Bihus.Info: Slovak company of Zelenskyy's miner partner seized assets of state-owned enterprise

The assets of the state-owned enterprise GIPROKOKS, which designs coke and chemical plants, were appropriated by the Slovak company of Dmytro Snizhko, a friend and partner of Kryvyi Rih businessman Kostiantyn Karamanets, who is called the "president's miner" in the media. About this it says in a new investigation by Bihus.Info.

The transferred assets include patents, a trademark, a trademark and an engineering team. The website of the Slovak company now states that it is the manager of the entire intellectual property portfolio of GIPROCOX.

According to the investigation, in November 2024, the state-owned enterprise entered into cooperation with the newly established Slovakian GIPROKOKS EUROPE S.R.O., after which they registered the GIPROKOKS JV LLC. The state share in the project was only 40%.

At the same time, it was in the process of bankruptcy due to an 11-million-dollar debt to a company associated with Snizhko. According to the investigation, it was this company that filed a lawsuit demanding that the SOE be declared bankrupt.

Investigators also note that the creation of the joint venture is contrary to the law, as the state share must be at least 50%. The State Property Fund reported that it did not authorize the creation of the joint venture and did not authorize any representative to sign the relevant documents.

The documents of the joint venture contain the signature of Yuriy Masyuk, "repeatedly convicted of drugs, theft and robbery," instead of the signature of the current head of the state enterprise. He allegedly received his last sentence of 4.5 years in prison in September 2025 and signed the new charter of the enterprise a few weeks later.

The Slovakian company GIPROKOKS EUROPE S.R.O. was registered on the same day as the joint venture was established. Its director is Vita Kravchenko, the wife of Serhiy Kravchenko, the head and chief engineer of GIPROKOKS. The couple refused to talk to journalists.

Dmytro Snizhko is listed as the owner of GIPROKOKS EUROPE S.R.O. His family has been maintaining business ties with Kryvyi Rih entrepreneur Kostiantyn Karamanets for many years.

Konstantin Karamanits is a Kryvyi Rih businessman whose main business is ore mining (Rudomine LLC). He is also known as the owner of FC Kryvbas, which was revived in 2020 at the initiative of the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to Karamanets, he allegedly studied at the same school and institute with the future leader, but apart from football, he has not had much contact in recent years. According to journalists, the businessman is known online as the "president's miner" because after Zelenskyy won the presidential election, his business expanded significantly, including in the area of mining.

According to the investigation, it was the persons associated with Snizhko and Karamanets who initiated the bankruptcy of the state institution because of the debt that GIPROKOKS failed to repay. The lawyer of the creditor company is a longtime lawyer of the business group.

The State Property Fund has not filed any lawsuits to recover state assets in the year since the joint venture was established. The businessman himself told reporters that he did not know about the situation with Giprokoks and was not in contact with Snizhko at the moment.

The journalists note that GIPROKOKS is an important state institute that designed all coke ovens in Ukraine. It has more than 50 projects in 26 countries and more than 500 patents, copyright certificates, and inventions.

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