KYIV. UkraineGate . 29 . July . 2022 | Society .
The real reason for the dismissal of SBU head Ivan Bakanov could be the July 14 search of the office of Investohills West, a company affiliated with Pavel Fuchs. Bakanov was removed so that he would not have time to make the “findings” public. Political expert Oleksiy Holobutskyi wrote about this in a column for Censor.net .
According to him, the materials seized by the investigators could contain evidence of Fuchs’ connections with the Russian president’s office and his financing of the head of the OP Andriy Yermak. Chairman Bakanov apparently planned to make these facts public on Monday, July 18, that is, the day after his sudden dismissal.
Businessman Pavlo Fuchs is a citizen of Russia, has a joint business with the family of Andrii Portnov in the Russian Federation, as reported by “Scheme” journalists in the spring of this year . One of his businesses in Ukraine is the “Investohills West” fund, which buys up troubled assets. Foreign investors complained about the company, accusing it of using the services of black notaries and raiding businesses. In 2021, the SBU initiated criminal proceedings against the “Investohills” group of companies, which includes “Investohills Vesta” from Fuchsiv.
In the public sphere, the interests of Fuchs and Yermak intersected within the framework of the memorial project in Babiny Yar. The project is managed by Roza Tapanova. From 2004 to 2019, she worked in companies associated with Andriy Yermak. “As Yermak’s influence grew, so did Tapanova’s positions: in addition to managing the Babyn Yar National Reserve, from April 2021 she was appointed a member of the Supervisory Board of Oschadbank JSC.” At the same time, in 2020, Tapanova is mentioned in agreements with Pavel Fuchs and represents the already mentioned financial company “Investohills Vesta” related to him in courts,” writes Oleksiy Holobutskyi.
Yermak’s close ties with Fuchs and Russia, or rather the risk of their disclosure by the SBU, could have been the real reason for Bakanov’s dismissal, and not the “struggle with Russian agents” in law enforcement agencies, as the OPU claims.
“Bakanov, who is independent of Yermak, could well have planned the publication of these evidences. This could be the real reason for the sudden resignation of the president’s childhood friend: in order to prevent the exposure of the real Russian agents in the highest echelons. If so, then everything was successful: because now the entire control of the law enforcement vertical has finally closed on Andriy Yermak,” writes Oleksiy Holobutskyi.