"SBU wants to stop our business" - Yuriy Yavtushenko

On June 14, the SBU visited the offices of the insurance companies Salamandra-Ukraine, Finance-Line, and the public union Ukrainian Insurance Ombudsman. And on June 20, security forces searched the Dnipro office of the insurance company DIM Insurance.

According to the SBU, law enforcement officers discovered and dismantled a large-scale financial scheme related to fictitious risk insurance, in which the aforementioned insurers were involved. The Security Service believes that almost UAH 4.5 billion was "laundered" in this way.

The co-owner of the aforementioned companies is Yuriy Yavtushenko. He is known in insurance circles for his tough stance on scheme and captive insurance. In addition, Yavtushenko has repeatedly stated that the National Committee for Financial Services takes a "lethargic" position towards violators. Because of this, according to him, there is chaos in the market, and the rights of insurance company clients are completely unprotected.

At the same time, the businessman's position and actions are not supported by all participants in the insurance market. For example, he has been repeatedly accused of the fact that the purchase of debts of bankrupt insurers, carried out by one of Yavtushenko's companies, Marks.Capital, is harming the entire market. In addition, the transaction to purchase the insurance company Illichivske in 2016 caused a lot of noise. It took place against the backdrop of a conflict between Yuriy Yavtushenko and the ex-director of the purchased company, Yuriy Hryshan, who did not want to lose his position. Several criminal cases were also opened against Yavtushenko. And representatives of Salamander-Ukraine claim that one of them, initiated by Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office No. 2 in May 2016, according to which Yuriy Yavtushenko is suspected of illegal financial transactions, became the reason for the searches.

According to Yavtushenko, the SBU visit is an "order" that was the result of open criticism of the regulator, as well as the rapid growth of companies, which arouses the envy of competitors. Yuriy Yavtushenko spoke about how to preserve business under conditions of forceful pressure, and even clean up and improve the insurance market, in an interview with Mind.

- The searches of your companies are someone's "order"?

- I have a version of who is behind these searches. But since I do not have any solid evidence yet, I will not reveal names and surnames. I am sure that sooner or later we will be able to bring these individuals to justice. And I am personally ready to pay a reward to anyone who provides me with irrefutable evidence that will help us track down the customers.

– What did the SBU representatives seize during the searches?

– About 150 hard drives and 50 laptops. They also searched for servers. But we store data abroad, so they limited themselves to that. The task was obvious: to stop the business. But the SBU did not achieve its goal, since our system is built in such a way that employees can work remotely, they do not need to be present in the office. Yes, confiscation of equipment is, of course, a loss. But it did not affect the company's vital activities in any way. True, the work of the Insurance Ombudsman had to be suspended for some time - the 409 telephone number was disconnected. But we continued to receive complaints about insurers by mail and through the website.

– Do you think that law enforcement will calm down on this?

– They may try to put pressure on us with the help of the regulator and suspend the license. But for what? The National Financial Services Commission recently conducted an inspection (completed in May). It showed that there are no claims against the company, the reserves are in place, liquidity is sufficient, and there are no complaints about payment discipline either. So, it is pointless to attack us from this side either. Moreover, I will say that within four days after the search, both insurance companies ("Salamandra-Ukraine" and "DIM Insurance") paid out UAH 1 million in insurance claims. This indicates that we continue to operate normally.

– The security service has charged you with laundering UAH 4.5 billion. What is this amount, where did it come from?

- The SBU needed a beautiful scandalous figure. They most likely collected all the information about the turnover of not only our business, but also the companies with which we have contractual relations. We are talking about Finance-Line and Marks.Capital, which are engaged in the purchase of debts. Both insurance and banking. One of such factoring operations, for example, amounted to about UAH 1.6 billion. To this, the security forces clearly added the debts of ST Illichivske, as well as the turnover of Salamandra-Ukraine and DIM Insurance. Both insurance companies received UAH 383 million in gross payments in 2015–2016, Marks.Capital paid citizens UAH 9.2 million for bankrupt insurers. But money laundering and other accusations are simply baseless.

Since the criminal case against us was opened in May 2016, we have officially contacted the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Security Service of Ukraine, and have been ready to provide any information, to give explanations based on all the data and figures. But since the Security Service of Ukraine set itself the goal not to understand the situation, but to block the work of the companies, the investigation has never contacted us.

– But the State Fiscal Service, for example, has repeatedly stated that insurance companies are actively used to transfer funds to cash and optimize taxation.

– Insurance companies do not have the tools in the current legislative framework to engage in cash transfers and similar operations. The only "window" left in the insurance market is reinsurance. That's where billions go. But then a valid question arises: why are neither the National Commission for Financial Services nor the SBU trying to close this channel for withdrawing money - this can be done very easily, but they prefer to put pressure on a stable and normally operating business? There is no answer to it.

- If cleaning the market, as you say, is very easy, why aren't the commission and other competent authorities doing this?

- As long as the National Commission for Financial Services has been and remains politically unfree and biased, this will not happen. Most of the people in the commission who raise their hands for making certain decisions are lobbying the interests of individual insurance companies, and not the market and clients as a whole. In reality, about 30-50 insurers should remain. All the others - swindlers, schemers, whose names are well known - the state regulator can close literally within three months. Or, another way: suspend the license until the insurer starts showing real turnover and selling something.

– Maybe then the arrival of the SBU is a banal raid?

– This version also has the right to exist. We are developing very quickly. Therefore, it is possible that someone became interested in our business and decided to "crush" it for themselves in this way.

– The SBU stated that "a businessman close to a certain fugitive oligarch, Yuriy Yavtushenko, laundered Yanukovych's money." What are we talking about?

– You can blame everything that is happening in the country on Yanukovych and the oligarchs, and even the war, if you want. What is the connection between me, Yanukovych's money, and some oligarch who fled - I simply cannot understand. This is complete absurdity.

– Have you not received any offers to buy off the pressure from law enforcement agencies?

– During the year, various people came to me offering to close criminal proceedings (this concerns criminal proceedings No. 12013110060004593, opened by the Pechersk District Administrative District, proceedings No. 42013110000000266, opened by the Shevchenkivsk District Administrative District, and proceedings No. 12013110070004460, opened by the Podilskyi District Administrative District of Kyiv). But, most interestingly, none of these people told me how they intended to “solve” this issue. Therefore, it is ridiculous to think that I would pay money to some incomprehensible people who are trading “air”. And we are being linked to many criminal cases just because Finance-Line provided assistance services.

- You mentioned the inspection of the National Commission for Financial Services. Who initiated it and why?

- The inspection was also conducted at the request of the SBU. But the National Commission for Financial Services did not find any blatant violations. Yes, we have certain disagreements with the regulator. For example, the commission believes that the insurer's money in MTIBU cannot be included in its assets. We hold the opposite opinion. And we were also told that we pay clients too quickly. But in general, there are no global complaints against the companies. And it looks even more absurd when the relevant regulatory body recognizes our activities as completely satisfactory, and the security forces knock down the door and heap a bunch of accusations on us.

- By the way, what is the status of the company "Marx.Capital" today? After all, it was the cause of several conflicts between you, MTIBU and the National Committee for Financial Services.

- The activities of "Marx.Capital" are completely legal. This was recognized not only by independent lawyers, but also by the courts, which we won up to the last instance. Another question is that there are no "golden mountains" there that the regulatory bodies and the SBU imagined. After all, we were buying up debts even before the hryvnia fell in 2014, at an exchange rate of 8 UAH/$, and as a result, the amounts we worked with increased in value three times, which caused considerable losses.

– Why did the transaction to acquire ST “Illichivske” turn into the liquidation of the company? You were not able to initially assess the scale of the problems?

– To be honest, at the purchase stage we did not expect that we would have to “pump” such a volume of money into it. After all, if you take the same “Marx.Capital”, the debts that we work with are returned. Let two or three years pass, but we will return them. In the situation with ST “Illichivske” everything is much more complicated. There is simply a “hole” into which money needs to be poured. For example, to pay off accounts payable to medical institutions, make large payments for CASCO, OSAGO, etc. That is why the decision was made to liquidate. And although the process is dragging on, we hope that ST “Illichivske” will be liquidated by the end of 2017.

– And yet, what volume of debts did you receive together with the purchase of the company?

– If we take all the debts of ST "Illichivske" that need to be paid, the amount will be 70 million UAH. At the same time, there was only 5 million UAH of cash there.

– Then what is the point of this deal? It's a net loss...

– In general, the business model of ST "Illichivske" regularly generated losses. But they have the best medical product, which literally made you want to clap your hands. Accordingly, the experience gained, technologies, relationships with medical institutions, and the customer base are very, very important to us. As a result, we paid 20 million UAH for the technology. We will compensate for other losses through MTIBU, as well as as a result of discounting and recourses.

– Do you have any plans to merge "Salamandra-Ukraine" and "DIM Insurance"? This would be a logical step.

– First, I am not a sole proprietor. All of our companies have different shareholders, and they decide how and where to develop. Secondly, if Salamandra-Ukraine is focused on insurance for individuals, then DIM Insurance is more focused on servicing corporate clients. In addition, the company was purchased by a strategic investor, and DIM Insurance will develop together with a network of its own private clinics. Only in this format can a successful health insurance business be built in Ukraine. I see no other way.

– And what kind of investor will it be?

– This is German capital. We intend to close the transaction by the end of 2017.

Source: Mind

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