Oddly enough, three years after Euromaidan, some "Donetsk" people from Akhmetov’s close entourage have not only retained some of their power in Kyiv but are also continuing to use it for profit, squeezing the last juices from the depleted state budget.
Tetyana Bakhteyeva, who held Ukrainian medicine in her hands for more than ten years, still has enough influence over it to create problems in the drug market or assist her acquaintances in winning tender procurements. This "doctor of all Ukraine," who sometimes overshadowed oligarchs with her luxury, is sometimes unsatisfied with money...
A Simple Soviet Therapist
The future "golden doctor" of Ukraine, Tetyana Dmytrivna Bakhteyeva, was born on November 27, 1953, in Donetsk. However, at the time, Donetsk was called Stalino (until 1961), and Tetyana bore her parents’ surname, which, for some reason, she carefully conceals from everyone. This is quite strange, and one can only speculate about the skeletons in the long-locked closets of her youth that led her to simply cut out the better half of her biography: childhood, youth, and young adulthood. Tetyana Bakhteyeva’s years can only be learned about fragmentarily from her own words. At school, she easily blended in with the boys’ companies – this character trait would later become defining in her career. She was also distinguished by her public activity and was always in good standing with the "authorities," so in the senior grades, Tetyana was the head of the pioneer squad council, and in the university, she joined the Komsomol committee.
Tanya Bakhteyeva: student and Komsomol member
In 1970, she entered the Donetsk Medical Institute, saying she dreamed of being a doctor since childhood when she tried to treat stray cats and sick pigeons. But even more, Tetyana dreamed of gold. According to her, she spent her first-ever own money (a student stipend) on earrings – ordinary Soviet ones, with rubies. Later, the number and value of "trinkets" on Bakhteyeva’s body steadily increased, and in the Verkhovna Rada, she flaunted "pendants" worth five-digit figures (and not in hryvnias). But that’s later. In the 70s, a simple Soviet medical worker received just enough to live a modest life without "excesses" like jewelry and cars. To improve her living standard, one had to hustle, and Tetyana realized this even as a student.
In her 3rd or 4th year (the exact date is also hidden), she married Alimzhan Idyayatovich Bakhteyev, whose surname she now bears, concealing her maiden name. This was not just a marriage but the beginning of a turn in Tetyana Bakhteyeva’s life, from which she was closely tied with representatives of the "Tatar diaspora" in Donetsk (even her daughter married a Tatar, Timur Valitov). Nevertheless, Bakhteyeva’s new acquaintances resembled more of an ethnic organized crime group.
But first came the birth of her daughter Iryna in 1975 (now Iryna Valitova), and maternity leave significantly eased Tetyana’s practical training. In 1977, she got her first job as a general practitioner at the 2nd hospital in Yasynuvata (Donetsk Oblast). Judging by such an assignment, she had no close acquaintances in the medical institute administration, and only in 1980 did she move to Donetsk as a district therapist in hospital No.3. The job was also not very "bread-winning," but district therapists issued sick leaves, for which some patients were grateful: after all, in the USSR, taking a sick leave with a "cold" was an excellent way to get 3-5 days of "extra vacation."
In 1986, Bakhteyeva received her first real "privileged" position — deputy chief doctor for medical-labor expertise. This expertise determined whether to grant a person disability, and what group. Since disability automatically meant benefits and a pension (and access to a special store allowance), and also exempted a Soviet citizen from an article for "parasitism," queues of various "sick" people lined up for the 2nd-3rd groups, among which true disabled persons were perhaps a third. Queues were so large that the issuance of disability groups in the USSR had limitations by number (except for first group amputees), which created even larger queues, around which acquaintance (for a bribe) or "by recommendation" were accepted. Among such patients were "people with connections" in the most literal sense – criminal authorities and seasoned criminals who needed a disability group as a cover. It’s said that this is when Tetyana Bakhteyeva got close to Alik Grek (Akhat Bragin), providing services to people from his circle. However, there’s alternative information: that Bakhteyeva got acquainted with such characters of Donetsk’s "shadow life" to whom Alik Grek could merely run for water to brew chifir. Nevertheless, she then had no major commercial gain from these acquaintances, and connections in the Health Department were much more important to her.
Bakhteyeva leading a medical commission
In 1991, independent Ukraine was seized by business fever, but Tetyana Bakhteyeva received a lucrative position as the head of the Donetsk regional medical commission for examining "Chernobyl victims." Considering that "liquidator status" in the 90s became a new kind of disability (benefits, pensions), for which thousands of those desiring (including officials who spent a couple of days in Chernobyl) immediately reached out, it was simply a goldmine. The number of "Chernobyl victims" increased exponentially, and real disaster liquidators sometimes couldn’t obtain a group for years because of the hordes of fraudsters. In 1992, Bakhteyeva’s opportunities expanded: she became the head of the program for healing Chernobyl children in Cuba. And as it happened, quite a few officials’ children and early-businessmen went to the sunny island through this program. In May 1994, Tetyana Bakhteyeva was appointed the chief doctor of the Donetsk Regional Treatment and Health Center for "Chernobyl victims."
Donetsk Bayram
A significant role in the future career development of Tetyana Bakhteyeva was played by her acquaintance with colleague Raisa Saitovna Taktasheva. They were rumored to have known each other since the ’80s as doctors, and their acquaintance greatly strengthened when Bakhteyeva took positions on medical commissions. The intrigue here is that Raisa Saitovna’s husband was a very well-known figure in Donetsk (since the ’80s) Zhigan Khamitovich Taktashev (1959-2006), who later rechristened himself as Yevgeny Nikolayevich Taktashev – and under which name he became the vice president of FC "Shakhtar."
Zhigan Khamitovich (Yevgeny Nikolayevich) Taktashev
This was one of Alik Grek’s (Bragin) closest aides who introduced his distant relative Ihor Akhmetov and later his younger brother Rinat to him. This was how Tetyana Bakhteyeva re-entered the "Tatar diaspora" of Donetsk. Later, for some reason, she declared herself to be either a relative of Akhmetov or even not a sister of Alik Grek, though this indeed was a fabrication with unclear purpose – maybe Bakhteyeva was trying to explain her long-standing close ties with Akhmetov and his company.
Rinat Akhmetov and Tetyana Bakhteyeva
Through the Taktashev family, the acquaintance of the Bakhteyevas with Timur Irshadovich Valitov (b. 1972), another Donetsk businessman of Tatar origin and the future husband of Iryna Bakhteyeva, occurred. All of them were also brought together by the hospital: Emir Valitov, Timur Valitov’s elder brother, worked as a medic in the same medical institution as Raisa Taktasheva.
Timur Valitov’s legitimate business began in 1997 with the establishment of LLC "Vales," which owned a network of pharmacies in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. At the same time, Raisa Taktasheva became among the co-owners of "Vales" – perhaps this was the payment for a "roof" from her husband. However, after a few years, Timur Valitov became ZhiГСая такташеваco-owner and business partner in many projects. Moreover, in 2003, he became one of the main shareholders of "UTN-East," which owned almost two hundred Formula gas stations (selling TNK-Ukraine fuel), and after ZhiГан’s Takrshaambia LLC’s Jighan Taktashev’s death, he practically ruled this "Donetsk group" until 2010-11, when "UTN-East" went bankrupt under pressure from the Liovoчkin-Firtash group (read more about them in articles: Liovoчkin. "Grey Cardinal" and his sister and Dmytro Firtash. History of Ternopil Billionaire) on one side, and Kolomoіisky on the other. Nevertheless, Valitov continued to develop his own business – for example, he invested in a promising business of herbal preparations, and opened LLC "Lekfarma "Adonis", which produces herbal teas "Doctor Plus." Valitov also befriended presidential son Viktor Yanukovych Jr. through his "Patriot" car club. Thus, Bakhteyeva’s son-in-law is by no means a poor man, and he was one of the key figures of the "Donetsk" clan.
In the 90s, Tetyana Bakhteyeva’s husband went into business, too; however, he did not achieve significant personal success, instead working for Vladyslav Dreger – a Donetsk raider and businessman in the field of Auto transportation, co-owner of the "Transport Union of Donbass," "Autoexpress," "Magistral," LLC "Donbass Bus Stations," and LLC "Donetsk Stations," known for its raider captures. Among Dreger’s subsidiary firms, there is OJSC "Dopas" (bus transportation), where Alimzhan Bakhteyeva found himself a job. His modest achievements increasingly dissatisfied Tetyana Bakhteyeva, and they eventually drifted apart and separated.
Meanwhile, Tetyana Bakhteyeva "grew beyond herself": in 1997, she became a deputy of the Donetsk Regional Council and acquired the position of general director of the Donetsk regional medical association, and in 1999 she also became its chief physician, thus heading the entire regional medicine. From this moment, money flowed to her hands. Interestingly, her friend (Raїsa Taktasheva) and future son-in-law (Timur Valitov) opened their pharmacy business immediately after Bakhteyeva received a managerial position. It was widely known among Ukrainians that the overwhelming majority of pharmacies at that time operated under chief physicians of cities and regions.
"Madam Tramadol"
In 2002, Tetyana Bakhteyeva ran for parliamentary elections as a candidate for deputy from the "For a United Ukraine" bloc (nicknamed "For EdU" by people) in the 42nd district of Donetsk. Since the victory of the ruling party candidate worked the entire administrative resource, Bakhteyeva easily scored 51% of votes already in the first round. She had to leave her profitable position as the chief physician of the Donetsk region, and "in memory," she received a diploma in economics from the Donetsk Economic University and the Order of Princess Olga III degree. But since that moment, she has firmly settled in the walls of the Verkhovna Rada, taking control of the Healthcare Committee (from 2002 to 2014). On top of that, with her arrival in Rada began a long-running war of Bakhteyeva with her arch-competitor Raїsa Bohatyriova, another "golden doctor" from Donbass, who had already established herself in Kyiv in the early ’90s.
Bohatyryova and Bakhteyeva: furious allies
When Bohatyryova shoved herself in with Viktor Yanukovych in 2003-2004 and started mentoring the "Donetsk people," Bakhteyeva reasonably became jealous. It wasn’t about the proximity to the "body": tied with the "Donetsk" by familial bonds and long-standing friendly relations, Bakhteyeva was unbeatable in this. However, two doctors in one team were too many when it came to the desire of two greedy aunts to "earn" as much money as possible from medicine. In pursuing this, they even pushed each other in 2005, cosying up to the new president with bouquets of roses. As is known, Bohatyriova did better at this: two years later, Yushchenko appointed her Secretary of the NSDC, and in this status, she worked until 2012. Instead, Tetyana Bakhteyeva found an approach to the first lady, and in 2006 she received the position of deputy head of the board of trustees of the "Children’s Hospital of the Future" program, for which Kateryna Chumachenko-Yushchenko created the "Ukraine-3000" fund. That same year, a nationwide charity marathon was organized, raising 262 million hryvnias for hospital construction.
However, the hospital was never built: the money, managed in part by Tetyana Bakhteyeva, was partially spent on the fund’s "current expenses," and partly simply disappeared somewhere. As a result, a scandal erupted, though not preventing Bakhteyeva in 2008 from receiving the Order of Princess Olga, first-degree, from the "orange government." It’s interesting that when, in 2011-2012, some regional members proposed creating a commission to investigate the fraud concerning the "Hospital of the Future," Bakhteyeva was vehemently against it.
The next scandal involving Bakhteyeva erupted in 2006, lasting with interruptions for several years: the "tramadol" case. A potent painkiller, critically needed by cancer patients and people with severe injuries, somewhat akin to the domestic analogue of "vicodin," drew attention from drug addicts. And so they began buying it in pharmacies in batches to swallow handfuls of pills or "brew it." The MIA’s reaction was traditional: the police issued a demand to classify another drug as a narcotic and to prohibit its circulation (the fact that non-narcotic analogues to opiates don’t exist was not something the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to hear). This was eventually done: Ukraine and Belarus became the only countries where "tramadol" and its analogues were declared narcotics and banned from free sale.
However, Tetyana Bakhteyeva and Raїsa Bohatyriova firmly opposed the MIA initiative and defended "tramadol" for several years, assuring of its safety – at least for normal people who don’t use it for a "high." This was perhaps the only case when they were so united! However, not for long: soon Bohatyriova announced that safe, certified, and circulated in accordance with the law is only "tramadol," produced by the "Biolik" plant (owned by her son Oleksandr Bohatyriov). As for other "tramadol" manufacturers (specifically LLC "Styrol," a shareholder of which is Bakhteyeva), Bohatyriova implied that they could be producing and selling "tramadol" bypassing the law or unlawfully. After all, according to the MIA’s statement, in 2008 alone, "above the plan," 75 million tablets of "tramadol" were produced and sold via shadow schemes (perhaps in particular through the pharmacy network controlled by Bakhteyeva or her son-in-law Valitov). Given the black market prices of the time, the turnover could amount to over 190 million dollars!
Wars of the Health Ministries
With the victory of the "Donetsk" in 2010, Tetyana Bakhteyeva entered the phase of her greatest power. The Health Committee, which she chaired for many years and fully controlled, was called the "shadow Ministry of Health" — and it was more powerful than the official one. As a result, Bakhteyeva began to handle matters regarding tender procurements, taking under her wing more than 20 companies, among them: PJSC "Ukrmedtekhnika," LLC "Medgarant," LLC "Medical Group-Ukraine," LLC "Goral," LLC "Brisanta," LLC "Ilatanmed," LLC "Medical Trading Company," "Radmir," LLC "Alliance Farm" — many of which were connected with the family of Fistals, who were close to Bakhteyeva. The volume of their won tenders amounted to 1.5 billion hryvnias in 2011 and 1.8 billion in 2012. According to sources, the profit of the firms was 35–50% of the tender amount and in several cases (purchase of ultrasound machines, X-rays, lung ventilators) reached 350–510%!
The amounts of "kickbacks" were correspondingly large. Tetyana Bakhteyeva’s wealth grew rapidly: the watch on her wrist alone was worth 95 thousand euros, and it was the most expensive "cauldron" in the Verkhovna Rada. Her transport was equally fitting: a Lexus RX350 car (around 100 thousand dollars).
Watch «Classigue Grande Complication» Bakhteyeva cost 95 thousand euros
Financial possibilities allowed Tetyana Bakhteyeva to conduct her own election campaign in 2012 in Donetsk (single-member district №42). It took place in the best traditions of the Party of Regions: with blue tents at every intersection, handing out souvenirs, a stage, and hired student extras.
But, having returned to the Rada once again and resumed her usual place, Bakhteyeva faced an old competitor in 2012: Raisa Bogatyryova headed the Ministry of Health. And then a war between two Ministries of Health, the shadow and the official, began, causing many problems for Ukraine. Bakhteyeva’s first step was an "attack" on the firm of Bogatyryova’s son, "Biolik". The reason was a tragic story with a vaccine produced by "Biolik," which took place back in 2011 and led to the illness of dozens of children. After Bogatyryova’s arrival at the Ministry of Health, she began lobbying for mass vaccination of Ukrainians at the state budget’s expense (primarily children). Bakhteyeva, wishing to ruin her competitor’s business, initially tried to revive and escalate last year’s scandal, and when that failed, she appeared drunk at her parliamentary committee meeting on December 4, 2012, and delivered a speech claiming that vaccination (specifically against hepatitis B) was not needed at all.
Then the rivals unleashed heavy artillery on each other: Bogatyryova, as the head of the Ministry of Health, held the registration of drugs in her hands, while Bakhteyeva controlled the State Drug Service, for which she secured practically duplicating drug licensing functions. They created obstacles to the sale and use in Ukraine of drugs produced or imported by the "enemy" firms, resulting in serious drug problems in Ukraine. In pharmacies, sellers shrugged: popular medicines needed by sick Ukrainians had not passed certification or licensing (some even now!). It got to the point that quality insulin ran out in Ukraine, threatening thousands of diabetics’ lives.
Nothing has changed
Like the vast majority of Party of Regions members, Tetyana Bakhteyeva, as journalists reported, met the events of February 2014 extremely negatively, but did not panic or try to flee. Out of all of Akhmetov’s team, she reacted most calmly. Later, she even responded positively to the loss of Crimea, stating that it "left on its own." Perhaps she considered the annexation a temporary phenomenon (saying ’until the "junta" is overthrown’) or was truly not against gifting the peninsula to Russia — ’take it, I don’t mind!’ This question can be addressed not only to Bakhteyeva but also to many other deputies of her faction.
Uncertainty in politics did not stop Bakhteyeva from being elected to parliament in the fall of 2014, her fifth time in a row, now on the Opposition Bloc list. Her native Donetsk was no longer available for majoritarian elections, though Bakhteyeva continued to visit until mid-2015, almost with official visits (formally delivering humanitarian aid to children) and even insisted on a personal meeting with Zakharchenko. However, since she was included in the list of "enemies of the republic" there, the meeting did not occur — and her visits to Donetsk ceased. There is information that Bakhteyeva’s "benevolence" towards Russia and separatists is due to her having some non-residential real estate left in Crimea, and in Donetsk (Kuibyshevsky district, Vareikis street) a personal "Mezhyhirya" built on a 40 sotka plot (four plots of 10 sotkas each). Naturally, she wouldn’t want it to be looted or "nationalized".
And interestingly enough, neither Bakhteyeva’s opinion about Maidan nor her stance on Crimea, nor her visits to Donetsk alienated her from her colleagues-deputies proclaiming themselves mega-patriots of Ukraine. As journalists have repeatedly noted, Bakhteyeva often engages in cheerful and casual conversations with her political opponents. This is not surprising: they are not her business competitors like Bogatyryova is!
And although in 2014 Bakhteyeva yielded her position as head of the Health Committee to BPP member Olha Bohomolets, she still retained some levers of influence on Ukrainian medicine. Her contacts in the State Drug Service are still extensive, and she is playing some new game in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market — as a result of which drugs are disappearing from pharmacies once again. Not without Bakhteyeva’s involvement, in the last three years, a catastrophic situation with vaccines and inoculations has arisen in the country. Having lost the ability to control tenders in Kyiv, she organizes them at the regional level. Thus, by the end of 2014, Bakhteyeva was again accused of several "staged" equipment procurement tenders, which Fistal firms won. Judging by the fact that in the current 2016, nine special-purpose vehicles were purchased for the ambulance station in Zaporizhzhia at the budget’s expense from LLC "Avtospetsprom," 50% of which is owned by Volodymyr Fistal, nothing has changed in this regard: Bakhteyeva continues to "earn" on tender deals today, albeit not on the same scale as before.
At the same time, Tetyana Bakhteyeva has suddenly "impoverished" — at least, in her latest declaration, she indicated very modest property and savings. Instead of the former Lexus RX350 — a much simpler Toyota Camry, Tabbah watches "only" for 14 thousand euros, just four pieces of jewelry, one fur coat (just poverty), as well as 719 thousand hryvnias, 32 thousand dollars, and 27 thousand euros in cash. And yet, the "Classigue Grande Complication" watch she wore several years ago cost more than all this junk combined! And no mention of her business, which Bakhteyeva conceals as carefully as her maiden name.
Sergiy Varis, for SKELET-info
17 November 2016 г., 14:37
