Customs quota: what businessman Ihor Skoromnyi is responsible for in Groysman's "humanitarian headquarters"

One of the richest businessmen in Vinnytsia, whose son was accused of involvement in smuggling at customs, is a former deputy of the Vinnytsia City Council and honorary consul of Latvia. It is about 57-year-old Ihor Skoromnyi, who was once included in the Interregional Humanitarian Coordination Headquarters of former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, UNN reports.

Gas station for public utilities

At first glance, Skoromnyi's personality seems to be a bit out of step with the general concept of the headquarters. Groysman's fellow party members, Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morgunov and Vinnytsia Regional Council Chairman Vyacheslav Sokolovyi, who created this headquarters for the former Prime Minister in March 2022, stuffed it with their deputies and close associates.

Ihor Skoromnyi has not been noticed in active political activity recently.  In 2010 and 2015, he was elected to the Vinnytsia City Council. In 2015, he became a deputy from the Vinnytsia European Strategy party, which later transformed into Groysman's Ukrainian Strategy.

At the time, he was called one of the richest members of the Vinnytsia City Council.

In 2017, Skoromnyi declared 857 thousand dollars, 320 thousand euros and more than 3 million hryvnias in cash. In 2018, Ihor's family received a total of more than UAH 5.5 million in income.

Ihor Skoromnyi is the founder and head of the private enterprise Firma Yasko. At the time, this company specialized in the supply of gasoline and petroleum products. It was one of the largest suppliers of fuels and lubricants to state institutions in Vinnytsia region. According to ProZorro's monitoring, 50% of all purchases from Yasko were made by Vinnytsia Regional State Administration.

Among Yasko's largest clients were Vinnytsia Oblavtodor, Vinnytsia Road Administration, and Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal.

In 2018, the firm won public procurement contracts worth more than UAH 100 million.

At the same time, Ihor Skoromnyi, then a deputy of Vinnytsia City Council, did not see any conflict of interest in his company being a gas station for municipal enterprises .

It is interesting that Ihor Skoromnyi does not position himself as a representative of Groysman's headquarters. Judging by his Facebook page, the businessman and part-time honorary consul of Latvia is promoting the aid that this country is providing to Ukraine.

The apple did not fall far from the tree

However, in the context of the name "humanitarian headquarters," it is not so much Ihor Skoromnyi who draws attention to himself as his son, Yaroslav Skoromnyi.

From 2012 to 2017, he worked in the prosecutor's office. But later he discovered his "talent" as a customs officer. At the end of 2017, Skoromnyi Jr. became Deputy Head of the Lviv Customs of the SFS - Head of the Department for Combating Customs Offenses, and later - Deputy Head of the Department for Combating Customs Offenses and International Cooperation.

In 2020-21, the customs office was undergoing reorganization, so Yaroslav Skoromnyi managed to serve as acting head of the Halychyna and Lviv customs offices and deputy head of the Halychyna customs office. From the latter position, he was even temporarily suspended as part of disciplinary proceedings on suspicion of involvement in smuggling, but later reinstated.

When Skoromnyi Jr. took over the Galician Customs in October 2020, he was accused of losing UAH 300 million to the budget in just two weeks of his tenure.

At the time, journalist Yevhen Plinsky claimedthat at least 11 trucks with goods worth $2-2.5 million had crossed the state border under the guise of empty ones in two weeks, and the owners of the cargo allegedly paid $30-35 thousand in cash for each.

The right people in the "right" headquarters

Groysman's so-called "humanitarian headquarters" is in charge of providing humanitarian aid, which has been and continues to be received in large quantities, especially in the first months of the war, from other countries, and therefore should be subject to at least basic customs control.

At the same time, there are numerous cases when people tried to smuggle goods intended for commercial sale into Ukraine under the guise of humanitarian aid: cars, food, clothing, personal care items, and much more.

Yaroslav Skoromnyi is now positioning himself as a volunteer. But his old connections at the customs probably remain.

And here a logical question arises: why Groysman's headquarters needed an outwardly respectable businessman whose son has an ambiguous reputation for his work at customs..