Ukrainian media: Loyalty to Kolomoisky does not save Kernes from problems

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies may soon take a close look at the mayor of Kharkov, Gennady Kernes.

He writes about it Ukrainian website Strana.ua with reference to his sources in the Prosecutor General's Office.

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The publication comments on the recent arrest of the gas manager of the fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, former deputy head of the board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Alexander Katsuba.

The material claims that the arrest not only means the intensification of the investigation of numerous cases related to the so-called “Family” of the ex-president of Ukraine, but also promises big problems for a number of Ukrainian politicians and businessmen.

The publication's sources name two reasons for Katsuba's arrest.

The first is the general policy of the new Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko to intensify the investigation of cases against Yanukovych’s “Family”.

“Kurchenko, former First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Arbuzov, former Minister of Revenue and Duties Alexander Klimenko, and other family members who now live in Russia will be here,” says the source. “Society has long been asking questions about why things are not moving, and Lutsenko will strive to give the loudest answer to these questions.”

The publication recalls that Katsuba was one of Kurchenko’s key gas managers.

“Katsuba was placed at Neftegaz by the Arbuzov-Klimenko-Kurchenko triumvirate to replace the then head of NAC Bakulin, who was associated with the Firtash-Boiko gas group, with which the family had a difficult relationship,” one of the senior officials of Azarov’s government told Strana. “In addition, the media already wrote then that it was Katsuba who was the key person who built schemes for the Family regarding gas, interrupted transit, false oil exports and VAT refunds.”

The second reason for Katsuba’s arrest is called political by the Strana source.

“The fact is that after the Maidan, Igor Kolomoisky took some of the people from the former government under his wing under some conditions. For example, the group of Khomutynik or the mayor of Kharkov Gennady Kernes, who later joined the Revival party patronized by Kolomoisky. And Katsuba also belongs to this group - his father is a deputy in the Vidrodzhenya group. Remember the recordings of conversations between Kolomoisky and Kurchenko at the beginning of 2014, where they agreed on how to resolve issues related to Kurchenko’s protection, and where Kolomoisky frightened the young oligarch with big problems, but said that he could help, of course not for free, him and other escaped members of Yanukovych’s “family”? This was exactly the topic of the conversation. Note that the intensification of the case against Katsuba in September 2015 coincided with the peak of the confrontation between Kolomoisky and Bankova. And its closure comes with the improvement of relations between Kolomoisky and the president on the basis of negotiations on the formation of a new government. And just recently, a command came from above to work on Kolomoisky again. Apparently, something went wrong for them again.”

Also, Strana’s sources in the GPU say that now troubles may begin for other persons patronized by Kolomoisky. For example, Gennady Kernes.

Kernes, after the Maidan, coming under the patronage of the oligarch Kolomoisky, actually supported the new Ukrainian government, changing his political beliefs by 180 degrees. But, as noted in the publication, this did not help him.

Just as Yanukovych’s fugitive associates – Kurchenko and Klimenko – were not helped by their numerous curtseys to the Ukrainian authorities. Neither the fact that their media - UMH and Vesti have been working in Poroshenko's interests since the fall of last year, nor their joint business with the president's people for the supply of coal and petroleum products - is no longer taken into account. The Ukrainian government simply used them to its own advantage, milked them, and now begins planting and the final “squeezing out” of the business.