AGT co-owners gave an exclusive interview to RBC-Ukraine

AGT co-owners gave an exclusive interview to RBC-UkraineRBC-Ukraine had a frank and productive conversation with Agro Gas Trading co-owners Vladimir Kolot and Alexander Gorbunenko. The journalists set out to determine the nature of the accusations against the company and who stands to gain from the Odessa Port Plant operating at a loss on the eve of its long-awaited privatization.

In particular, in an exclusive interview, Vladimir and Alexander emphasized that the thesis about the company's alleged “excess profits,” which Agro Gas Trading actively tried to demonize in the eyes of the regulatory authorities, does not stand up to any criticism.

"We bought gas ourselves, paid for logistics, risks, exports, loans — everything. And OPP received its share for processing in any case... If you take all the figures together — the 6.5 billion hryvnia that we invested in the plant and the budget (processing + taxes) — and compare them with our actual profit, it did not even amount to 10% of this sum," said Volodymyr Kolot.

During three years of cooperation with OPP, the company paid the plant more than 4.5 billion hryvnias for processing, transferred more than 2 billion hryvnias in taxes to the Ukrainian budget, and supplied the plant with more than 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas, which allowed it to produce more than 1.7 million tons of urea and hundreds of thousands of tons of ammonia. At the same time, after the restart of OPP in 2019, AGT was actually operating at a loss.

According to Oleksandr Gorbunenko, the turning point that triggered the campaign of pressure on Agro Gas Trading was the company's management's public statement about its readiness to participate in the privatization process.

"After this statement, a coordinated wave of attacks began within a matter of weeks: first in the media, with leaks about alleged ‘schemes’ and ‘excessive profits’, then administrative pressure, and then criminal suspicions. It seems that someone was simply afraid that real Ukrainian investors could win a fair privatization," he said.

However, Kolot and Gorbunenko insist in a joint interview that the charges against ATG are still based on assumptions and manipulations, not facts. There is no evidence in the case files of any damage caused to the state — only official evidence of legal financial transactions in accordance with market practices and taxes paid.

"The suspicions were announced in violation of procedure, without proper evidence and, most interestingly, through the media rather than through official communications. This is not justice, this is an information operation using anti-corruption institutions as a tool of pressure," adds Kolot.

According to the co-owners of AGT, to understand who benefited from discrediting the company and stopping the plant's operations, it is enough to analyze the market situation. The launch of the plant reduced domestic fertilizer prices and destroyed the existing domestic monopoly of certain groups.

During the interview, special attention was paid to the competitive procedures for selecting a new partner-supplier in 2021. Participants without licenses or relevant experience were allowed to participate in the competition. As a result of the victory of a participant who did not have a gas license, the plant practically stopped again immediately.

But even after the end of the cooperation, the company continued to support the plant. At the request of OPP, Agro Gas Trading supplied technical gas worth over UAH 213 million to ensure technological processes — and these funds have not yet been returned. In April 2022, the parties signed a new contract, which the plant unilaterally terminated in September.

“Even when we were no longer official partners, we still helped the state-owned enterprise avoid a technological disaster. This is not a ‘scheme’ — it is responsibility,” emphasized Oleksandr Gorbunenko.

In fact, the partners believe that the upcoming privatization of OPP is a test of the state's maturity and whether society and the system have been able to overcome their dependence on the interests of monopolists.

"We are not looking for someone to blame — we want the state to draw conclusions. Because if the state does not protect its best partners, then next time, no one will respond to its calls for privatization. The story of AGT should not be a “case,” but a lesson that Ukrainian businessmen and investors should not be enemies of their own state," Gorbunenko concluded.