A company close to Kharkiv Mayor Terekhov’s entourage monopolised the local fuel market for public utilities
12 June 2024 12:35
Since the start of the full-scale war, the company Golden Standard K LLC, associated with Kharkiv businessman Konstantin Batvinov, has received contracts for the supply of fuel to Kharkiv utilities worth almost UAH 1 billion. This is stated in an investigation by Ekonomichna Pravda, according to [Kommersant]
Batvinov is the godfather of Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov‘s common-law wife, Anna Kuznetsova. According to the journalistic investigation, Kuznetsova regularly spends time in Spain, where she has a house, and her entourage is closely connected to Batvinov.
“Zolotoy Standard K became a favourite in Kharkiv’s fuel supply tenders after Terekhov took over the city council in late 2020. Batvinov’s company wins tenders even with inflated prices, using post-payment terms of up to 365 days, which scares off competitors. At the same time, the actual payment is made by utilities within a few days after the fuel is delivered.
“Everyone understands that a stranger who enters such a tender will wait for his money for exactly one year. And the ‘locals’ will be paid in a few days. This is the meaning of the word ‘within’,
– explains a fuel market source.
Thus, the local budget could have suffered tens of millions of hryvnias in losses.
Neither Terekhov, Kuznetsova, nor Batvinov commented on the situation.
