In 2012, the head of the State Tax Service in the Vinnytsia region, Iryna Zlenko, said: «Believe me, I love my family so much that I can’t even imagine how much money they would have to offer me for me to take it and go behind bars for ten years!».
In 2014, it turned out that Ms. Iryna had a very clear idea of how much would be worth the risk and get her imprisoned for more than 10 years.
So, meet the heroine of our story today - Iryna Zlenko, born on 04/19/1976, a native of Kyiv. The most interesting part is that today, I.V. Zlenko is considered a candidate for leadership positions in the newly created State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.
To achieve this, she uses personal connections among the leadership of higher state authorities and administration, particularly those developed during her work in the Vinnytsia region.
Career: She has been working in the state tax service since 1998; since 2002, she held leadership positions in the tax authorities of Kyiv; from 05/12/2010, she was appointed Deputy Head of the State Tax Administration in the Sumy region; from 07/20/2010, Head of the State Tax Administration in the Sumy region; from 10/21/2011 to 01/17/2012, Head of the commission for the reorganization of the STA in the Vinnytsia region; from 01/17/2012 to 04/22/2013, Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Revenues in the Vinnytsia region.
From the beginning of her work in the tax service, Iryna, having excellent teachers, immediately learned all the «benefits» of converting funds. During the rule of the «Family,» Iryna Volodymyrivna’s genius particularly manifested.
Together with her husband Oleksandr (a former SSU officer), under the patronage of their family friend, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Vitaliy Zakharchenko, the Zlenko family group was included in the list of «trusted persons» in the field of money conversion and included in the so-called «State Program for the Filling of the State Budget» - «conversion platforms.»
The mentioned «platforms» provided services for documentally reflecting operations in the tax reporting of enterprises, the transit transfer of funds, and the conversion of non-cash funds into cash, while accounting for the service fees from the turnover. When interacting with enterprises included on these «platforms,» the activities of business entities became untouchable by tax and customs representatives during inspections.
Almost 80% of businesses used the «platforms.» Moreover, tax and other law enforcement and control bodies literally forced businesses into these schemes. There were from 4 to 13 «platforms» at different times.
Each structure – the Ministry of Income and Dues of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (UBOZ and UDBEZ), the SSU, the General Prosecutor’s Office, Financial Monitoring, the National Bank – had defined curators for the «platform» operations. All heads of these structures and curators received a commission from transactions, and in case of entrepreneurs encountering problems because of working with the «platforms,» they could solve all issues by phone.
Overall, the turnover of this «shadow» market amounted to 30 to 50 billion UAH per month (about 50% of GDP), and 70% of the market was controlled by the «Yanukovych V.F. family,» allowing it to earn from 300 million UAH to 1.5 billion UAH monthly. Thanks to this, Iryna Zlenko, despite being relatively young – 34 years old – was appointed Head of the State Tax Administration in the Sumy region, and unofficially as the «curator» of platform operations in the Sumy region.
Meanwhile, her husband took on all work related to organizing companies, channels for receiving shadow funds, and finding directors who did not understand they were managing companies with multi-million turnovers.
During her tenure at the STA in the Sumy region, Iryna performed a role in creating a «tax platform» for the illegal formation of tax credits with VAT and further use by other business entities to reduce tax obligations.
The illegal activity was also facilitated by the Head of the Sumy State Administration Yuriy Chmyr. Within a year, the shadow cash flow through fictitious operations exceeded 2 billion UAH. Her activities continued despite criminal cases initiated by the Sumy SSU Department, №№ 233, 255. Due to her activities (pressuring entrepreneurs, dismissing subordinates who did not follow her oral illegal instructions), Iryna became so well-known (the internal security of the tax service was no longer able to constantly destroy materials on her) that O.V. Klymenko transferred her to the position of Head of the STA in the Vinnytsia region.
The previously established scheme was implemented in the Vinnytsia region as well. Upon arriving at her new workplace, Iryna Volodymyrivna immediately chose a place to live - the «Presidential Suite» at the «Feride Plaza» hotel (where the cost of living is about 300 dollars per day).
The payment for this suite was immediately shouldered by the region’s entrepreneurs. The operational scheme in the Vinnytsia region remained unchanged, with «platform» fictive contractors being forcibly imposed on enterprises for cash conversion purposes.
This activity allowed Iryna to feel «comfortable» even now: a house in Vyshhorod costing about 5 million USD; an estate in the village of Tsybli, Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi district, Kyiv region, with a separate access to the Dnipro River, covering an area of about 10 hectares and costing about 3 million USD.
And this does not include real estate (apartments, offices located in the center of Kyiv, Kyiv region, and other regions), as well as expensive cars (about 10, each costing over 100,000 USD) registered to her husband and family members. Interestingly, today I.V. Zlenko is considered a candidate for leadership positions in the newly created State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.
To achieve this, she uses personal connections among the leadership of higher state authorities and administration, particularly those developed during her work in the Vinnytsia region.
It should be noted that I.V. Zlenko, using the mask of an excellent woman leader, seeks to obtain a leadership position in a government body through any means for selfish motives, to further lobby the activities of her controlled «conversion center.»
To achieve this goal, she is capable of any measures and, for material rewards, seeks out individuals who can influence a favorable resolution of this issue, but she treats them with disrespect, constantly emphasizing her capabilities to «purchase» the necessary individuals.
Author: Serhiy Feschenko