Central smuggling office: actors, schemes, and amounts

Multi-billion criminal flows are directed and controlled by a group of individuals among the heads of state bodies and special services under the "protection" of MP from BPP Oleksandr Hranovskyi

Blind Trust unveils the secret criminal scheme of large-scale smuggling business in Ukraine. It operates "under the protection" and in the interests of the top officials of the state. The web of smuggling mafia entangles all spheres - from smuggling cigarettes and fabrics, fuel transfer, to cocaine transit. And flows from Russia make up the "lion’s share" of turnovers here.

Systematic smuggling is controlled and coordinated from a single center - the so-called Office. The criminal syndicate consists of top officials, resourceful "resolver" figures, and operates under the patronage of trusted people of the country’s leadership. Thanks to their own insiders, we name their names and reveal the schemes - we’ll tell you how they "earn" billions. According to the data obtained, the state budget losses from the Office’s operations amount to about 28 billion hryvnias, excluding the profit from drug supply.

The Office - the brain center of smuggling

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Since the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, the informal body controlling key smuggling flows has been called the Office in narrow circles. Since 2016, the "overseer" of its work has been MP from BPP Oleksandr Hranovskyi. He managed to take control and develop the scheme of his predecessor "Sasha the Dentist" (O. Yanukovych). He convinced and motivated active top officials, placed his people where needed, and distributed roles and shares among all members of the group. Granovsky, aside from the overall supervision function, provides protection for the figures in the courts and most importantly, he knows well the "division table" (who "upstairs," when and how much to give, and what to distribute among accomplices).

The direct manager of the Office, who on behalf of Hranovskyi gives instructions and controls cash flow from schemes, is Seyar Kurshutov. More about him and other key figures of the Office in order.

Seyar Kurshutov - a Crimean Tatar, a native of Saky (AR Crimea), who lived on the peninsula until 2014, owned the company "Chyste Misto Plyus," which was featured in a tax evasion case amounting to 3.1 million UAH. Before the annexation, Kurshutov was a known Russophile, often visiting the Russian Federation - on the "VKontakte" network, there is still a page of Kurshutov where his residence is listed as "Moscow, Russia," which he last visited in 2016. This did not prevent him from quickly turning into a patriot, leaving the annexed territory, and becoming the "right hand" of Hranovskyi. Kurshutov’s modest official biography states that he is engaged in consulting in logistics and transport issues, is an advisor to the President of the Association of Taxpayers of Ukraine, and has his own business related to transportation. But in fact, this is the tip of the iceberg, as customs officers and smugglers know Seyar well as the Office’s strict controller. He sets plans for members of the criminal syndicate, provides "green corridors" for goods, creates problems for non-system smugglers, and solves problems for designated fees.

Serhiy Kovalenko is the Office’s representative in the SSU structure. He works as the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Combating Smuggling (K department). He was appointed to the position under Hranovskyi’s patronage. He "turns a blind eye" of the special services to the necessary schemes and, using his official position, organizes "attacks" on entrepreneurs and unwanted officials for the uninterrupted operation of the schemes. It was Kovalenko who cleared the energy market of the country from competitors of Viktor Medvedchuk in the field of liquefied gas trading. In 2015, he became famous for an almost comical story when he ordered to block the export of walnuts from the country, citing the presence of pests.

Volodymyr Bedrykovskyi - one of the key figures in the functioning of the Office, providing its cover from the Prosecutor General’s Office side. He heads the Department for Supervising Compliance with Laws in Criminal Proceedings and Coordination of Law Enforcement Activities of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Bedrykovskyi enjoys the complete trust of the Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, with whom he worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He became notorious nationwide three years ago when the media discovered that the official recorded an estate near Kyiv in his mother’s name, and his son owns an elite apartment in the capital, several land plots, and a luxury car. Much of the property is also recorded in the name of the official’s wife, brother, and father.

Serhiy Bilan covers the Office in the State Fiscal Service, where he holds the position of First Deputy Head. He has been very active as the head of the tax police, with some of its searches accompanied by the mysterious disappearance of physical evidence. The most resonant was the disappearance of 37 smuggled fabric containers from the Odesa customs, which later appeared on the "7-kilometer" market. Multiple attempts by many politicians to institutionally end the tax police have not been successful. The body continues to operate, acting primarily in the interests of the Office.

Viktor Kryvitskyi is currently the Acting Deputy Head of the State Fiscal Service. He came from the position of the head of the Volyn customs, where he launched a successful scheme for importing non-cleared cars on European plates. According to journalist 1+1 Yevhen Plynskyi, Kryvitskyi commercialized customs activities so much that he even announced a price for entering the staff of the institution. And in August 2017, he was detained on suspicion of taking a bribe. However, the Lutsk City District Court released the customs head under a personal commitment, and later the case was closed. We wrote about Kryvitskyi’s activities in Volyn in one of our previous investigations. Now in the Office, Kryvitskyi is responsible for the coordinated work of all customs involved in the schemes.

Ihor Pikovskyi oversees energy resources smuggling schemes (the main part comes from the Russian Federation) while holding the position of Head of the Energy Customs under the State Fiscal Service. Pikovskyi is a close friend of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and was his longtime assistant when Lutsenko was an MP. Pikovskyi also appeared at the scandalous wedding of Oleksandr, Lutsenko’s son. And it was on Lutsenko’s submission that Pikovskyi was included in the election list of Petro Poroshenko’s party (BPP) in the parliamentary elections in 2014. "On the quota of the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Pikovskyi, a nominee of the so-called "Luzhnikov group" of Russian businessmen, which includes the representative of Putin in relations with compatriot organizations abroad Oleksandr Babakov and the authority Mykhailo Voyevodin," wrote U.P. at the time.

In February 2018, he clearly confirmed his connection with the Russian mafia. After "Naftogaz" defeated "Gazprom" in the Stockholm arbitration (on gas contracts during Tymoshenko’s premiership) Pikovskyi openly played along with Moscow’s interests. On submission of the head of the Energy Customs, the State Fiscal Service imposed a fine on the head of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolyev amounting to 8.3 billion UAH for violations in customs processing of gas coming from the Russian Federation to the occupied territory of Donbas! In essence, legally securing "Gazprom’s" claims to Ukraine for non-payment for gas supplies to occupied Donbas. Despite direct signs of state treason and the court’s cancellation of Kobolyev’s fine (this April), Pikovskyi continues to work in the position as if nothing happened, giving the profit to the Office.

Interestingly, last year Ihor stunned the public by publicly declaring that it turns out that the energy customs cannot control the legality of fuel supplies to Ukraine, and the smuggling that is recorded is not within his body’s responsibility.

The schemes are overseen by Ihor Kupranets from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Head of the Department for Protection of Economics. The conflict between the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and the President’s team adds spice to the situation. After all, Kupranets entered the Office to cover schemes through the Ministry of Internal Affairs line during the forced friendship of the influence groups of N.F. and BPP. And now Avakov is persistently seeking to find himself in the new government and has directly contributed to Poroshenko’s defeat.

Kupranets skillfully employs the favorite practice of Ukrainian officials to conduct business and rewrite property to relatives. Through his wife, he has an interest in the "Portservice-Mykolaiv" company, which provides ship mooring services. He is also affiliated with the "Alpha Security" firm, which guards checkpoints in the sea trading port of the same Mykolaiv. Also, the firm "Anyway," where Kupranets’ wife Nataliya is a co-founder and controller, illegally produces wooden pellets in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. And in 2017, Ihor officially received a "Lexus" car worth over a million hryvnias as a gift from his father.

Ruslan Firsov. His role in the Office is to provide direct instructions to customs for processing goods in the interests of the group. Today he works as acting director of the Department of Customs Violation Prevention and International Cooperation under the State Fiscal Service. In this position, he has already earned a bad reputation for delaying clearing of European plates at the Mykolaiv customs, where he sent a special inspection for this purpose. Moreover, drivers began to complain about bribe demands from them.

Firsov likes to play politics. In 2015, he was a candidate for the Kyiv City Council from the "Party of Simple People" of Serhiy Kaplin. The latter belongs to the spheres of influence of oligarch Serhiy Lyovochkin and the "resolver" from BPP Serhiy Berezenko. Simultaneously, Firsov’s wife Larisa is listed as an employee of the Vyshgorod office of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" and receives an official salary there.

Viktor Sherman coordinates the work of the "lion’s share" of operators on the smuggling market. Our sources claim he provides Ruslan Firsov with firm and person information in real-time, determining who should be given the "green light" and included in the scheme, and who should be blocked at customs. Also, according to a number of media outlets, Sherman is responsible for the collection of "black cash" in the Office.

All the above-mentioned individuals form the core of the Office. With the help of state tools, they "convince" major importers and exporters to consider their interests. This concerns both those who try to bypass the law on their own and those who want to work "legally." Thus, Hranovskyi’s Office over the past 3 years has established and taken control of virtually all large smuggling flows. Below we present the key smuggling schemes and routes.

"Milk and honey" smuggling rivers

It is impossible to document the exact volume of smuggling. After all, concealing facts and making a cash register from flows is the foundation of the Office’s activities. Processes can be partially assessed based on isolated "failures," when certain goods are delayed due to circumstances: either under pressure from international partners or when owners did not agree with the group. We, in evaluating volumes, relied on our insiders’ information, who understand the cost of the issue well.

Petroleum products

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 9,000,000,000 UAH.

Key routes:
Oil pipeline: Russian Federation – Belarus – Dubno.
Railway: Russian Federation – Kharkiv region.
By sea: Russian Federation – Kherson, Odesa, and Mykolaiv regions.
By sea: Romania – Kherson, Odesa, and Mykolaiv regions.
Railway: Romania – Chernivtsi region.

Experts assess the volumes of smuggling of diesel fuel and gasoline at the level of 30% of total export volumes. The budget does not receive about 300 USD for each unaccounted ton.

The main source of smuggling is the oil pipeline of the "PrykarpatTransZakhid" company controlled by Medvedchuk. We have detailed how the current government facilitated the formation of this business. Back in 2015, the Economic Court of the Rivne region returned this oil pipeline to a subsidiary of the Russian "Transneft," and then the special services "cleaned" the market from competitors. So, part of the petroleum products, 60,000 tons (up to 20% of total supply), goes without customs clearance. However, Moscow decided to impose sanctions on the supply of petroleum products to Ukraine from June 1, creating problems for the Ukrainian economy and trying to protect Medvedchuk’s business schemes through negotiations with the new government.

Among others, people of Putin’s godfather are involved in the smuggling of petroleum products by sea. In addition, up to 10,000 tons of products from Romania and 5,000 tons from Russia are shipped by sea monthly. One of the smuggling flows goes from the Russian Federation through southern ports - Skadovsk, Ochakiv, Holu Prystan, Nova Kakhovka. In particular, in Ochakiv, journalists tracked the connection between tankers that transported smuggled fuel and the Wexler Group company belonging to Serhiy Belz, Medvedchuk’s top manager. Even before the Office resumed work, in 2015, the Tax Police led by Serhiy Bilan detained Belz’s smuggled cargoes. We detailed this case and the structure of Medvedchuk’s energy business and key actors in one of the previous investigations.

Up to 12,000 tons of liquefied gas enter Kharkiv region by railway monthly "in black." Simultaneously, 1,000 tons are transported from Romania through Bukovina in the same way as gasoline, which is documented as gasoline. As a result, the budget does not get 170 USD from each ton.

Cigarettes

Annual state budget losses (approximately): up to 8,000,000,000 UAH.

Key routes:
Auto: "DPR" – controlled part of the Donetsk region.
Auto: Lviv and Volyn regions - Poland;
Auto: Chernivtsi region - Moldova - Romania;
Auto: Zakarpattia region - Slovakia and Hungary;
By sea: Kherson region - Bulgaria

One of the most lucrative pieces of contraband controlled by the Office is the illegal export of cigarettes to the European Union. The goods go both by car through Western Ukraine and by sea. Cargoes are not processed in any way, loaded onto vessels that allegedly engage in cabotage navigation. In neutral waters, cigarettes are reloaded onto vehicles of foreign contractors. In general, the "black" contraband volume is 70 "trucks" (including 10-12 containers by sea). The state loses 350,000 USD from each.

Currently, Ukraine has earned a sad reputation as the leader in cigarette smuggling to the EU. In 2016, its share of the black market was 12%. An excessive testimony to the interest of the top state officials in the prosperity of cigarette smuggling is the fact that Ukraine has not yet ratified the Protocol on the Elimination of Illegal Trade in Tobacco Products. It provides for tight state control over the entire supply chain of tobacco products.

The war in the East of the country made its adjustments to smuggling schemes. On the territory of the so-called "DPR," the "Khamadey" factory is operational, officially owned by Donetsk natives Valeriy Khomenko and Mykhailo Lyashko (the latter was shot dead in Crimea in 2015). According to the media, a significant part of cigarette smuggling destined for the EU is produced there. Smugglers have their people at checkpoints, ensuring them a "green corridor." Furthermore, production takes place on the controlled territory. For example, journalists uncovered one of the illegal productions in Zhovti Vody (Dnipro region), which is "covered" by representatives of the parliamentary "People’s Front" faction. This political force is also involved in the smuggling flows that go through the Ukrainian-Romanian border.

The cigarette business is also profitable because legally produced goods smuggled abroad remain with the factory owners’ documents. Then they are used in so-called "roaming" schemes when cigarettes are fictitiously purchased by different companies.

Luxury cars

Annual state budget losses (approximately): over 6,500,000,000 UAH.

Key routes:
Auto: Other EU countries - Poland - Volyn region.

Under Office control, elite car brands are imported from EU states through the Poland-Ukraine border in the Volyn region. Cars are brought in by documents or as cheap vehicles or spare parts. An average of 2,000 vehicles are imported per month. For each unit, to lower its value, smugglers pay the Office from 500 to 800 USD, "earning" about 30 million UAH per month. Calculating state losses is not easy, as car prices vary greatly, and so do under-received fees - with one car, it can be about 10,000 USD. According to our modest calculations, the losses amount to not less than 6.5 billion UAH a year.

The law enforcement agencies in the fight against this scheme are currently focused on other sections of the Ukrainian border with the EU. The press-service of the State Bureau of Investigations announced on February 21 of this year that the SBI investigators exposed a scheme in the Lviv region for illegally importing premium-class cars into Ukraine without paying mandatory customs duties, which were then sold with forged documents and numbers of assemblies and units.

Consumer goods

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 2,000,000,000 UAH.

Key routes:
By sea + auto: China/Afghanistan/Turkey/EU states and others - Odesa, Kyiv region or Kyiv city.
Auto: EU states - Volyn, Zakarpattia, Lviv regions.

Goods are actively imported from the EU by auto transport through various checkpoints on the Western Ukraine border. From undervaluing the product’s worth, the state budget does not receive up to 1.5 million UAH monthly. In addition, "buses" through Zakarpattia are a widespread form of "black smuggling." From each transport unit of this kind, smugglers earn 700 euros, and throughput capacity is 1,000 "buses" monthly.

A significant part of the products goes by sea, and the place of customs clearance, besides Odesa region, is often Kyiv region and Kyiv city. The state loses approximately 4 million USD monthly. One of the schemes consists of declaring goods of another nomenclature than those in containers. Furthermore, importer companies are fictitious and serve as intermediaries for customs clearance. Let’s stop at typical examples of those who did not go through the Office. For instance, in August 2017, through the Odesa customs, two such firms - "Grais Profi" and "San City LTD" - imported 26 containers. The documentation on which the goods were replaced with a different nomenclature with a lower customs value. Implementing such gray schemes is impossible without the knowledge of customs management. Another scheme involves the "theft" of custom officers’ arrested container goods. A similar situation occurred in the summer of 2018 at the same Odesa customs. The 37 containers that were under arrest mysteriously disappeared and then ended up in the "7-kilometer" market. One of the most profitable smuggling goods in the container schemes is Eastern fabrics from Turkey and Afghanistan. According to the former customs chief Anatoliy Makarenko, in the first quarter of 2017, only 10.7 thousand tons of Turkish fabrics were legally imported, while for the same period in 2014 - 37.5 thousand tons. This indicates an increase in the volume of smuggling of this product.

The worst thing is that the church is involved in container customs schemes. In the spring of 2016, a criminal case was opened against the "Patriarch’s Charitable Mission / Missionary Society / Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate." Then-governor of Odesa Oblast, Mikheil Saakashvili, cheerfully reported the seizure of the contraband. Such an unplanned "highlight" remains a serious problem for the Office. Under the guise of humanitarian aid, goods of national consumption were imported for residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions "PBM" for further cash sale without tax payment. The needy received no humanitarian aid, and the goods ended up in the "7-kilometer" market. Such church contraband schemes are carried out through Oleksandr Petrovskyi (Nalekreshvili), better known in the criminal circles as "Alyk Narik." Let us remind you that this person was honored to receive the Tomos as part of the official delegation next to President Poroshenko. Thus, it is no wonder that the case was "ground to a halt," and the organization was liquidated. The operator has been replaced.

Alcohol

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 1,300,000,000 UAH.

Key routes:

Car: Other EU countries – Poland – Volyn region.

Under the control of the Office, luxury car brands are imported from EU countries through the Polish-Ukrainian border in the Volyn region. Cars are imported through documents or disguised as cheap vehicles or parts. On average, we’re talking about 2,000 vehicles per month. From each unit, smugglers pay the Office 500-800 USD to undervalue it, “earning” about 30 million UAH per month. State losses are not easy to calculate as car prices vary significantly, and thus the missed duties can be around 10,000 USD per car. According to our rough estimates, we are talking about losses of no less than 6.5 billion UAH per year.

Law enforcement agencies, in their fight against this scheme, are currently focused on other segments of the Ukrainian border with the EU. The press service of the State Bureau of Investigation announced on February 21 this year that the SBI investigators uncovered a scheme in Lviv region involving the illegal import of premium-class cars into Ukraine without paying mandatory customs duties, which were later sold with forged documents and numbers of units and aggregates.

Consumer Goods

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 2,000,000,000 UAH.

Key Routes:
By sea + car: China/Afghanistan/Turkey/EU countries, etc. – Odesa, Kyiv region, or the city of Kyiv.
Car: EU countries – Volyn, Zakarpattia, Lviv regions.

Goods are actively imported from the EU by road through various checkpoints on the western border of Ukraine. The state budget misses up to 1.5 million UAH monthly from undervaluation of products. In addition, “black smuggling” is common through Transcarpathia by “vans.” From each such transportation unit, smugglers earn 700 euros, with a throughput of 1,000 “vans” monthly.

A significant portion of the products arrives by sea, and the place of customs clearance, apart from the Odesa region, is often the Kyiv region and the city of Kyiv. The state loses about 4 million USD monthly. One scheme involves declaring goods of a different designation than those in containers. Moreover, importer companies are fictitious and serve as intermediaries for customs clearance. Let’s take a closer look at typical examples of those who did not go through the Office. In particular, in August 2017, through the Odesa customs, two such firms – "Grace Profi" and "San City LTD" – imported 26 containers, for which the documentation had the goods replaced with other nomenclature at a lower customs value. Such gray schemes cannot be executed without the knowledge of the customs administration. Another scheme involves the “theft” of container goods seized by customs. A similar situation occurred in the summer of 2018 at the same Odesa customs. 37 containers that were under arrest mysteriously disappeared and later appeared at the "7th Kilometer" market. One of the most profitable contraband goods in container schemes is Eastern fabrics coming from Turkey and Afghanistan. According to former customs chief Anatoliy Makarenko, in the first quarter of 2017, only 10.7 thousand tons of Turkish fabrics were legally imported, while for the same period in 2014, it was 37.5 thousand tons. This indicates an increase in the volumes of smuggling of this commodity.

Most alarming is that in container customs schemes... the church is involved. In the spring of 2016, a criminal case was opened against the "Patriarchal Charity Mission/Mission Society/Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate." The then head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Mikheil Saakashvili, proudly reported on the stoppage of smuggling. Such an unplanned "exposure" remains a serious problem for the Office. After all, under the guise of humanitarian aid for the inhabitants of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, "PBM" supplied commercial goods for further sale for cash without paying taxes. The needy received no humanitarian aid, and the goods ended up on the market "7th Kilometer". Such church contraband schemes are carried out, among others, through Oleksandr Petrovskiy (Nalekreshvili), better known in criminal circles as "Alik Narik". Recall this character was honored to receive the Tomos as part of the official delegation alongside President Poroshenko. Therefore, it is not surprising that the case was “shelved”, and the organization was liquidated. The operator was changed.

Alcohol

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 1,300,000,000 UAH.

Key Routes:
Car: Moldova – Chernivtsi region – Lviv region – Poland

Mainly, the alcohol that goes from Ukraine to the EU under the control of the Office enters our territory from Moldova. According to our informants, state losses amount to up to 50 million USD monthly. Law enforcement regularly reports the cessation of small-scale alcohol smuggling, as in canisters by boats or by artisanal “hose-pipeline.” Larger batches of 200-liter barrels calmly enter Ukraine through the Chernivtsi region, moving further on to Poland.

Nitrate

Annual state budget losses (approximately): 1,200,000,000 UAH.

Key Routes:
Railway, car: RF – Ukraine and RF – Belarus – Ukraine.
Sea: RF / Egypt / Iran – Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa regions.

The nitrate contraband is a particularly cynical source of income for the Office. The fact is that most fertilizers come from Russia and Iran, which is prohibited by sanctions. If a legal product were imported, 40 USD per ton would be paid to the state budget. Contrabandists only by rail and road import 70,000 tons monthly. To circumvent sanctions, the following schemes are used:

– according to documents, another product is imported, and the nitrate goes to the “black market”;

– nitrate is imported illegally into our territory and then labeled as a Ukrainian product;

– import of Russian nitrate under the trademarks of other countries: Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

By sea, nitrate is imported from the same RF, Iran, and Egypt. The fee for unhindered processing without paying anti-dumping duties is 10 USD per ton. We are talking about volumes of: 300,000 tons monthly from December to March.

Nitrate is a strategically important product for our agriculture, and unfortunately, despite the imposed economic sanctions, Ukraine is still dependent on supplies from Russia: 70% of the market is taken by Russian products. Now these supplies come through smuggling both through the Ukrainian-Russian and Ukrainian-Belarusian borders. Accordingly, the quality of the product is no longer guaranteed.

Cocaine

Key Routes:
By sea: South America – Odesa region.
Car / railway: Transcarpathian, Lviv, and Volyn regions – EU countries.
By sea: South America – Odesa region.

Cocaine mostly enters Ukraine in bananas from South American countries. After the sea route, part of the drug spreads in Ukraine, and most of it travels by road and rail to EU countries. Already at the western border, cocaine is masked in various ways. The main thing is that the "green light" for this is given by the Office. It’s extremely difficult to calculate the market scale as it involves a completely banned product.

Let’s just recall that in March 2019, in the port of Pivdenny in Odesa, the largest cocaine shipment in the last 10 years was discovered - 257 kg in 5 containers of bananas. It’s an atypical case for Ukrainian customs, as drugs often pass freely through customs barriers.

Odesa is a key transshipment point for drug trafficking. The prohibited powder goes there from South America, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. According to media information, large shipments of drugs in the Odesa port were detected by customs officers and the Security Service of Ukraine only under pressure from foreign colleagues. Moreover, demonstrative, thoughtless detentions of performers only broke all plans of foreign law enforcement to identify the entire drug trafficking chain – from seller to buyer. However, given the Office’s interest in the stability of the large cocaine pathway through Ukraine, this is not surprising.

Blocking Changes and Plans for Self-Perpetuation

Late last year, at the West’s request, the Cabinet of Ministers moved to split the State Fiscal Service. Separate customs and tax services are to be created. Positions in the new institutions were opened for competition, which disrupts the integrity of the Office, which strives to function as long as possible. After all, it brings millions of profits daily to the group’s members. Therefore, following a lawsuit by an MP from BPP, Andriy Antonyschak, a longtime friend, and business partner of the top DFS official, Viktor Kryvitskyi, the Kyiv District Administrative Court suspended the competition.

To say the least, colossal revenues from criminal schemes and the danger of persecution are one reason for delaying the general process of changing power in Ukraine: every day brings in hundreds of millions and allows for “covering more tracks.” At the same time, according to our data, Hranovsky is trying to organize negotiations to preserve the Office’s work immunity even under a new President, considering the interests of the Ze-team. Especially since MP from the "Revival" group, Vitaliy Khomutynnyk, close to oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi, has his profit from the Office’s work. Specifically, through one of the "operators of the smuggling market" Volodymyr Skorobahach, who is one of the largest importers and exporters of meat from RF. In 2014, Oblast Council Deputy Skorobahach was subjected to “garbage lustration” in his native Kharkiv. And the above-mentioned tobacco factory "Hamaday" in occupied Donetsk is controlled by Yevhen Heller, a business partner, and colleague of Khomutynnyk in the parliament.

To be continued...

Source: Blind Trust