Olympic champion Stella Zakharova and a mysterious saleswoman from “Beer Sea” made UAH 6.6 million at the Ukrainian Gymnastics Championships
23 October 2024 10:05
The state paid millions of hryvnias to an unknown company with a blogger owner who had moved abroad during the Ukrainian gymnastics championships held on 28-29 September at the Kyiv Sports Palace. This is stated in a joint investigation by NGL.media and Tribuna, according to "Komersant Ukrainian"
The state institution UkrSportsSecurity, subordinated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, paid more than UAH 6.6 million to an unknown company called Kyiv Media Production for organising the tournament. The owner of the company was 23-year-old Valeria Gutorka from Bila Tserkva, who previously worked as a saleswoman at the Sea of Beer chain and as a consultant in an optical salon. Now she records videos on TikTok with three likes.
According to the Border Guard Service, since August 2024, Gutorka has been abroad in Belgium and the Netherlands. At the same time, the contracts with UkrSportSecurity were signed on 25 September (three days before the championship). In a conversation with journalists, she admitted that the documents were signed by “another person under a power of attorney”, but she could not name him.
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The journalistic investigation also revealed that some of the equipment paid for by the state was not present at the championship. In particular, nine interviewed judges confirmed that they had not seen the 30 tablets and four projectors stipulated in the contract, for which they had paid 440,000 hryvnias.
The championship was organised by Olympic champion and Vice President of the Ukrainian Gymnastics Federation Stella Zakharova. However, she refused to comment on her ties to Kyiv Media Production, calling the journalists’ questions a “provocation”.
UkrSportSecurity was also unable to explain how the contractor was chosen and who actually signed the documents on behalf of the company. Denis Golikov, the deputy head of the institution, said that they “do not choose their own contractors”. At the same time, Kyiv Media Production cannot be found either online or in the physical world at its registration address or telephone numbers.
The 2024 Ukrainian Gymnastics Championships became the most expensive sporting event in the country since the start of the full-scale war, with a total cost of over UAH 8.5 million. At the same time, Ukraine’s best gymnasts, including Olympic silver medallist Ilya Kovtun, did not participate in the competition.
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