MP Serhiy Martyniak: “buckwheat” and Volyn patriotism
23.10.2014, 11:48
Informational Agency Rivne Agency for Investigative Journalism
Photo from www.volynnews.com
MP Serhiy Martyniak also hopes to repeat his result from
the 2012 election. The MP, regardless of support for the
Party of Regions in the past, is now running for the
Verkhovna Rada in voting district #20, which is the central
district in the city of Horokhiv in Volyn region.
Fourth Power investigated the career of the candidate, who even
in patriotic Volyn, which has traditionally supported pro-right
political parties, once again there is a big chance that a pro-Regions politician/businessman will
win.
Union of big business and government
Serhiy Martyniak in the Verkhovna Rada next to his
colleagues Ihor Yeremeiev and Stepan Ivakhiv. Photo:
slovovolyni.com
Serhiy Martyniak started his work career in 1993 when
he registered as an entrepreneur. In order to decrease his
dependence on raw materials suppliers, he started
working on creating production with a closed
technological cycle in 2000.
He founded the Pan Kurchak agricultural/industrial group, which includes a network of companies
that form a complete production cycle. Right now, Pan Kurchak Agricultural/Industrial Group LLC
includes: Private Company Western Agricultural Company – grower of crops and technical
cultures; Agrotekhnika LLC – producer and seller of animal feed; Ahidel LLC – maintainer of
parent herds and incubator of broiler chickens; Hubyn Poultry Complex LLC – grower of broiler
chickens and producer of poultry; Vira-1 LLC – grower of pigs; VMP LLC – high-tech processor of
pork meat and producer of sausage products and smoked/chilled pork and subproducts; and
Ukrainian Trading Networks LLC – network of the Myasna Tochka branded stores.
Serhiy Martyniak went into big politics for the first time in 2012 when during the local elections for
the Volyn Regional Council he won in voting district #29 in Turisk district. At that time, he was a
consultant on foreign economic activity in the company Polset. For the elections, he ran as a
candidate from the Volyn regional organization of the Agricultural Party of Ukraine.
While a member of the Volyn Regional Council, Serhiy Martyniak found himself in a big scandal
because of construction in the very center of the historical/cultural preserve Old Lutsk. A land lot
on the territory of the historic excavation in the center of the city was given to the mother of the
MP/businessman. Another scandal appeared in
Novovolynsk when companies connected to Serhiy
Martyniak were planning to acquire 4.5 hectares of
land for pennies.
“Buckwheat” for voters’ support
On the eve of the 2012 elections, Serhiy Martyniak’s
fund European Vector implemented its Care program.
Observers from the people’s network Opora recorded how in the village Pryvitne in Lakochynskiy
district representatives of the charity fund of Serhiy Martyniak were given present packages to
pensioners. Young people were going from house to house asking how many retired people lived
there and gave away packages with the fund’s branding. Inside each of these packages, there was
an icon, a picture for cross-stitching and a certificate with a list of medicine.
In the 2012 elections, Serhiy Martyniak decided to run in voting district #20. Just like in the
elections to the regional council, he actively used his charity fund European Vector in his election
campaign.
Some of the fund’s interesting programs included: a competition of projects and giving away
financial grants to public initiatives, the highly promoted program Clean Village, as part of which
the fund gave communities garbage cans, thanks to which he later found himself in a scandal since
these garbage cans started disappearing from villages after the elections.
According to observers, in single mandate voting district #20 in the 2012 elections there were the
least amount of violators. However, the leader of the campaign was a violator. Research by the
Chesno initiative found out that Serhiy Martyniak handed out packages with products to people.
At the same time, Serhiy Martyniak’s victory was not that easy: he beat his next closest competitor
Roman Karpyuk by only a few hundred votes.
Officially, Serhiy Martyniak declared that in the 2012 elections he spent UAH 804,571.57.
Voting together with the Party of Regions
Photo: martyniak.com.ua
In the Verkovna Rada, Serhiy Martyniak, in the majority of
cases, voted just like Stepan Ivakhiv and Ihor Yeremeiev. Let us
repeat again that he supported Mykola Azarov for prime
minister. In December 2013, he claimed the government should
resign by itself and did not vote for the dismissal of the
government. On the same day, he joined Ihor Yeremeiev and
Stepan Ivakhiv in their view on the resolution to the crisis that
was happening in the country.
In September 2013, Chesno initiative published the results of
monitoring, according to which Serhiy Martyniak voted together with the Party of Regions even
more frequently than Ihor Palytsia – in 69% of votes. Serhiy Martyniak also participated in the
scandalous voting on January 16 and later filed a claim to recall his vote and voted for the
cancellation of those laws.
In January 2013, Martyniak, together with Palytsia supported a candidate from the “Yanukovych
family,” Ihor Sorkin, for the position of the head of the National Bank.
Until February 2014, when he joined the MP group Sovereign European Ukraine, Serhiy Martyniak
was an independent MP. In almost two years, he submitted 10 MP requests, 40 draft laws (2 of
which were ratified), and three amendments. In addition, among all Volyn MPs he has almost the
best attendance record: according to written registrations, he was present at 178 sessions, while he
missed 6 due to illness and 8 for unknown reasons.
According to his declaration in 2013, his income was more than UAH 25 million and he had almost
UAH 5 million in banks. He also made almost UAH 200 million in contributions to the statutory
capital of companies, organizations and …
In his current election campaign, there was an active anti-Serhiy Martyniak campaign and
somebody even ruined some of his billboards. The MP himself started to actively help the army:
giving away bulletproof vests and equipment to soldiers and policemen and joining in fundraising
for the army, etc.
In the voting district where Serhiy Martyniak is
running, the new government did not nominate any
strong competitors. The Poroshenko Bloc nominated
the not very popular former head of the Volyn State
Regional Administration Volodymyr Bondar as his
competitor.
Serhiy Martyniak, just like his Volyn MP/millionaire
colleagues, declares an active patriotic position and
also participated in the famous Ice Bucket Challenge.
In these elections, Serhiy Martyniak, together with
colleagues Ihor Yeremeiev and Stepan Ivakhiv are
trying to get Vasyl Bertash, former chief of the Party
of Regions in Rivne and former head of the Rivne
Regional State Administration, into the Verkhovna
Rada.
Fourth Power asked Serhiy Martyniak whether it was
true that in Ukraine MP/producers will always support
and vote in unison with the political force that is in
power in the country and will give presents to voters.
We asked a number of other questions, but did not
receive any answers within two days.
http://4vlada.com/volin/39145
This publication was prepared with the support of the
Danish Association of Investigative Journalism and
Project SCOOP in Ukraine