Oleg Posternak: ICU, Poroshenko and Firtash. The forgotten history of 112 Ukraine channel

After the previous publication, I was asked a question: why am I focusing on Investment Capital Ukraine group? They are just small-time contractors. No, my friends, they are not small and not always contractors.

For decades, ICU served Yanukovych, Poroshenko, and Medvedchuk, and was directly involved in the most scandalous schemes. They conducted secret negotiations and kept dirty secrets. They provided their people to be appointed to leading positions in the government (the National Bank, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, and the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities). This is a partnership, not a customer-contractor relationship.

Please pay attention to the following point: Yanukovych, Medvedchuk and Poroshenko have all been under sanctions for a long time. What are the officials of the National Security and Defence Council, the Ministry of Justice and the Presidential Office doing preparing these sanctions? Why are ICU managers still not under sanctions? Here is the most interesting thing in the history of Investment Capital Ukraine Group. It seems that Ukraine's most successful financial group is invisible.

To confirm my words, I would like to tell you the story of ICU's cooperation with another person subject to NSDC sanctions, Dmytro Firtash. This episode takes us back to 2015-2016, when the government was negotiating the purchase of the 112 Ukraine channel.

Today we remember 112 Ukraine as one of the mouthpieces of Viktor Medvedchuk and Russian propaganda. The channel was closed due to NSDC sanctions in February 2021, along with NewsOne and ZiK. However, Medvedchuk had only acquired the channel in 2018. Before him, other people had fought for the channel.

Let's go back to the era of President Viktor Yanukovych. His entourage decided to create their own media to compete with the existing media groups. In particular, 112 Ukraine was supposed to compete with 1+1, Inter, STB, ICTV, and other heavyweights.

The channel's history dates back to 2011, when several regional companies received broadcasting licences. They were acquired by Andrii Pidshchypkov's TRK 112-TV LLC, and in November 2012, they started to be known collectively as 112 Ukraine. In fact, it was not just one channel, but a whole group with a complicated ownership structure. The channels of this group broadcast in different regions, but did so under a single brand, 112 Ukraine. Therefore, it is also acceptable to call this community the "112 group".

It was believed that the real owner was Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, although businessman Andrii Pidshchypkov was mentioned as the nominal owner. The group's channels were owned by Cypriot offshore companies with nominee owners. So both versions were valid.

112 Ukraine worked in the then fashionable format of continuous news broadcasting. This is exactly how CNN, BBC, Euronews, Al Jazeera, Sky News and other TV channels work. The idea had some success. 112 Ukraine appeared on TV screens in many government offices.

But then Euromaidan happened, and Yanukovych's entourage fled Ukraine. Newly elected President Petro Poroshenko demanded to get the channel. He deeply understood the power of the media, because until 2019, it was TV channels that had "created and overthrown presidents".

Poroshenko already owned Channel 5, which operated under the same scheme of continuous news broadcasting. Channel 5 played an incredibly important role during the first, Orange Maidan, and did a good job during the second, Euromaidan. No wonder Petro Poroshenko decided to pick up an asset abandoned by Yanukovych's entourage.

Externally, he persecuted the former president's team, in particular over the Maidan shootings. In fact, he twice sent emissaries to the team for negotiations. This is where ICU got involved.

 Two attempts at negotiations

In 2016, fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko revealed several business secrets he had been involved in during Poroshenko's time. In an effort to preserve his business in gas production, Onyshchenko carried out special instructions for the president. In particular, he bribed (at his own expense) other members of the Verkhovna Rada to vote for the bills Poroshenko wanted.

One of the instructions concerned the 112 Ukraine channel. In the agreement, a draft of which was made public by Onishchenko, the authorities promised to protect the channel from pressure, and the channel was obliged to cover the actions of the authorities in a positive light. However, the document contained another clause stating that Onyshchenko would receive the priority right to buy the channel.

According to the fugitive MP, he conducted these negotiations on behalf of Poroshenko.

Then the deal fell through. According to Onyshchenko, "Poroshenko wanted the channel to be bought and sold for $17 million, while the owner of the channel, Andrii Pidshchypkov, asked for at least $25 million".

The role of ICU and its shareholder Makar Paseniuk is interesting here. He admitted that he had acted as an intermediary in the negotiations with Pidshchypkov. However, according to the financier, Onyshchenko wanted to buy the channel for himself.

I would like to question this statement. Paseniuk was as close to Poroshenko as possible at the time (in addition to the events described above; for example, the investment banker negotiated with the Russians and was involved in the transfer of Poroshenko's wealth to a blind trust). Most likely, he knew that he was helping the president to buy the 112 channel.

In the same year, 2015, according to then MP Serhiy Leshchenko, Poroshenko made another attempt. In his traditional manner, he pushed the other side to cooperate. The National Council on Television and Radio, controlled by the President, refused to renew the licence for 112 Ukraine due to its non-transparent ownership structure. Criminal cases were opened against the owner of the channel.

The pressure did not work. The channel's management claimed political pressure, and Pidshchypkov and the channel's creative producer Viktor Zubrytskyi left for abroad.

Around the same time, it turned out that Viktor Polishchuk was supposedly going to buy the TV channel. According to the generally accepted version, he acted on behalf of Poroshenko. Polishchuk is a very colourful businessman, owner of the Eldorado electronics retail chain and former owner of the Gulliver shopping mall. His bank, Mykhailivskyi, left behind thousands of defrauded depositors and cost the state billions of hryvnias, but Polischuk himself escaped these troubles. The secret of his success was believed to be his marriage to the niece of Russian alcoholic president Dmitry Medvedev.

It is reliably known that Paseniuk also took part in these negotiations. His involvement was not accidental, as in 2014, ICU was a financial advisor to Mykhailivskyi Bank.

Paseniuk himself said that Polishchuk wanted to use his services to buy the channel for himself (who else for?). However, according to Viktor Zubrytskyi, a top manager of the 112 TV channel, Polishchuk and Paseniuk were acting on behalf of Poroshenko. I don't know about you, but I believe Zubrytskyi more.

According to Ekonomichna Pravda, Polishchuk received money from Poroshenko (between $3m and $5m) to make a deposit.

Money was not needed in the end. The second negotiations also failed. Pasenyuk quit negotiations on the 112 Ukraine TV channel. We don't know why, but there's a good story. According to Pidshchypkov, Polishchuk openly threatened him.

All of these are versions that were heard during Poroshenko's time.

As you probably know from open sources, three years later, the channel was acquired by Taras Kozak, an MP from Viktor Medvedchuk's entourage. In December 2018, Kozak bought it through offshore companies, paying for it with money of non-transparent origin. And in 2021, the channel was blocked by NSDC sanctions.

 Alternative version 

If you notice, there is a gap between events. It is not known what happened between Poroshenko's negotiations and the sale to Medvedchuk. And this is very important and interesting. Here are some facts to help fill in the gap.

Initially, it was believed that ICU was acting on behalf of Poroshenko. However, there is another version. Representatives of Dmytro Firtash took part in both of Poroshenko's negotiations. It was probably the latter who bought the channel from Yanukovych's entourage and later sold it to Medvedchuk.

Overall, the partnership between Poroshenko and the oligarch does not look shocking. It was rumoured that these two and Vitali Klytschko had made special arrangements after the Euromaidan.

As for 112 Ukraine, here are some interesting facts.

1. 

The purchase of the channel for the benefit of Poroshenko was indeed being prepared. Perhaps it was really just a matter of money.

Let me remind you that 112 Ukraine is not a single TV channel, but a group. In particular, six of the companies were registered in Cypriot offshore companies that contained "112" in their names:

• Secundiana Media 112 Ltd
• Tertiana Media 112 Ltd
• Quartiana Media 112 Ltd
• Quintiana Media 112 Ltd
• Sextiana Media 112 Ltd
• Septiana Media 112 Ltd

As we recall, since May 2015, Onyshchenko and Paseniuk have been negotiating the purchase of TV channels. In this regard, it is interesting that in July 2015, the above-mentioned offshore companies were transferred from Cypriot citizens to the Seychelles-based company Kouly Ventures. Andrii Pidshchypkov was declared the main beneficiary of this company. Why? I can only speculate: one company is much more convenient when preparing for a sale.

2.

Around the same time, in preparation for the acquisition of the channels, ICU established a nominee company, Maresko Holdings Limited (BVI), through its Cypriot law firm partner Dadlaw. Its final beneficiary was... no, not Poroshenko, but Valid Arfush, who held a senior position at Euronews Ukraine, the name of one of the projects of the Inter TV channel.

It is likely that Arfush acted as a nominal owner. He has never had enough capital to buy a TV channel like 112 Ukraine, and since March 2015, he has been running a joint project with a gas oligarch.

Obviously, ICU helped with putting the deal together. On 31 July 2015, when the first negotiations (involving Onyshchenko and Paseniuk) were still ongoing, Project Volcano was born. This is the name of the draft agreement. It was an option (right) to purchase shares. Maresko Holdings Limited (BVI) was issuing the option, and the recipient had yet to be specified (let's call him X). The option guaranteed that Maresko would sell X shares in the six TV channels with the numbers 112 in their names.

Who was Mr X? There are not many variants/options.

The option would have been exercisable on the sole condition that Maresko Holdings Limited (BVI) itself buys the channels. As you know, the deal fell through, and Maresko did not become the owner of 112 Ukraine. The well-known explanation is that they did not agree on price.

3.

In December 2015, ICU Holdings bought Maresko Holdings Limited (BVI) from Arfush. The offshore company was renamed ICU International LTD.

What does this point to? It can be assumed that ICU originally created Maresko and registered it in Arfush’s name in order to buy TV channels with it. And when the deal fell through, the company turned out to be unnecessary, so they bought it out.

I have screenshots of documents showing that the directors of ICU International LTD (formerly Maresko) were Harris Demetriades, Makar Paseniuk and Kostyantyn Stetsenko, all Greeks with hard-to-pronounce surnames. But the company was owned by Dadlaw Nominees Limited (the same law firm with which ICU worked) and ICU Holdings Limited (BVI), an offshore company.

If the documents are genuine (and the likelihood is very high), this transaction points to joint actions by Poroshenko and Firtash with ICU. The first two are already under sanctions, the third is not.

4.

It has already been mentioned above that the second negotiations on the purchase of 112 Ukraine were conducted by Viktor Polishchuk and Makar Paseniuk. The negotiations took place at the end of 2015. During the negotiations, Pidshchypkov claimed that Polishchuk threatened him in the presence of Paseniuk. According to him, there was a recording of this moment, but it either did not appear in the public domain or quickly disappeared.

The technical side of things is interesting. On 2 November 2016, ICU acquired two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands: Filigree Holdings Ltd and Startpoint Trading Ltd.

ICU bought the first company from Polischuk and the second from media manager Yegor Benkendorf. It is possible that the channels of 112 Ukraine were to be split between the two buyers.

Benckendorf has been Chairman of the Board of Inter since 2013. Another interesting detail. Startpoint Trading Ltd was mentioned in one of the packages of leaked offshore documents as a company set up to acquire media assets in Ukraine.

As we know, the second attempt to buy 112 Ukraine also failed. This is probably why ICU bought out both offshore companies for its own needs. The buyer was again ICU Holdings Limited.

This "coincidence" once again hints that ICU was dealing with Poroshenko and Firtash, both of whom are currently under sanctions.

5.

On 10 November 2016, Yegor Benkendorf was appointed CEO of the 112 Ukraine TV channel. This happened shortly after he was dismissed from his managerial position at "Inter".

It is unknown who owned 112 Ukraine at that time. Benkendorf later called himself one of the owners of the channel, without mentioning the others.

According to open sources, in the summer of 2016, the 112 Group channels began to own each other, and Ivor Omson was named as the beneficiary. The real owner was allegedly Pidshchypkov. But let me question this statement.

Omson was most likely a representative of Firtash. In 2016, it was said that they were both directors of the same company, Simia Holdings Limited.

6.

In April 2018, the channel became the property of German citizen Eduard Katz. And in December 2018, Katz sold the channel to Taras Kozak from Medvedchuk's entourage. The rest you know.

7.

The above facts demonstrate the deep involvement of ICU in the attempts to acquire 112 Ukraine through a complex structure of nominal owners. According to the new data, the company most likely cooperated with Dmytro Firtash through his media managers.

The biggest intrigue was the motivation of Firtash himself. Why did he participate in the deal? Why did he need another TV channel when the oligarch himself had already left Ukraine and settled in Vienna?

His agreements with Poroshenko also remain an intrigue. According to the publicly available version, it was "The Grey-Haired" [Poroshenko’s nickname] himself who wanted to buy 112 Ukraine. Poroshenko is the owner of a billion-dollar fortune, and he could well have afforded this purchase without involving other partners. I can only assume that there was a certain agreement between the two oligarchs.

Of course, neither Poroshenko, Firtash, nor Paseniuk would want to remember those times today. Today, they all have a vested interest in making sure that the details of the negotiations are lost without a trace. But documents, like manuscripts, do not burn.

In my opinion, the key to understanding the story is the Investment Capital Ukraine group. They must have been the real insiders in this deal, and perhaps even engineered it. ICU was engaged not only in negotiations but also in the execution of the future deal through offshore companies. Perhaps they would even manage this media outlet for the benefit of the new owners. So I draw a conclusion. If there were agreements between the oligarchs currently under sanctions, ICU and Makar Paseniuk must have known about them.

According to all the laws of the genre, ICU is a legitimate candidate for NSDC sanctions. After all, Firtash, Poroshenko, Yanukovych and Medvedchuk are already sanctioned. It is incredibly lucky to live without sanctions with such a list of clients/partners.

ICU's longstanding good fortune could well have turned into a sense of impunity. But life is full of surprises. It is worth taking a closer look at the group's current operations. It is certain that skeletons will come out of the closets of many respected people. It is quite possible that these will even be persons under sanctions.

Source: Oleg Posternak / Facebook

This blog reflects solely the opinion of the author. The editorial team is not responsible for the content or accuracy of the materials published in this section.