. In one recorded case, a state-owned company lent 2.7 billion hryvnia from Ukreximbank using its own property as collateral. This loan is still “hanging” over the company, its planned execution is scheduled for 2026.

In 2018, Belbas was promoted - in June he became acting. director of the State Enterprise, and since October - head. It appears that Belbas decided to mark his appointment by taking out another loan, again from the same Ukreximbank, despite the fact that previous obligations had not been fulfilled. Then SPECTECHNO-EXPORT received a loan for $16.7 million. Once again the company mortgaged its property. It is difficult to say how to give these funds, because the enterprise’s income is comparable to its liabilities. Last year, SPECTECHNO-EXPORT received 10.649 billion hryvnia, while the company has liabilities of 10.603 billion hryvnia. The remaining 46 million would not even be enough to maintain one’s own property complex, not to mention taxes, salaries and other mandatory expenses.

The further into the forest, the more firewood. Over the course of 5 years, during which Belbas held leadership positions in the State Enterprise “SPECTECHNO-EXPORT,” the company’s problems only began to increase. Their peak came precisely when Belbas was appointed leader.

Enforcement proceedings began to be opened en masse against the enterprise for failure to fulfill contractual terms. A large number of institutions associated with law enforcement agencies, in particular, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service, military units and many legal entities, forcibly collected funds.

At the same time, the company’s procurement looks downright strange. Judging by the statistics, either no one wants to cooperate with SPECTECHNO-EXPORT, or only their own people want to. On average, 1.9 participants took part in tenders announced by state-owned enterprises at the contract signing stage (less than two companies (!)). The main contractor, according to OpenDataBot, is... the seller of luxury Audi cars - Audi Center Vipos.

The company has also been involved in hundreds of court cases. These are mainly economic disputes (572 cases), including mainly disputes over failure to fulfill contractual terms, but more than half of the proceedings (329 cases) relating to the activities of a state enterprise are criminal.

In March 2019, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine detained Vladislav Belbas along with 4 subordinates. They were suspected of stealing 55 million hryvnia during an international contract with India. The production was quite loud, however, as quickly as the “porridge was brewed,” everything was forgotten just as quickly. The court refused to remove Belbas from office, and the criminal proceedings were “paused.” It was possible to fire the head of a state-owned enterprise suspected of corruption after the change of power, without much publicity.

Despite the fact that the current government turned a blind eye to numerous violations at SPECTECHNO-EXPORT during the management of the enterprise by Belbas, it seems that law enforcement officers continue to investigate possible corruption schemes. According to our sources in the investigation, we are talking about dozens of contracts, during which hundreds of millions of hryvnia could have been stolen.

Considering that criminal proceedings against officials of the State Enterprise “SPECTECHNO-EXPORT” occupy several thousand pages, we will consider only a few of them.

3 months before Belbas’s dismissal from the post of head of a state-owned company, on July 29, 2019, NABU began an investigation into the actions of officials of two state-owned enterprises - SE DGZP “SPECTECHNO-EXPORT” and SE NWTF “Progress”. Information about the crime was entered into the ERDR under No. 52019000000000660 on grounds of criminal offenses under Part 5 of Art. 191 (theft of public funds on an especially large scale) and Part 3 of Art. 209 (legalization of proceeds from crime on an especially large scale (money laundering)). This complicated case consists of several episodes at once, but the first and main one concerns the theft of 1.4 million US dollars by officials of SPECTECHNO-EXPORT in the period 2016-2019, a significant part of which occurred during the period when Belbas was in charge of the enterprise. The second episode concerns the embezzlement of $1 million over the wider period from 2014 to 2020. Surprisingly, here too everything coincides with the period of work of the official as first deputy director, and then as head of the institution.

The investigation is currently ongoing under the procedural direction of the Office of the Attorney General.

Another equally high-profile criminal proceeding entered into the Unified Register of Registered Register of Registers under No. 32017100110000081 dated October 2, 2017, on grounds of criminal offenses under Part 1 of Art. 205, part 5 art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is currently not being investigated, although its procedural status has not been determined.

It so happened (or was it a coincidence?) that in 2014, when Belbas was appointed deputy director at SPECTECHNO-EXPORT, the Carter Group enterprise was created (the current name is Prom Info). From the materials of the criminal proceedings it follows that this company was fictitious; it was formed specifically for contracts with SPECTECHNO-EXPORT. In 2016, when Belbas gained a foothold in a state-owned enterprise, Carter Group suddenly became an important counterparty to a defense company (another coincidence?). As noted in the materials of the criminal proceedings, in just 3 months between September and December 2016, SPECTECHNO-EXPORT transferred 197.9 million hryvnia or almost $8 million to the fictitious company in accordance with the then exchange rate.

In order to calculate the number of proceedings against the State Enterprise “SPECTECHNO-EXPORT” during the time when Belbas was the deputy and then the head of the enterprise, there are not enough fingers or toes. Damage amounts to billions, but no one is held accountable.

From public to private

After Belbas was “quietly” fired at the end of 2019, he disappeared, but soon returned to the “armed arena”: since April 2020, he has been the director and co-owner of the Ukrainian Armored Vehicles company, traces of which lead to the ex- officials Pashinsky and Avakov.

Currently, “Ukrainian Armored Vehicles” is one of the largest private suppliers of weapons to our Defenders. For 2022, the company's official income amounted to 13.079 billion hryvnia, and net profit - 173.8 million hryvnia. For comparison: in 2021, the company received income in the amount of 103.1 million hryvnia, the loss was 17 million.

The private arms supplier earned tens of times more in the first year of the war than during its entire existence. Currently, the activities of “armored vehicles” are under the watchful eye of not only Ukrainian, but also foreign investigators. A total increase in prices for weapons for the Ukrainian army could become not only a high-profile anti-corruption investigation, but also one of the reasons why foreign partners will stop giving us funds for the purchase of weapons.

Belbas managed to avoid responsibility for dozens of large-scale schemes during his leadership of the State Enterprise "SPECTECHNO-EXPORT", but will he be able to explain the reasons for inflating arms prices for the Ukrainian army if such a fact is confirmed? Maybe in Ukraine the issue (as always) will be resolved, but what will our allies say?