Another sign of troubles with Ukraines new regime. In the interests of full disclosure, I have known the Bachelor since June 1998, and so it wasnt easy for me to translate this. Ukrains’ka Pravda March 31, 2014, 18:38 Dmytro Hnap, “New Era Glamor Corruption” (translated from Russian by William Risch) It’s not interesting writing about television glamor, but when it’s entangled with corruption and outright lies, you have to. There’s a show, “The Bachelor,” on the STB channel. They say women like it a lot. Some regular season of it is now showing. Konstantyn Yevtushenko from L’viv is playing the role of the eligible bachelor that the girls are swooning over. The magazine Cosmopolitan Ukraina doesn’t hold back its praises for him: “Konstantyn looks like he came from the main fashion catwalks of Hollywood; even Brad Pitt would envy such knockout male beauty.” Konstantyn Yevtushenko is presented in the magazine as a businessman, the owner of a large investment company called Merit Investment Group. I must disappoint fans of Konstantyn’s beauty and life success. There is no such large investment company. You can go to its website: merit.ua or call its telephone, which you can find in an Internet archive here and here. (Wait 20 seconds until the archival page loads up.) You’ll get either silence or a “nobody like that here” as a response. This website indicated an interview by the “bachelor” himself with the publication Medianiania, where he mentions in passing some mysterious investment projects in Great Britain and the USA. But there is no mention of such a talented entrepreneur and his company in any British or American registries. Because there’s no successful businessman named Konstantyn Yevtushenko. But there is another Konstantyn Yevtushenko, the brother of a major Ukrainian bureaucrat, known for his involvement in various shady dealings and misuse of state funds. Two years ago I did an investigation of misuse of funds at the State Agency for Investment and National Projects. Earlier Vladyslav Kas’kiv, a major figure from our times, headed this agency. He is known for a huge scandal with a ski instructor and a bunch of other smaller incidents. Serhiy Yevtushenko was Kas’kiv’s assistant at the agency; he’d known Kas’kiv earlier, when both worked together in the PORA party. Serhiy Yevtushenko was the head of the coordinating council of the LNG-Terminal project. It can’t be ruled out that he was the one who selected a Spanish ski instructor for the role of a major foreign investor. So Kas’kiv’s assistant, Serhiy Yevtushenko, happens to be Konstantyn Yevtushenko’s brother, the “bachelor” mentioned above, and he helps out his relative in any way he can. For example, the firm “Vistka,” established by Konstantyn “Bachelor” Yevtushenko, earlier received almost 2 million hryvnias from Kas’kiv’s agency for printing brochures advertising Ukraine’s investment attractions. And the agency paid out 29 million hryvnias for two more companies connected with the Yevtushenko brothers and Kas’kiv’s friends to advertise Ukraine’s investment prospects for investors. So all of the business wins and financial successes of Yevtushenko the television star are closely linked to his brother’s position in the state bureaucracy. Don’t ask if ads were made with these state funds. After several written requests, I didn’t receive a single intelligible explanation from Kas’kiv and Yevtushenko’s people. And regarding what happened to Ukraine’s prospects for investment in the Yanukovych era, you probably don’t need an explanation. By the way, even after the revolution, the Yevtushenko brothers are doing fine. Serhiy, the older brother, was appointed head of State Investment Projects by Prime Minister Yatseniuk, replacing Kas’kiv, who has fled Ukraine. Konstantyn, the younger brother, is taking part in a television show in the role of the envied bachelor. I want to ask Mister Yatseniuk not to turn the post-revolutionary process of renewing the state into a farce, when such scandalous characters have been returning to the feeding trough. STB’s management should be more careful in choosing show participants. Well, or at least they should not present them as what they aren’t in real life. Original link: blogs.pravda.ua/authors/gnap/53398bedeabe4/
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 18:38:10 +0000
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