The deceased MP Valery Davidenko, who was shot dead on Saturday, May 23, is known to have had problems with the law since 2014. To track his connections and possible motives for the crime, we need to look at his past.

As a businessman, Davidenko became known after heading the agricultural enterprise “Agrodom” in 2004. Davidenko’s classmate Boris Prikhodko and Yuri Kolobov were his agribusiness partners. In 2007, the friends acquire Terra Bank, which operated until 2014. Later, Terra Bank is transferred to the management of another partner - Kiril Shevchenko (Chairman of the Board of Ukrgasbank since May 2015).

By 2013, Davidenko has significantly advanced in his career and took office as Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine. He headed the supervisory board of the State Food and Grain Company in the department. In the meanwhile, Boris Prikhodko was appointed to the post of first deputy chairman of the National Bank in December 2012.

In 2013-2014, with the assistance of the first deputy chairman of the NBU Prikhodko, Davidenko, and ICU (Gontareva, Poroshenko), UAH 2 billion - the funds of the State Agrarian Fund - are stolen. The money was transferred through Kurchenko’s Brokbiznesbank and Ukrgasbank banks.

The key organizer of the scheme to steal UAH 2 billion from the Agrofond, and to withdraw $ 1.5 billion in the interests of Kurchenko (wallet of Yanukovych's eldest son) from Ukraine, was Valeria Gontareva.

Gontareva then helped Kurchenko withdraw $ 1.5 billion from Ukraine through her company ICU. The corrupt entourage of ex-president Yanukovych accumulated gigantic shadow revenues, which were transferred to the accounts of offshore companies using ICU. Back then Gontareva had no equal in cashing and withdrawing money. These skills later helped her receive the post of head of the NBU under Poroshenko.

A simple scheme was used to rob the Agrarian Fund:

Agrofond owned only domestic government bonds. Therefore, their purchase by Brokbusinessbank was first organized due to refinancing received from the National Bank on February 13, 2014. Then the Agrarian Fund, contrary to the charter and without the permission of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, placed these funds in a deposit account of the already insolvent at that time Brokbiznesbank. And the bank officials withdrew the UAH 2 billion the bank had received through fictitious companies in offshore.

After Poroshenko’s victory in the 2014 elections and the reelection of parliament, Davidenko was elected to the Rada from the Zastup agrarian party, which he financed together with his partners in the agrarian business. Gontareva later becomes the chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. Davidenko joins the BPP faction, thus securing his immunity and full support of the ruling party.

In 2014, their long-time partner, Kiril Shevchenko, became the first deputy chairman and then chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank. It is worth mentioning that in 2017, Shevchenko organized the restructuring of part of the debts and the subsequent redemption of the assets of the Chuguevsky oil extraction plant of the Creative group shareholder Maxim Berezkin, in the interests of Andrei Verevsky, the owner of Kernel. In the same period, another part of Berezkin’s debts, this time in Oschadbank, was restructured and prepared to be sold to Verevsky by Andrey Ivanchuk.

In July 2014, the Prosecutor General's Office detained Davidenko’s accomplice - Boris Prikhodko on suspicion of misappropriation of property and legalization of proceeds of crime. During the investigation, the GPU established that in February 2014, Boris Prikhodko, in preliminary agreement with the chairman of the board of PJSC Agrarian Fund and officials of PJSC Brokbusinessbank, seized the funds of the Agrofund in the amount of UAH 2.069 billion. With the help of school comrade, Prikhodko was released from jail on bail in December 2014. The criminal proceedings regarding the theft of UAH 2 billion went to court, where the case remained for a long time with no further developments.

In 2015, MP Valery Davidenko became the curator of the party "Nash Krai" ("Bankova" project uniting the former members of “Partia Regioniv” in different regions of the country) in the Chernihiv region. Some of the current leaders of the “Servant of the People” worked for Davidenko at the time.

Even though the criminal case of the “Agrarian Fund” appeared in court in 2018, the “friendship” between Davidenko and Poroshenko “forced” such persons as Gontareva and Davidenko to disappear from it. Kurchenko was also no longer mentioned in the criminal case.

In May 2019, 10 days before the decree of Zelensky on the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, the new shareholders enter “Agrodom” company, which is owned by Davidenko:

• 51% - acquired by previously unknown Irina Khomaiko;

• 24.9% - bought by LLC “Company Management Assets “Progressive Investment Strategies”, which belongs to the mentioned Andrey Verevsky;

• 12% - acquired by Alexander Bedrikivsky, who is most likely a relative of a senior prosecutor Vladimir Bedrikivsky.

Meanwhile, Davidenko’s mother, Valentina Davidenko, owned 12% of the shares.

Thus, through the investment of Andrei Verevsky in Agrodim, he transferred money to the Davidenko election campaign in the parliament of the 9th convocation. Verevsky transferred $ 10 million in cash under Davidenko’s guarantees. He was to get the self-nominated candidates elected in 5 out of 6 districts of the Chernihiv region. They were then to join the deputy group controlled by Andrei Verevsky.

During the parliamentary election campaign, Davidenko was in charge of the election of the “Servant of the People” party in the Chernihiv region, where the party put forward technical candidates against him and his friend-partner Prikhodko. One of them - Dmitry Pakhomov (in Prikhodko constituency) - Halimon’s crony and a junior partner of Davidenko later became an MP on the “Servant of the People” party list together with one of the managers of Davidenko, Sergey Grivko.

It is also known that Halimon’s crony Pakhomov should head the Chernihiv headquarters of the “Servant of the People” party in the upcoming 2020 local elections.

In August 2019, Davidenko, Prikhodko, and Ivanchuk were elected to the Verkhovna Rada. By December 2019, the deputy group “Dovira” funded by Andrei Verevsky is created. It includes the above characters (Davidenko, Prikhodko, Ivanchuk).

A significant part of the Dovira group votes on important legislative initiatives in synchronization with the Servant of the People faction. According to the MP Anton Polyakov, such loyalty is due to the order from the Office of the President to Prosecutor General Ryaboshapka - not to sign an appeal to the Parliament to withdraw immunity from Davidenko in the case of the theft of UAH 2 billion from the said Agrarian Fund.

This could have led to Davidenko falling out with Verevsky because the money allocated by Verevsky for the 2019 elections was effectively used only in 2 out of 6 constituencies. The election campaign was a failure, and the remaining agreements were not fulfilled. This meant that $ 6 million was to be returned.

Verevsky also needed complaisant deputies in the Dovira group. But, since Davidenko and Prikhodko were on the hook at the President’s Office (criminal cases of embezzlement of UAH 2 billion), he lost his influence. The Dovira group now voted in unison with the Servant of the People faction. This wasn't the expected “return on investment” for the Kernel owner.

It should also be said that after the patron of Davidenko through the Office of the President - Attorney General Ryaboshapka was dismissed from his post, the criminal cases were again taken out of the cold storage. This meant the threat of imprisonment was looming over Davidenko.

He completely ceased to be manageable and had to reimburse Verevsky all the money and re-register the entire agricultural business for “Kernel”, which would be the end of his business and political career.