Former manager of businessman Granz Toktomushev works in Presidential Administration as advisor on veterans, IDPs and children’s rights, - BIHUS.Info
In early 2025, Rysbek Toktomushev became an advisor to the Directorate for Veteran Policy, IDPs, Healthcare and Children's Rights of the Office of the President of Ukraine. Toktomushev is a long-time manager and ex-partner of businessman Artur Granz, who is associated with large-scale cigarette smuggling schemes and the promotion of online casinos with a Russian trace to the Ukrainian market.
This is stated in an investigation by BIHUS.Info journalists, Censor.NET reports.
What is known about businessman Artur Granz?
Businessman Artur Granz is the owner of well-known Duty Free stores. He is also the majority owner of the company "Imagine!", which publishes the Ukrainian Forbes.
In the investigation, journalists also talked about Granz's connection with the VBET betting company. The founders of VBET, like Granz, are from Armenia - the Badalyan brothers. In a recent interview, Granz himself said that he has been friends with Vigen Badalyan for a quarter of a century.
It is noted that in 2019, when Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated before the election that he would bring the gambling business out of the shadows, the Badalyan brothers decided to enter the Ukrainian market. After legalisation, the Badalyans acquired all the necessary licences. They immediately invested $25 million.
Then the Badalian brothers agreed that as soon as the business was stable, Granz would buy a 25-30% stake. So, the businessman helped with contacts and connections.
Granz's friend Giorgi Givishvili became the first director of the Ukrainian company.
BIHUS.Info journalists reminded that in 2024, VBET became involved in a high-profile scandal - the company was suspected of having ties with Russia and laundering the proceeds of crime.
According to law enforcement, VBET operates in Russia. The company itself says it has no ties to the aggressor country, and businessman Granz was not associated with the company and is not its owner.
The current director of VBET is Oleksandr Blokhin. According to investigators, Blokhin probably got this position with the help of Granz. In 2021-2022, Blokhin was the head of another company owned by Artur Granz, "Imagine", which publishes Forbes in Ukraine.
Granz's connections with Toktomushev
According to the journalists, Rysbek Toktomushev has been Granz's manager and business partner for many years. The key to this story is the purchase of the "Creative Group" agricultural holding in 2015, which used to be one of the largest oil producers. The agricultural holding generated multi-billion dollar revenues.
In 2015, Granz became the main investor in the company, and Toktomushev became its managing director.
The journalists noted that Granz and Toktomushev bought "Creative Group" from Stanislav Berezkin, a "Party of Regions" member.
Subsequently, the company was sold. The reason was debts.
In 2016, Granz said that he had met Toktomushev when he was head of the supervisory board of the Kazakh BTA Bank in Ukraine. The businessman said that he had recruited Toktomyshev to work at "Creative Group" as a crisis manager. According to journalists, Granz and Toktomushev have known each other for a long time.
What is known about Toktomushev?
Rysbek Toktomushev is a lawyer and crisis manager. In 2007-2012, he was a pro bono advisor to Viktor Yanukovych's associate Andrii Portnov.
He also chaired the supervisory board of the Ukrainian branch of the Kazakh BTA-Bank.
In addition, Toktomushev was an adviser to the deputy head of the OP, Iryna Vereshchuk, who in 2020 was the main candidate for mayor of Kyiv from the "Servant of the People" party. It is noted that Toktomushev was seen several times at Vereshchuk's campaign headquarters.
Now, according to journalists, Toktomushev works in the Presidential Office, where Vereshchuk also holds a position.
Vereshchuk herself commented to journalists on whether biography and connections of her adviser were embarrassing.
"He is a lawyer, speaks fluent English, and is an effective crisis manager. Since the beginning of the war, he has been helping me with humanitarian response to IDPs and frontline areas. In particular, in relations with international humanitarian organisations... I asked him about Artur Granz. He told me that he had only worked with him on an agricultural project many years ago. He told me that he did not know anything about Granz's other businesses and had nothing to do with them. He said he hadn't spoken to him in a long time. If the media associate Granz with something bad, it doesn't automatically make Rysbek bad," the deputy head of the OP replied.
Finally, the journalists note that Rysbek Toktomushev, a big business manager, is "paid by the OP to deal with the cases of children, internally displaced persons and veterans".
"At the same time, the name of a big business, which has not been mentioned in the Ukrainian information space for years, is now on the pages of well-known publications... Businessman Granz is still in the game. He remains the owner of the Ukrainian Forbes. The former manager of his company, which owns Forbes, now heads the gambling company VBET, and the Duty Free shops at checkpoints, which also belong to Granz, continue to operate: they make a profit and, according to some estimates, increase the illegal cigarette trade. If a business lives, develops and works, it needs people - its own people. So, are these storylines - the businessman and his former manager - parallel or will they ever intersect? This is not just a single story about one player. It's about a trend. It's about the fact that the seats vacated by the oligarchs will not remain empty for long. "New faces" are already on the way, using the same methods and the same goals: influence, interests, resources," the investigators conclude.
The full version of the investigation is available here:
