Encyclopaedia of financial crime from Lviv MPs and businessmen brothers Yuriy Doskich and Ostap Doskich

Lviv businessmen with an ambiguous biography and an obvious criminal trail have repeatedly been the heroes of our anti-corruption investigations. Previous materials from ANTIKOR demonstrated an obvious scheme for “whitening” the funds that Doskich receives through cooperation with representatives of the so-called “amber mafia” from the Rivne region - the Prodivus family.

However, the brothers’ criminal pattern is much deeper than we thought. Based on the data we collected when preparing the material, it would be possible to create a whole guide to economic crime: fictitious enterprises, fraud, front persons, tax evasion, legalization of proceeds from crime - this is just a small arsenal that the Doskichi use in their business activities .

Doskichev’s main business is the limited liability company GAL-KAT. The brothers have equal shares in it, each of them owns 50% of the company. The company, according to its financial statements, is very profitable, but not entirely profitable. Over the past 3 years, GAL-KAT has received income of more than 7.1 billion hryvnia (you must agree, a substantial amount). At the same time, the company’s net profit amounted to only a little more than 50 million hryvnia, that is, approximately 0.07% of income. At this point, it is worth recalling that Ukrainian companies pay tax on profits, so it is logical that most enterprises try to understate their profits in order to evade taxes. Considering the recorded income of GAL-KAT, the lion’s share of which comes from government purchases, the opinion creeps in that the company is deliberately understating profits.

Financial statements of ALC "GAL-KAT" (source: Opendatabot )

If we have such an opinion after reading the financial statements of the enterprise, obviously law enforcement officers should also be interested in the incredibly low profits of the multibillion-dollar company GAL-KAT.

According to current legislation, tax evasion proceedings are under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine. ANTIKOR’s source in BES confirmed that the company’s vigorous activity, which actually involves tax evasion, is the subject of a pre-trial investigation.

The GAL-KAT criminal trail is truly surprising. The court register contains 67 decisions taken in criminal proceedings in which the Doskich company appears.

Information from the Unified State Register of Court Decisions on decisions of judges in criminal proceedings in which ALC "GAL-KAT" appears

The company of the Doskich brothers was founded at the end of 2012, and the first criminal proceedings against GAL-KAT were launched in mid-2014. It is not surprising that law enforcement officers suspected the company of tax evasion. As the investigation established, the relationship between VMG LLC (another company involved in criminal proceedings) and Gal-Trans LLC is fictitious and designed to disguise the illegal economic activities of VMG LLC, aimed at tax evasion.

What kind of company is this "VMG"? Having examined information from the registers, we were able to establish that the owner of the company was a resident of the Lviv region, Bohdan Mashtalir. Another business was also registered in his name - Ukrmid LLC. In fact, both companies, the owner of which was listed as Mashtalir, were engaged in the same thing as Doskich’s business, namely: electrical wiring, metal, etc. Analyzing the data from the registers, we were convinced that it all boils down to the fact that Mashtalir was a front person used by the Doskich brothers to launder funds. After law enforcement officers became interested in the activities of VMG LLC, the company was liquidated, leaving behind about 300 thousand hryvnia of debt. However, at the same time, another enterprise was created - ALC "Ukr-Mid", which was again founded by Bohdan Mashtalir, a Lviv resident, who previously had experience in business only with VMG LLC, which ended in criminal proceedings, but for some reason without a verdict.

But during the founding of the Ukr-Mid ALC, the Doskich either lost their vigilance, or felt absolute impunity, or thought that after almost 10 years everyone would forget about the activities of Ukr-Mid. The company was registered in the same building in which, after 9 years, the GAL-KAT Trading House ALC will receive its location. Of course, this company is 100% owned by the brothers, founded on February 28 of this year.

It is possible that the registration address is not enough to confirm the connection between Ukr-Mid and GAL-KAT, but there are other factors indicating that the company was affiliated with Doskichi. "Ukr-Mid" existed for only 2 years and 3 months, but in this short period of time the enterprise became a real "star" among fiscal officials. Currently, according to data from the registers, the company has a debt to the tax authorities in the amount of 117 million hryvnia.

Information on encumbrances of Ukr-Mid ALC (data: Vkursi.pro)The first name of "Ukr-Mid" was "Galician Cable Company". In fact, immediately after its founding, the name of the enterprise was changed, and at the end of 2016, another limited liability company with the same name appeared - “Galician Cable Company”. This enterprise is not new, it simply changed its name from “BUD MAT Ukraine”. The founders of this company are... the Doskich brothers. On February 28, 2024, this enterprise created a new company with additional liability with the same name, that is, with absolutely the same name that Ukr-Mid originally had. Coincidence? Still, we do not believe in such coincidences. Obvious schematosis.

Schematic representation of the “official” connections of “Ukr-Mid”

During its short, but very turbulent history, “Ukr-Mid” also became a defendant in high-profile criminal proceedings, which at one time were investigated by both the DBI and the SSU under the procedural leadership of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office. We are talking about proceedings entered into the ERDR under No. 42018100000000908 dated September 28, 2020 on grounds of criminal offenses under Part 3 of Art. 212, part 3 art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, that is, tax evasion and legalization of proceeds from crime. This case was investigated against dozens of different companies, one of the most famous of which is the tobacco magnate Tedis Ukraine.

The last argument to confirm that in fact Ukr-Mid was a Doskich company created for the purpose of money laundering and tax evasion is that in criminal proceedings No. 42017000000003630 dated November 13, 2017 on grounds of criminal offenses. Art. 358, part 3 art. 209, part 2 art. 205, part 3 art. 212, part 5 art. 27, part 3 art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine included two companies officially owned by the brothers (Trading House Gal-Kat LLC, Gal-Kat LLC) and the same Ukr-Mid, which seemed not to be theirs, but still theirs.

In this simple way, the Doskich brothers were able to illegally earn more than 200 million hryvnia only in the period from 2016 to 2019, or at the then exchange rate - approximately 7.5 million dollars. And this is only for one affiliated company.

The crime here is more than obvious, but no one is responsible for such a blatant violation of the laws. Why? We have an answer to this question, which we will write about in the next part of the material.