Very soon, the Summer Olympic Games will begin in Paris, which is why we decided to dedicate this investigation to the ex-minister of youth and sports of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzait. And the first, obviously, is corruption in the Ministry under Gutzeit.
On September 7, 2021, Vadim Markovych said live that there is absolutely no corruption in the Ministry.
According to Gutzeit, the Ministry of Youth and Sports "monitors the situation" with corruption: there is an auditor who checks financial statements, and also checks are carried out by law enforcement agencies.
"I am not the Minister of Internal Affairs. If there are any questions, law enforcement agencies should work. If I feel something, I also see what is happening, then I give certain types of sports a ``hands off,'' he said. (we will return to these words a little later)
To the host's clarifying question about sports in which there is corruption, Gutzeit answered: "We don't have corruption... Who said that?" After mentioning the match-fixing scandal in football, he commented: "We see in football that we haven't heard anything since then."
"Contractors" in other federations - whether at national championships or at other international competitions - I have not heard of this yet," the minister concluded.
But as soon as Gutzeit entered the post of minister, he was under investigation for embezzlement while still the director of the youth and sports department of the KMDA
“Gutzeit's Boats"
On September 13, 2020, the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv opened criminal proceedings on the fact of the crime. During the investigation, it was established that officials of the Department of Youth and Sports of the KMDA implemented a criminal scheme related to the embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the purchase of sports boats for children's and youth schools in Kyiv.
Since 2016, funds have been allocated from the state budget for the purchase of sports boats for academic rowing, which were managed by the youth and sports department of the KMDA. In 2016, 1,860,000 hryvnias were allocated, in 2017 – 2,480,000 hryvnias, in 2018 – 2,399,000 hryvnias, in 2019 – 8,100,000 hryvnias.
Most of the tenders held by the department were won by a private entrepreneur, a coach of the Burevisnyk Youth Sports School, thanks to artificial requirements created for a specific participant. This entrepreneur was under the control of the director of the KMDA department Vadym Gutzait and his deputy through the director of Burevisnyk State Educational Institution.
Thus, the participants in the case distributed among themselves and other officials of the department the profit actually received for the delivery of boats from Belarus, Italy and Germany. The cost of one sports racing boat for academic rowing (quadruple 4X Empacher R48) with delivery and customs clearance from Germany is 600,000 hryvnias, but according to the terms of the tender, the State University of Youth and Sports purchased it for 1 million hryvnias, and officials received 400,000 hryvnias.
In addition, during 2016-2019, employees of the KMDA department gave instructions to the director of the children's and youth sports school "Regata" under their control to sign fake tax invoices for the supply of sports boats to the balance of the school. For example, in 2019, according to the invoices, three German-made boats (Empacher brand) were allegedly delivered to the "Regata" State University for 2,249,000 hryvnias.
But with the coming to power of Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Gutzait, instead of sitting behind bars, became the Minister of Youth and Sports, and the case was simply "forgotten".
The minister spoke on Sports
And with the new position came new corruption appetites .
On August 2, 2023, the Stopkor journalistic investigation revealed that a state institution subordinate to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine buys airline tickets for athletes flying abroad for competitions at prices that are several times higher than the price of tickets on airline websites.
In particular, in April of this year, GU bought tickets from Katowice to Frankfurt for more than 17,000 hryvnias, while today such tickets could be purchased for up to three thousand hryvnias.
GU also bought tickets from Frankfurt to Seoul for UAH 55,000, although on the carriers' websites their cost is about UAH 20,000. A similar situation occurred with tickets from Warsaw to Funchal and in the return direction to Vienna, which were purchased 55% more expensive than their cost on official websites.
GU purchased economy class tickets at the price of business class. For example, tickets for trips Prague-Warsaw-Vilnius-Warsaw-Prague were purchased for UAH 24,010, while on the official website of Lot Airlines they cost UAH 17,851. As a result, UAH 159,610 was paid under the contract, which is 45% more expensive than the market value.
Most of the tenders for the purchase of travel documents were won by Persei-Travel LLC, headed by Oleg Kucherenko. This company received about 50% commission on each contract, which is an unrealistically high figure for the tourist market. It looks as if the tenders are held under one company, which won and purchased tickets according to the schemes, giving the difference to the customer.
At that time, journalists asked the Minister of Youth and Sports for clarification on the purchase of air tickets at inflated prices, but he did not answer calls and messages.
Trade in permits for departure from Ukraine
And now we return to the expression "hand over fist", in September 2023, information appeared that Gutzeit led a scheme to trade permits to travel abroad through his ministry.
Due to the great resonance in the mass media, Gutzeit was strongly recommended to resign from the post of minister, which he did.
OPZZH branch of the National Olympic Committee
In November 2022, Nestor Shufrych and Hryhoriy Surkis became members of the NOC of Ukraine, which against the background of the aggression of the Russian Federation caused an ambiguous reaction in society. But such famous names covered up the appointment of other pro-Russian figures in the NOC.
The newly elected president of NOC Gutzeit gathered around him a "golden" team, 80% of which have nothing to do with sports at all. Is it possible to consider corruption, the fight for a place on the list of the OPZZ or racketeering in the 90s as a sport?
Including:
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Valery Borzov - member of the SDPU(o) 2001-2006, in 2012 he was removed from the post of president of the Athletics Federation for corruption
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Serhii Bubka - member of the Party of Regions (2002-2005), left the party after being elected to the post of president of the National Olympic Committee
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Andrii Vingranovskyi is a member of the OPZZH
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Oleksandr Volkov – member of the Party of Regions (2007-2014)
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Oleksandr Gerega – People's Deputy from the Party of Regions (2012-2014), voted for dictatorial laws on January 16, 2014
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Iryna Deryugina – FIG accused her of bribing judges, putting pressure on them, influencing the final results of competitions and other violations
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Oleksandr Zats is a member of the Party of Regions (2006-2014), he has a strong personal friendship with Boris Kolesnikov, Boris' business partner
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Roman Mulyk – member of the Party of Regions (2010-2014)
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Andriy Melnyk - suspected of involvement in kidnapping, torture and extortion of 200 million dollars. at the former general director of PJSC Naftogazvydobuvannya, and now - people's deputy Seminskyi
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Oleksandr Mendus is a former member of the Party of Regions
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Myroslav Karabin is a former member of the Party of Regions
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Oleg Korban has been a member of OPZZH since 2019
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Mykhailo Koshlyak - since 2020, he is a deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council from OPZZ
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Vadym Pavlenko – Deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council from the Party of Regions (2010-2015)
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Ihor Lysov - member of the Party of Regions (2007-2014), scandalous Kyiv developer
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Serhii Lagur - together with the ex-regional, and after the murder of a person in a road accident by a fugitive from the country, Petr Dyminskyi, was a co-owner of the oil refining complex (NPK) Halychyna in the Lviv region
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Viktor Remskyi is a former "law enforcement officer" involved in the falsification and extraction of "voluntary confessions" from the participants in the "Pavlychenki case"
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Oleksandr Symonenko is a member of OPZZH
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Viktor Hristoyev is a former member of the Party of Regions
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Oleksandr Udovichenko is a former member of the Party of Regions
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Nina Umanets - after 2014, she flaunted a photo with Putin
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Serhii Kushniryuk - removed from the post of head coach of the Ukrainian national handball team due to corruption, a criminal case was opened against him
Business in Russia and interesting business partners
After Gutzeit's appointment to the post of minister, information about his business share in Russia appeared.
In 2018, Gutzeit was one of the co-owners of the Russian LLC "Altair" (STO "Champion" in Lubny near Moscow) together with the famous Russian fencers Ilgar Mamedov and Stanislav Pozdnyakov (the current president of the Russian Olympic Committee).
Currently, Gutzeit is not listed among Altair's co-founders, but the history of changes in Russian registers indicates that he transferred his share to Mamedov. Ilgar Mamedov has been the head coach of the Russian fencing team for many years and holds the rank of colonel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
In addition to Ilgar Mamedov, Gutzeit's second business partner - the president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov - is also "pleased".
Of course, it is unlikely that the "car wash in the swamps" brought significant income to Vadym Gutzait, but the very facts of Gutzait's friendship and joint business with the colonel of the Russian Armed Forces and the closest entourage of the president of the aggressor country raise more questions than answers.
