Groysman Humanitarian Center: who is in charge of finances?

Since the end of March last year, the so-called Interregional Humanitarian Coordination Headquarters has been operating in Vinnytsia region. It is a structure with an unclear status and powers, but with quite interesting figures in its composition.

The headquarters was created by a joint order of Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morgunov and Vinnytsia Regional Council Chairman Vyacheslav Sokolovyi, both members of the Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman (USG) party. So, it is not surprising that they proposed the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and their party boss, Volodymyr Groysman, to head it.

But even without Volodymyr Borysovych, this headquarters has enough interesting and sometimes even odious characters.

From the water utility to the Cabinet of Ministers

One of the members of the humanitarian center is the first deputy head of Vinnytsia regional council Volodymyr Kistion. He was elected to the regional council from the USG. His work history and career growth are inextricably linked to Groysman.

In 2001, Kistion became the head of the Vinnytsiaoblvodokanal utility company.

In 2008, he became Groysman's deputy mayor of Vinnytsia, and in 2011, he became the first deputy mayor.

In October 2014, Kistion was appointed First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services.

After Groysman became the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Kistion moved to work in the Office of the Verkhovna Rada's Secretariat.

The pinnacle of his career was as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of energy, environment and subsoil use. Kistion received this position in April 2016, when the same Groysman headed the government.

According to the "Slovo i Dilo" portal. Kistion made 33 promises when he took office, of which he fulfilled only 7, and 10 were outright failures. Apparently, he had more important things to do than statecraft.

In July 2019, the SBU reported that it had "discovered and documented a mechanism for misappropriation of state and local budget funds by officials of communal enterprises in Vinnytsia region, organized by one of the deputy prime ministers of Ukraine." According to media reports, the scheme was as follows: a company won a tender for the construction or reconstruction of facilities and received money. But the work at the facilities was carried out by the utility companies using their own employees. Meanwhile, the company hired fictitious workers, bought non-existent construction materials, and the money ended up in the pockets of the organizers of the scheme. In particular, we are talking about Mix Light LLC, which was owned by Volodymyr Kistion's son Dmytro until August 2018. Interestingly, this company also had a legal address in the premises, part of which was on the balance sheet of the Vinnytsia water utility.

 The name of the deputy prime minister has not been officially announced, and Kistion himself has denied all accusations against him .

"In my opinion, this is nothing more than a political order, which involves the personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine appointed by former President Petro Poroshenko. Because no proceedings have been conducted against me." - Kistion said at the time.

But you will agree that it is strange - firms parasitize on tenders in Vinnytsia, Kistion's son has been heading one of them for some time, the SBU says that the Deputy Prime Minister is involved, but Kistion Sr. himself says that it is not him. So who is it then? In addition to Kistion, there were five other deputy prime ministers in Groysman's government, so Kistion Jr. must have made an agreement with one of them. And with the assistance of one of them, firms in Vinnytsia abused tenders.

A mansion on the driver's land

But Volodymyr Kistion managed to attract attention even before this unfortunate incident. When Kistion was in charge of the Vinnytsia water utility, the land of this utility began to be allocated for private development. Ten acres of land were given to our suspect's driver, Yuriy Pindyk. And an elite mansion with a swimming pool was built by Kistion, and registered in his son's name.

 Interestingly, neither the land nor the house were listed in Kistion's declaration.

"When asked about the origin of the funds for the construction of such an estate, the Deputy Prime Minister also had an explanation - he built it for two families: "So, I built the house - well, because he (the son - ed.) was married, we built it with a matchmaker."

The new official does not deny that he lived in this house. He says that he did not include it in his declaration as property in temporary use, because his son simply "allowed" him to live there on weekends.

So, the new Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister did not declare the land because it was registered in the name of his driver, and he did not declare the house because it was registered in the name of his son. It would be very convenient if everything secret did not come to light sooner or later," reads an investigation by Radio Liberty on April 22, 2016.

"Distinguished himself" Kistion was also known for his work in the Verkhovna Rada apparatus. After he and Hroisman joined the government, MPs could not understand for a long time what computers the Rada spent almost 75 million hryvnias on. They also suspected that the costs of the motor pool and canteen of the Ukrainian parliament were significantly overstated.  

It would seem that a person with such a track record can have anything to do with humanitarian work. The answer is simple - the correct distribution of the funds raised, which can only be entrusted to a trustee. For Volodymyr Groysman, Mr. Kistion is his own and has been tested by deeds and time.