How the Delfi tanker became part of smuggler Oleh Kovtunov’s shadowy business operations
By 1977, named "Pyalitsa", it begins its work in the Black Sea Shipping Company. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1992, it is transferred to the state fishing fleet "Antarctica", on the balance of the Illichivsk port, where it serves the state interests admirably until 1997. Then, as a result of privatization, the tanker becomes the property of the company “Novista Enterprise”, changes its name to “Ecology”, and its port of registry to Batumi. It is then that the noble history of the tanker ends and a new criminal one begins.
In 2010, the vessel returns to the Odesa port under the Maldivian flag and the name “Delfi” and further engages in smuggling cigarettes and oil products from Georgia. The owner of the vessel becomes the "Odesa Tanker Company" headed by Volodymyr Mykhashonok. The company is followed by a series of lawsuits.
2012. The business group of Serhiy Kurchenko organizes a contraband scheme for importing oil products. Among the dozens of vessels involved is our infamous tanker “Delfi”.
In February 2018, the “Delfi” almost sank in Romanian territorial waters, it is towed to Constanta, and by September, its navigation rights are revoked due to non-compliance with the technical requirements of the International Convention on Maritime Navigation.
However, the true massive environmental disaster caused by the “Delfi” occurs in November 2019. According to the border guards, in the months leading up to the accident, the “Delfi” was stationed in neutral waters. The vessel was engaged in the illegal transportation of oil products. Incidentally, it was the overloading of the vessel that caused the ecological disaster by 157 times the norm. The smuggling scheme was quite simple: the bunker vessel stands where maritime authorities cannot (or do not want to) spot it. At night, other tankers approach it and pump oil products into its tanks and load tobacco products into its holds, which are then transferred in small batches to the shore by boats and barges. The oil products are sold at illegal barrel gas stations.
The incredible scale of the disaster, as well as its consequences for the environment and the business activities of the coastal residents, attracted media and government attention. Case No. 910/11902/20 is now under the personal control of the President of Ukraine.
As it turned out at the time of the disaster, the vessel belonged to the partnership Mister Drake PC, registered in the Registry of Companies of England and Wales under number LP 19248, although it has no records of activity or tax payments.
At the time of the initiation of criminal proceedings for causing state damage due to the ecological disaster, the partnership appeals to the Economic Court of Kyiv with a lawsuit prohibiting the SE "Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority" from taking any actions regarding the vessel “Delfi” (IMO number 8866266).
It is worth noting that a company with a similar name, LLC "Mister Drake", is involved in smuggling tobacco products. The owner of LLC "Mister Drake" is Oleh Kovtunov, an infamous regional deputy who was deprived of his parliamentary mandate in 2010 due to a conviction by the Ochakiv City District Court under Article 356 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (self-government).
The official representative of the owner, who communicated with the authorities regarding the disaster, is Yuriy Holikov, a business partner, co-owner, and director of several firms of Kovtunov.
And it is precisely the subsequent actions of Kovtunov’s representative and the chronology of events that raise many questions and ambiguous conclusions. Three days after the massive disaster involving the “Delfi”, photos of Kovtunov’s wife and son near the Moscow Kremlin appear on Instagram, and earlier, his daughter posts warm greetings to the President of Russia on the occasion of his birthday on her Instagram page.
Just a day after the Kovtunov family’s visit to Moscow, by a “fortunate coincidence”, the king of Odesa smuggling Vadym Alperin is arrested. Let us remind you that the President of Ukraine personally announced a reward for information on Alperin’s whereabouts. Consequently, Kovtunov finds an opportunity to expand the scale of his illegal activities.
In January 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine through the court obligates the owners of the "Delfi" to pay a debt for state damages amounting to 16,000 USD. For comparison, a similar disaster by an aggressor country was valued at 300 million rubles, which is approximately 4 million 50 thousand USD. It is also unclear why the owners of the “Delfi” did not reimburse the costs, and the company that conducted the vessel’s evacuation refused to receive payment of almost 25 million UAH.
All the aforementioned events with the “Delfi” tanker and its owner Oleh Kovtunov raise many questions. So it would be appropriate to remind the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the promise to name the owner of the vessel that caused a techno-ecological disaster, resulting in irreparable environmental damage and significant financial losses to local entrepreneurs. We want to draw the attention of Attorney General Iryna Venedyktova, acting director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksiy Sukhachov, and the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov to the person of Oleh Kovtunov and his fraudulent activities.
In the following publications, we will provide more detailed information about the court cases, debt scams, smuggling flows, and the financing of pro-Russian "titushky" for the interaction of Oleh Kovtunov with Russian special services.
To be continued...
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