Spiegel: Poroshenko’s business is growing during the crisis, the president’s image is negative

President Petro Poroshenko promised to remove oligarchs from power. In fact, the business of the Ukrainian president is booming. And his business relationship raises questions.

This writes the correspondent of the German edition. Spiegel in Moscow, Benjamin Bidder.

“Live in a new way” - that’s what was written on the posters. Poroshenko promised to put an end to the practice of wealthy businessmen in Ukraine buying political influence in order to earn even more money,” the author writes.

Bidder recalls that during his election campaign, Poroshenko announced “deoligarchization, which will affect everyone.” And the president managed to significantly curb the ambitions of some oligarchs. Thus, Rinat Akhmetov lost almost all his influence. Igor Kolomoisky was dismissed from the post of governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

“However, the new rules do not seem to apply to everyone. In any case, Poroshenko’s own business is thriving. During the election campaign, he promised to quickly sell the Roshen corporation. He now says it's difficult to find a buyer given the difficult economic climate. Roshen is still expanding. And she opened 14 new stores, one of them on the central street of Kyiv, Khreshchatyk,” writes the author.

Bidder notes that, despite the deep economic crisis, Poroshenko’s bank is doing well too: the efficiency of its operations in 2014 increased by 84,5%. The Deposit Guarantee Fund for individuals is headed by the business partner Poroshenko Konstantin Vorushilin.

“Poroshenko’s interest in business connections apparently extends to the energy sector. The leadership in Kyiv has a plan to restructure the abandoned area. However, their approach shows the head of state in a bad light. Because the president’s longtime business partner received a lucrative government contract. And the energy minister is blocking the privatization of a large network of power plants demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He has done business with Poroshenko before,” the article says.

The author also recalls the contract for the supply of new transformers for the industrial sector, which was won by the Zaporozhtransformator enterprise. It offered equipment that costs twice as much as similar Siemens transformers.

Zaporozhtransformator's largest shareholder is Konstantin Grigorishin, a Russian billionaire and Poroshenko's longtime business partner. In addition, the media believe that Demchishin is very loyal to Grigorishin.

According to Bidder, the actions of the head of the Ministry of Energy cast doubt on his professionalism. It seems that Demchishin is not only slowing down negotiations with Western investors, but is also deliberately hindering them. Bidder cites sources who say that the minister dissuaded the French company GDF Suez from buying the Centrenergo concern. The Ministry of Energy and GDF Suez do not comment on this.

The author notes that Poroshenko also does not want to part with an invalid business, and his reluctance to sell Channel 5 causes discontent even in his own party.