Ukrainian entrepreneurs are shocked by the situation with the owner of the investment company Concorde Capital, Igor Mazepa. Online, they are vigorously discussing potential business policies in Ukraine and asking the question: “Who will step up?” – writes DEV.ua.
What happened?
On January 18, SBI officers jointly with the SID of the National Police detained businessman Igor Mazepa was detained. He was supposed to leave on January 16, but was delayed in Kyiv on business. Mazepa is suspected of organizing a scheme to illegally seize land on which hydraulic structures of critical infrastructure, the Kyiv HPP, are located. This case has been going on since 2013, and Mazepa has repeatedly traveled abroad, returned and there were no questions. The company claims that the detention was carried out with numerous violations. On the same day, Yuriy Mazepa, Ihor’s brother, was also detained.
Ihor Mazepa said that the proceedings against him were registered back in 2014, there was no movement on it for 10 years and only in the last 1.5 months the case started moving, “after my neighbors went to prison.”
According to writes the source, the prosecution demanded the arrest and bail for the businessman in the amount of UAH 700 million. As a result, the court imposed on the businessman a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention until February 27, 2024, with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 349,734,000.
Who was Igor Mazepa?
As reported by Espresso, Igor Mazepa was born on July 2, 1976 in Kyiv. He holds two degrees from the Kyiv National Economic University, specializing in International Economics and Law. He began his career in 1997 at the Russian-American investment company Prospect Investments.
In 2000, at the age of 24, he became an executive director at a securities trading company. In September 2004, he decided to start his own company, Concorde Capital, an investment company providing brokerage and investment banking services, where he is still its CEO.
In 2014, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada from Serhiy Tihipko’s party “Strong Ukraine.” From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukrsotsbank.
His company Concorde Capital has been in the top international and domestic ratings. For example, in 2007, three years after its creation, the company was awarded the first place in the Best Ukrainian M&A Deal nomination by the Adam Smith International Conference. A year later, he became the best broker in Ukraine according to The Thomson Reuters Extel Survey. In 2016, the company was awarded first place in the Cbonds Awards CIS nomination “Best Sales Trader in the Ukrainian market”.
Currently, Concorde Capital is one of the largest investors in real estate and other sectors in Ukraine.
Ukrainian business reaction to the detention of the Mazepa brothers
Founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ajax Systems Oleksandr Konotopskyi wrote:
“It looks like an organized sabotage against the country’s economy. To close investment banker Igor Mazepa on charges of a 2013 land case, without a court order, without lawyers (there are many absurd details). Who was going to Davos. It is ideal to completely close the door to large investors in Ukraine. This decision of the security forces may be the most expensive decision for the Ukrainian economy and the Ukrainian state. To lose the investment future because someone really wanted land near Kyiv? Bloomberg is already fu…ing; Soon, I think, there will be FT and WSJ as well.“, Konotopsky wrote.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak also responded to the detention of Mazepa.
“This story is not about Igor. Once again, he is not the kind of businessman I admire. But he is still a businessman and another example of how law enforcement officers, gathered in one phone of the OP, continue to put pressure on business. And there are more and more examples of this.
Recently, I have been talking a lot about the security forces with various very cool businessmen (whom most of us admire). So, almost all of them are planning to leave the country. Not because of the war, shelling or even taxes… But because everyone has a risk that one day law enforcement officers will break down the door of the house where their children sleep.“, Zheleznyak wrote.
Vasyl Danyliak, CEO of OKKO wrote, that the detention of Mazepa by the DBR officers within the “the 2013 investigation” sends a very bad signal to all businesses in Ukraine.
“I have known Igor as an investment banker, businessman and friend since 2004, and he has never made money from the “state” or “state-owned.” I earned all my money thanks to my intelligence, hard work and creativity. Thanks to investments in various, not always easy business projects in Ukraine, where thousands of people work today. Such an attitude of the state towards normal businessmen who pay large tax revenues to the budget of Ukraine, which is at war, is unacceptable and undermines the national economy, and thus the security of our country“, – said Danylyak.
Volodymyr Mnogoletyniy, co-founder and CEO of Genesis, noted that Concorde Capital has brought a number of international investors to Ukraine.
“It’s been 2 years of war. I have not seen any mysterious “foreign investors” ready to invest in Ukraine. Ukrainian business is the main investor and creator of new jobs in the country. I am absolutely convinced that the same Ukrainian business will invest (or not invest) in the country for the next 10 years, and it is the general position of Ukrainian business that will determine what kind of country we will live in in 10 years.“.
“Who’s next? This is the “question of the day” that entrepreneurs discuss among themselves. Not the oligarchs who took over the Soviet industrial giants, but real entrepreneurs who started building “in the middle of the field,” greenfield, from scratch. At your own expense, at your own risk. These are the people who built the services and products you use every day. For which, among other things, you love Ukraine.“, – writes creative director Andriy Fedoriv.
He notes that it seems that they have decided to crush entrepreneurs as a class. Who is next? Mazepa’s arrest. It’s illustrative. The amount of the deposit requested was 100 times more than the estimated damage. 10 years after the land was allocated. A criminal group led by a well-known investment banker. A bunch of violations during detention. Traveling from the border to Kyiv in handcuffs. Why?!! Cherniak is suspicious. Kosovan with the land. “Kievguma. “Optima. “IFest. Who’s next?” he writes.
All entrepreneurs, says Fedoriv, are for justice, but they are definitely against arbitrariness, lawlessness and extortion. “I have no idea how and what the state will do now to attract investment and stimulate entrepreneurship,” Fedoriv writes in his post. He reminded that according to statistics, there are about 4-5 times fewer entrepreneurs in Ukraine than there should be according to global statistics.
“What does it matter what the country’s logo is, if it’s put on glass walls and the whole world can see people being beaten inside….” One foreign country branding expert told me back in 2011. Najal znovu actual,” recognizes inin.
Artem Borodariuk, founder of Netpeak Group, also wonders: “Why such cruel actions? Why such pressure?” He notes that business has been under pressure for a long time. And everything happened to Igor Mazepa in one day. “The authorities have the resources for such operations. But I don’t see any detentions of the operators of pro-Russian Telegram channels with tens of thousands of subscribers, for which I am already tired of writing reports to the relevant authorities, for example.“, Borodatiuk writes.
He notes that he personally knows many entrepreneurs who not only feel that the authorities can come to them for any reason, but are confident that this will be available in the near future.
“The security forces seem to have felt permissiveness, impunity and are guided by the logic of “war communism.” Is this some kind of way to maximize your vacation, or what? I am sure that the authorities do not see this – there are many other challenges.“, Borodatiuk writes. He calls on the authorities to pay attention to this arbitrariness and initiate a meeting with entrepreneurs with the participation of the President and the Prosecutor General, where the authorities will be able to hear the real situation with pressure on businesses that are already in a difficult situation.
And here’s what Volodymyr Pereshnyuk, co-founder of Novaya Pochta, thinks about the situation with Mazepa co-founder of Nova Poshta Volodymyr Popereshnyuk. “A series of arrests, searches and forceful pressure on Ukrainian entrepreneurs, including yesterday’s detention of Igor Mazepa, demonstrates the government’s true attitude towards Ukrainian business. The masks are off and the authorities have identified their main enemy – the Ukrainian entrepreneur. They don’t need to hide the ridiculousness of the accusations and the inadequacy of their own actions, arrests or bail amounts are becoming common tools for demonstrating force“, he writes.
Why do they behave this way, the entrepreneur wonders. “Perhaps they think that the Ukrainian economy is based on foreign loans or officials? No, it rests on the shoulders of Ukrainian businesses, so leave them alone! It is a suicidal political strategy to fight with entrepreneurs, to ignore their opinion and influence on society. For some reason, every government always steps on this rake… It’s so easy to see that in a conflict between officials and entrepreneurs, Ukrainians will always side with the latter. Because we would not be a rashka or a scoop at all if our officials did not try to restore it!“, – says Popereshnyuk.
According to Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-founder of monobank, saidMany questions arise as to why Ihor Mazepa, who leads an open lifestyle and is constantly in the public eye, is simply detained instead of being summoned to law enforcement agencies to carry out all the necessary procedural actions? “We are building a state governed by the rule of law, and I understand that investigations are underway, but the investigation must comply with the norms of expediency and proportionate interference with both economic activity and human rights“, the entrepreneur writes. According to Gorokhovsky, such methods destroy business. “Business cannot and should not operate in fear, otherwise there will be no business in the country. Unfortunately, it is out of the question to talk about the business climate and investment inflows under such conditions,” he summarizes.
Sergiy Boyko, ex-president of Volia, founder of Big Data Ua, in a comment to dev.ua noted that the balance is currently off. “I’m not sure there was any clear agreement, but rather a certain modus operandi), and this is like a litmus test for changes in the behavior of the “security forces,” he says.
According to Boyko, this situation will mean two things. First, the government decided to lift the taboo on certain methods of work of law enforcement agencies in exchange for promises of more revenues to the state budget and direct control over business management. Secondly, dishonest law enforcement officers (of course, there are some), having received a general carte blanche, will use it for their own gain.
“Both are very bad for the business climate inside the country, and no less harmful for Ukraine’s external image. So, if there is no public reaction and condemnation of such methods by the top leadership of the state, we have every chance of having GDP growth only at the expense of the military-industrial complex, and this is bad“, says Boyko.
In his opinion, there are conditions for signing a new agreement, but only after a public condemnation of the methods of pressure from senior government officials.
“The terms of the contract may establish certain criteria of business integrity, upon compliance with which the authorities undertake to facilitate its activities,” explains the founder of Big Data Ua.
At the same time, IT entrepreneur, ex-CEO of Prozorro Vasyl Zadvornyi believes that the problem today is not the case against Mazepa and not him personally, but the total lack of trust in law enforcement agencies.
“Accordingly, there is only one way out – rebooting the authorities, open competitions. At the same time, I am, unfortunately, quite skeptical about such reforms and about the ability of business to unite to promote them. Businesses have few active public representatives, and even fewer contacts with activists and NGOs” he says in a conversation with dev.ua.
Zadvornyi believes that we should expect a certain increase in pressure, the “emboldening” of a few large and a handful of small businesses, and reactions from communities and international partners until a new balance is established.
Mikhailo Chobanyan, founder of the crypto exchange Kuna.ua crypto exchange, notes that the overall picture seems obvious. ” A case dated ten years ago was found or invented, which became the basis for arrest and searches. Searches are a key vector of attack in purely economic crimes, but there is also arrest, and this is politics. Probably, they will receive a proposal to transfer part of the funds in USDT or cash, as well as a proposal to “disclose information about the investment portfolio and fund.”. Of course, it is possible that this could be politically motivated. Perhaps there is funding for uncooperative media or a certain political force,” he says.
In his opinion, these are the two main reasons why the National Police, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General’s Office have shown increased interest. “Such significant cases cannot be initiated without a decision of the Presidential Office. The level of public accountability is too high – of an international level. Messrs. Kostin (Prosecutor General), Vygovsky (National Police), Klymenko (Ministry of Internal Affairs), Sukhachev (State Bureau of Investigation) and the judges involved are not stupid people and definitely avoid both collective and personal responsibility for the increased public outcry. And it did happen, and judging by the reactions to this news on social media, it was extremely negative. The aggression vector of those commenting is directed either at Zelensky personally, the collective OP or Yermak. Surprisingly, I did not notice the Kremlin’s hand,” Chobanyan analyzes.
How will events unfold further? “There are many options, especially since all segments of society are dissatisfied with the situation. Mazepa is only the top of the list. And how many people ride minibuses who are caught and sent to the front as cannon fodder? Status and money decide whether it will be an arrest or an immediate deployment to the front line. I’m always in favor of dialog and finding compromises. Radical ways of resolving this conflict are a situation where everyone loses“, says the businessman.
According to entrepreneur Roman Khmil, when the social contract stops working, the Maidan happens. “It is difficult to predict what form it will take during the war. For example, the elites may unite and demand elections, as their terms of office expire in the spring. In this case, the West can join the demands of our elites and the conflict will be resolved peacefully and legally“, he says.
The most positive scenario, according to Khmil, is that the government takes a head start and re-engages technocrats in governing the state. “We cannot implement the principles of meritocracy in the system of public administration, and as a result, everything ends up in crisis once again. Scenarios of further aggravation of this conflict, in my opinion, will lead to catastrophic consequences for the country, because today both the country’s ability to fight and people’s lives depend on the economy“, he says.
Roman notes that the public sector accounts for 10% of the economy, while the rest is private business. “If the business is brought to a standstill, there will be an economic collapse, and it is very difficult to predict what exactly will happen then. It is very strange that we are discussing this scenario for Ukraine, but not for our enemy. We’ve made it, as they say.“, Khmil summarizes.
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In Ukraine, against the backdrop and under the cover of the war, the Zelensky government is increasingly resorting to openly undemocratic methods of influencing the remaining society in Ukraine. At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the first to stand up and defend the state were ordinary people, volunteers and the enormous support of business. While the authorities were recovering from the first hours of the war, Ukrainians organized themselves and were highly motivated to defend themselves. However, the Ukrainian authorities, which seemed to side with the people at the beginning, quickly shifted to total censorship, corruption and repression. Nowadays, Ukrainians have less and less motivation, and such news about repressions against large businesses does not add to this motivation.
