According to the expert, the head of the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund, Svitlana Rekrut, should be fired for using Megabank cars for personal trips abroad with her family.

The Managing Director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals, Svitlana Rekrut, should be released so that she does not tarnish the reputation of the Ukrainian authorities and she should be held criminally responsible for the fact that she used a car belonging to JSC "Megabank", which is in the process of liquidation, for her own trips abroad . This opinion was expressed by the head of the expert group "Bureau of Policy Analysis" Viktor Bobirenko in an exclusive comment to UNN.

"From the point of view of European common sense, this person (Recruit - ed.) must leave his post. That is, those who nominated her for this position should definitely respond to these facts. This is obvious," said Bobirenko.

He added that one of the main standards of the EU is the institute of business reputation, and Ukraine, as a state that is trying to become a member of the European Union, must also comply with it.

"One of the main standards of the EU - as a rule, it is not written - is the institution of reputation. Got dirty - you leave, caught corruption - you leave. "Flying with budget funds with my family is a loss of face and actually saying goodbye to politics in order not to impersonate the team," said Bobirenko.

At the same time, according to him, if Recruit does not resign, her actions will stain the entire government in the country.

"If they don’t do this (they don’t fire Recruit - ed.) it’s another stain on the Ukrainian government and it proves once again that we claim to be fighting for European values, but we don’t believe in them ourselves. We will never become Europeans as long as there is no political responsibility. I’m not talking about the criminal case," Bobirenko summarized.

Let’s add

During the journalistic investigation conducted by UNN, it was found that Recruit  spent   more than 100 days abroad or on the way there or back in 2023, that is, almost half of all working days of the year. In 2022, her trips totaled more than 80 days.

It is noteworthy that, according to  Svitlana Rekrut’s declaration  , in 2022 she received compensation from the FGVFD for excess funds spent on business trips in the amount of over UAH 65,000.

At the same time, in 2022-2023, the press service of the FGVFD  reported  on only three international events that took place abroad with the personal participation of Svitlana Rekrut.

In addition, during the investigation, UNN learned that Svitlana Rekrut repeatedly used two Toyota Camry cars belonging to JSC "Megabank", which has been in the process of liquidation since July 2022, for trips abroad.

She started using one of the cars in October 2022.

According to the Law "On the System of Guaranteeing Deposits of Individuals", the property of a bank that is in the process of liquidation can be used for the purpose of savings only by a representative of the FGVFO, who is part of the temporary administration. According to  the youcontrol website  , Svitlana Rekrut is not an authorized person from the FGVFO to liquidate JSC "Megabank". Currently, the liquidation is carried out by Bila Iryna Volodymyrivna on behalf of the Fund.

In answers to journalistic inquiries, the FGVFO claims that Svitlana Rekrut used cars belonging to JSC "Megabank" exclusively for business trips and for the purpose of saving money.

However, according to UNN, on September 22, 2022, she traveled abroad in a Toyota Camry owned by JSC Megabank with her  parents  Valery and Valentina Rekrut. They returned to Ukraine three days later, on September 25, 2022. It is worth noting that Svitlana Recrut traveled from Thursday to Sunday, so it is unlikely that she went on a business trip with her parents in the car of the bank that is being liquidated on weekends.

We will remind

According to the parliamentary appeal of Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption launched  an investigation  into the possible conflict of interests of Recruit during her use of cars belonging to Megabank for trips abroad.

In addition, the Owner of "Megabank" Victor Subotin plans  to apply  to law enforcement agencies regarding the use of the bank’s Recruit cars for personal trips abroad and the sale of Megabank’s assets by the Fund at significantly reduced prices.

In response to a journalist’s inquiry about Recruit’s trips abroad, the FGVFO reported that information about the movement of Fund officials (business trips, business trips, etc.) is official information that has limited access, and also added that Recruit  contacted   law enforcement agencies regarding the IA of the UNN.

Space premiums and an elite "wheelbarrow" for officials: the FGVFD spent almost 200 million on tenders - investigation

An electric car for officials for more than two million, tenders for PR services and round sums for the salary of the directorate - these are just some of the expenses of the Deposit Guarantee Fund of individuals during the full-scale war in Ukraine. And even these cosmic sums are just a drop in the ocean against the background of the 62-billion-dollar debt of the FGVFO to the state, which was discovered by the Accounting Chamber. How did the fund become a "black hole" for the budget and was on the verge of bankruptcy?

And why did the Ministry of Finance "forgive" the institution accountable to it for more than UAH 5 billion in debt? StopCoru journalist Alla Legeza understood the intricacies of state finances.

The purchase of the Hyundai Ionic 5 electric car by the Deposit Guarantee Fund outraged the public. After all, this powerful supercar, equipped with all modern intellectual conveniences, and also all-wheel drive, costs about UAH 2.5 million in the showroom today, depending on the year of manufacture and configuration. So this purchase even got into a kind of hit parade of the most expensive cars purchased by the state during the invasion, from the publication  "Our Money"  .

"Car" for officials instead of help from the Armed Forces?

Officials should think about victory and helping the army instead of luxury cars, volunteer  Oleksiy Yasinsky is outraged .

" This is generally some kind of sabotage against the Armed Forces of Ukraine, against volunteers, against all people, Ukrainians, who defend their Motherland. When we can’t raise money to repair cars, even ambulances for our military units, and think how to do it ," he comments.

And all this despite the fact that even Finance Minister  Serhiy Marchenko urged Ukrainians to forget about expensive purchases of imported cars the other day . After all, according to him, this hurts the economy of the country in the conditions of Russian aggression.

" Unfortunately, for now we live in such a specific reality, when we are "all right". But if we really want to switch to military lines, we need to reduce consumption several times, because we mainly consume imported goods and services , "the head of the Ministry of Finance emphasized.

On the eve of the New Year, in  an interview  for "Forbes", he also said that the department did not know where to get money for the continuation of the mobilization.

But what is happening under the very nose of the Ministry of Finance?

In the midst of a full-scale war, a state institution that is credited by the same Ministry of Finance, namely the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund, in the midst of a full-scale war, buys the same Hyundai Ionic 5 electric car for 2 million 388 thousand hryvnias.

Regarding the impracticality of this purchase and the corruption component, in September of last year, an appeal was registered to the State Audit Service, but the inspection service ignored it and for more than a year, it has not provided an answer, says entrepreneur  Yevhen Krykun .

" Purchasing is, in principle, expensive. Not that it is not in time. It seems to me that it is not needed at all in the form in which it is, but should be cheaper. Taking into account the fact that our soldiers are now buying cars that are not first-hand, not first-hand, I believe that such cars can be used in the civil service as well. They would not affect the performance of their duties in any way ," the businessman notes.

StopCor inquired directly from the FGVFO, why did the officials need such an expensive car?

In response to a journalist’s inquiry, the Fund explains: they say, it is not profitable to keep old official cars, there are interruptions in the supply of fuel, and it is not clear how long the war will last!

" Perhaps we can close our eyes to this purchase during the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, maybe there really aren’t enough official cars, but if it was a one-time expensive purchase and if it were not for the huge debt obligations to the depositors of the liquidated banks and the state budget! As we were able to find out, since February 2022, the fund has spent almost UAH 6 million on the purchase of PR services, namely, advertising on TV, on websites and promotion in social networks ," comments Alla Legeza.

Did the Deposit Guarantee Fund assist the Armed Forces of Ukraine?

So. At least funds from their employees in the amount of salary for one day were collected several times, according to information from their own sources. In response to StopCor’s request, the foundation replied only that none of its employees were forced to donate.

But the questions: what kind of charitable funds were they, how they were selected, how much money was accumulated, what exactly was purchased and whether they were purchased at all - they were ignored there.

The FGVFO spared no expense in paying for PR services during the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation. The largest amount, namely 2 million 277 and a half thousand, was given to a certain FOP  Ivan Mykolayovych Petrenko . Services are provided by the Vip Media company, which today does not even have its own website.

And the information in  the videos  on Facebook is not entirely true, explains lawyer  Mykhailo Yevseev . And although now, with changes in the law, the Fund must return the entire amount of the contribution, but the expert does not know such "lucky people".

How many victims did the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund not return their financial savings?

The exact number is currently unknown. But there are definitely a lot of such people, says  Bohdan Tsimeyko  , head of the public organization "Protection of the Ukrainian People", which helps depositors and debtors of bankrupt banks. According to him, many people did not wait for the refund in their lifetime.

According to the human rights defender, nowhere is it written when exactly the depositor of the liquidated bank will receive the rest of his funds: when the fund earns money, then it will be returned. Because this structure is self-sufficient. It receives income in the form of fees from operating banks and the sale of property of liquidated financial institutions, income from investments in securities, and if it is already in the "minus" - it receives loans from the NBU.

" The funds of legal entities, which should be received from the sale of liquidated property, first of all go to individuals, for the salaries of participants of the Guarantee Fund, employees of the Guarantee Fund, and their salaries are hundreds of thousands, millions of hryvnias. For what? The guarantee fund is bankrupt. He doesn’t have his own money ," Tsimeyko emphasizes.

Who receives huge salaries and for what merits?

In the request, StopCor also asked to show the income of the management of the Guarantee Fund, but there the request was ignored and advised to look for this information in the declarations.

" We searched, and what we saw simply shocked us. From the latest statements published on the website of the NAZK from the director of the fund Svitlana Rekrut - only changes in the property status for 2022, namely her salary and bonuses from the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation until May the year before last. For example, in March of the year before last, she was awarded a salary and bonus of almost 478,000 hryvnias, in April - 444,000. That is, the monthly official income amounted to barely half a million hryvnias , "says the journalist.

It is worth noting that the Accounting Chamber already pointed out in its report that such bonusing of the Fund’s management is actually groundless.

Despite the debt and signs of management inefficiency, the head  Svitlana Rekrut  talks about the achievements and actively promotes the work of the foundation, and only in November 2022 she gave at least six interviews.

In the request, the journalists also asked to specify the amount of the Fund’s monetary obligations to the state. And although in the answer there they assure that they no longer have any debts to the State Budget, however, as stated in  the report of  the Accounting Chamber from June 2023, the Guarantee Fund had a debt to the Ministry of Finance in the amount of 62.5 billion hryvnias and had to transfer 5.4 billion to State budget at the expense of domestic state loan bonds (OVDP).

What dubious tenders did the FGVFO "distinguish" itself?

During the large-scale war, the Deposit Guarantee Fund spent over UAH 185 million on IT services and the purchase of laptops. Is it a lot or a little? It seems too much, taking into account the fact that during the same period the National Bank, which has regional branches in most regions of the country, spent four times less on IT purchases - more than 45 million, and the State Property Fund - a total of 4.5 million.

Meanwhile, the Guarantee Fund spent 9,797,000 hryvnias only on the purchase of some laptops. A total of 330 units were purchased during the full-scale war. Why does the Foundation need so many new computers? And this despite the fact that at the same time the Fund is selling almost new, similar laptops of bankrupt banks and often with a "discount" even 10 times from the starting price. That is, during the war, FGVFO buys hundreds of new laptops for almost 10 million, and at the same time sells the same equipment ten times cheaper.

By the way, one of the companies, Winncom Ukraine LLC, which during this time won six tenders of the fund for a total amount of 17.5 million hryvnias, was mentioned in criminal proceedings regarding fictitious contracts for the withdrawal of tax credit and in the case of embezzlement of money from the State Border Service and the Military parts

Another company, "IT-DEVELOPMENT", which won the tender for almost 2 million without competitors, appeared in the criminal proceedings about the receipt of kickbacks by employees of the Boryspil airport and the supply of IT services at inflated prices.

Another firm, IT-Solutions, which won as many as eight tenders for more than 12 million from the fund, appeared in various criminal cases related to the sale of software at inflated prices and collusion with employees of the Ministry of Defense, State Special Communications, State Agency for Infrastructure Projects, etc.

It should be noted that StopCor in its requests asked various control bodies to provide an assessment of these purchases, but the Accounting Chamber replied that they did not plan to conduct an audit of the fund, the Ministry of Finance noted that they had no right to interfere in the activities of the fund, and the NBU and the State Audit Service did not respond at all in the term defined by law.

We will remind you that the State Audit Service, together with law enforcement officers,  is investigating the case of  the Lviv Arsenal company, which received money from the Ministry of Defense for the supply of a large batch of mortar rounds worth UAH 1.4 billion, but has long overdue the contract and has not handed over any mines to the Armed Forces. The head of the department told where the money went.