Recently, the main media began to write about Pavel Barbul, who had become the youngest head of the Spetstechnoexport company and spent some time in jail at the end of his incredible career. He was released on bail of almost 2 million UAH.
NABU detectives suspect him, as well as other managers of Spetstechnoexport in transferring more than $2 million to a fictitious company registered in Dubai.
Pavel Barbul really wanted to “solve the issue”, close the criminal case, and influence the course of the investigation, but all his actions were prevented by NABU. However, judging by the fact that the Higher Anti-Corruption Court does not consider the case for more than 9 months, and the fact that paid experts and journalists confirm that Pavel was not guilty, it seems that the case will be forced onto the back burner.
During the last 1.5 years, Pavel Alekseevich was not sitting idle. He decided to become a startup owner, an investor, an investment adviser, and “join” the Ukrainian business community.
He became a member of CEO Club Ukraine (part of the global network of CEO Clubs International). It is a business community that unites top officials in the field of development, communication, and cooperation. Members of the club are owners and General Directors of medium and large businesses with a turnover of $10 million per year, who have a positive business reputation and share the values of the club.
It is not clear how Pavel Barbul became a member because his reputation is far from positive. According to the NABU data the case is still in court, Barbul has not yet been found guilty, and he has no official business.
According to the database of the Ministry of justice, Pavel Barbul has not been the owner or head of the company since his dismissal from Spetstechnoexport until now. He is officially engaged in the legal activity as an individual entrepreneur registered in an apartment in Kyiv at Melnikov Street 18B. The apartment is expensive and located in a business class house. He is also the founder of the AKB Invest civil association together with a well-known expert in the world of real estate Igor Viktorovich Avramov. In addition, his name is directly associated with raiding and despoliation of real estate.
In the case of the CEO Club Ukraine, Pavel Barbul positions himself as a partner of WeFund Ventures. Such information can be found on the website of this organization.
It is clear that he is engaged in charity and generously donated 180 liters of antiseptic, 300 masks, and an incredible amount of 3 contactless thermometers to the Ukrainian Army. If we take the purchase prices, or even the retail prices of the Epicenter into account, the cost of such charity is about 25-27 thousand UAH or less than $1,000. This information was proudly presented at mind.ua with the chief editor Yevgeny Shpitko, who is directly controlled by Pavel Barbul. According to the media, Pavel Alekseevich spends ten times more on his wardrobe and restaurants. But we should be grateful to the young philanthropist even for such a tiny amount.
Talking about the “partnership” with WeFund Ventures, it is worth noting that Pavel Barbul clearly exaggerated or just lied. It is easy to check.
First, Pavel Barbul himself says on his Linkedin page that he is a “Strategic Advisor” in WeFund Ventures. He is not a partner.
Secondly, on the official website of wefund.ventures, he is not listed as a partner. There are only four partners: Alexander Skubenko, Denis Gurak, Alexander Glotov, and Dmitry Ruzhitsky. The company was registered in Estonia in 2018.
In 2017, Dmytro Ruzhitsky was an adviser to the Deputy General Director of Ukroboronprom, Denis Gurak, with whom he has business and with whom he has partnership relations. Dmitry Ruzhitsky is also related to several startups: Smartlands (smartlands.io), and ITSH.SPACE. In January 2019, in Ukraine, Dmitry Ruzhitsky and Denis Gurak registered LLC “WEFUND VENTURES”, EDRPOU 42751579 (WEFUND VENTURES LLC) with an authorized fund of 1,000 UAH. The firm is engaged in consulting on commercial activities.
In addition, we decided to go further and made a request to the official authorities of Estonia: The Ministry of Justice, the Tax and Customs Department, as well as the law enforcement agencies of this country.
And we got the answer that WeFund Ventures was registered in 2018 or rather re-registered. The former name of the company is WEECANN CONSULTING OÜ. It was the old “startup” of Dmitry Ruzhitsky that was unsuccessful. The owner and manager of the WeFund Ventures with an authorized capital of 2,5000 euros is Dmitry Ruzhitsky, who was born in 1986.
The most interesting thing is that the company has not conducted any business activities in recent months, as it has submitted all required reports. Such data was provided by the Estonian authorities. It turns out, we have an ordinary nominal company registered in the apartment of an old residential nine-story building in Tallinn.
In the same apartment, one can find many other companies, including BASHKAUS OU, FIXLAB OÜ, and dozens of other nominal companies. The office is also nominal.
WeFund Ventures itself is officially engaged in “computer consulting”, while not having any relation to the world investments, venture, and private capital. It is not an investment fund, as Pavel Barbul and his friends like to call it. According to the media, during two years of its existence, WeFund Ventures invested only in the project for printing human bones and organs called ADAM, which is also supported by Denis Gurak and his comrades. There are no other references in the media or on the website of WeFund Ventures about the investments of this “Fund”.
This information has already been brought to the attention of the tax and law enforcement authorities of Estonia, as well as the EU countries. Therefore, we will not be surprised if this company will no longer exist in the nearest future.
Very soon we will talk with the management and members of CEO Club Ukraine and CEO Clubs International to understand how Pavel Barbul got his ranks, and what business with a turnover of more than $10 million he has been engaged in during the last couple of years.
If we consider Pavel Barbul a “partner”, then he is a partner of the Tallinn computer company, and not of an investment fund. We will continue to investigate the activities of Pavel Barbul and his partners…
