Opimakh himself explained his dismissal as the end of his five-year term and boasted that during his tenure, he managed to digitize key services of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use and significantly improve the efficiency and transparency of the government agency.
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SubscribeHowever, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies would be interested in examining other "achievements" of manager Opimakh. This was reported by "Phrase.ua".
According to the presented scheme, it has long been known in Ukraine about the opaque machinations of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use and its leader.
It is worth noting that Opimakh is a protégé of oligarch Viktor Pinchuk. According to the official version, Opimakh won the competition for the position of head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use in a fair fight. However, he was backed by a serious and influential lobby represented by the Ukrainian billionaire.
Before his appointment to the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use, Opimakh was the executive director of the "Association of Gas Producers," which primarily includes business structures from Pinchuk's asset pool. The connection between Pinchuk and Opimakh is also traced through Alexander Kamenchuk (Opimakh's sister's husband), who was a business partner of Pinchuk in the gas production companies "Eastern Geological Union," "Intek Geo," and "Natural Resources."
After receiving his new position, Opimakh hit the ground running. In just the first year of his tenure, revenues to the state budget from the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use fell 20-fold, from 200 million UAH in 2019 to 10 million UAH in 2020. Meanwhile, the state budget plan for 2020 was set at 750 million UAH.
During his five years at the helm of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use, Opimakh became a very wealthy individual. This is evidenced by his declaration for 2024. The Opimakh family owns four apartments in Kyiv, a non-residential premises, and a parking space. Additionally, since 2023, in the midst of the war, Opimakh has been renting an apartment in Spain, where his wife and daughter currently reside.
Under Opimakh, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use was repeatedly accused of opaque procedures in the distribution of special permits for the exploration of Ukrainian resources. For instance, in 2019, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use sold a license for the use of the West Tokarsko-Krasnyansk oil and gas field (Luhansk region) to the company "Nadra Carbon" for a significantly reduced price of 1.6 million UAH. This price was low because the prospective reserves of the oil and gas field were estimated at 900 million cubic meters of gas. According to experts, this could yield more than 5 billion UAH in revenue.
A contrasting situation occurred with the issuance of permits for amber extraction at the Oleshansk site (Rivne region). The starting price was set at 323 thousand UAH. Ultimately, the auction winner was the company "Potential-Polissya" with a charter capital of 5 thousand UAH, which offered 521 thousand UAH. At the same time, the company "Zakhidzemresurs," which offered 3.2 million UAH, was inexplicably denied the right to obtain the permit. This is indicated by order No. 486 of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use dated November 4, 2020.
Over the five years that Opimakh led the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use, many similar stories emerged. Moreover, according to the presented scheme, Ukrainian law enforcement was aware of the corruption risks posed by the leadership of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use to Ukraine's state budget, yet they turned a blind eye, as not all "dark" stories eventually came to light.
By the end of his term, Opimakh also found himself at the center of a corruption scandal surrounding the issuance of permits for the exploration of state lands. More details about this case can be read here. In short, back in 1997, the "Malynsky Stone Crushing Plant," part of the "Unigran" group of companies, received a special permit from the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use for the use of resources from the Pinyazevetsky field in Zhytomyr region. In 2023, sanctions were imposed by the NSDC against "Unigran" owner Igor Naumets for connections with the Russian Federation, and his assets were supposed to be transferred to the state. The sanctions also implied a suspension of previously issued permits. However, in March 2024, despite the sanctions, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use renewed the permits. The Kyiv Economic Court blocked this decision, but Opimakh's agency disagreed with the court's ruling and filed an appeal. On the same day, without waiting for the results of the re-examination, they approved the earlier decision in violation of the law and the state interests of Ukraine.
It is worth noting that this occurred on November 14, i.e., after Opimakh's official dismissal. Moreover, the procedure for reissuing the special permit, which usually takes weeks, was completed in one day and with the personal presence of the already former head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use, Roman Opimakh. This may indicate the official’s personal interest in this matter and the potential for personal gains from its outcome.
What is the outcome of Opimakh's five years of leadership at the State Service of Geology and Subsoil Use of Ukraine? As seen from the examples above, there is no talk of any "transparency" as claimed by Opimakh. However, one can confidently say that yet another official, a protégé of the Ukrainian oligarchy, has secured a comfortable retirement and can peacefully retire to drink wine in Spain. This, in turn, reinforces another long-known postulate: the war against oligarchs in Ukraine is very selective.