According to estimates of the Ministry of economy, 40% of the Ukrainian economy is "in the shadows". Obviously, this also applies to the agricultural sector and the export of agricultural products. The laws signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, aimed at combating "black grain" and non-return of foreign currency earnings, will make it possible to better control the issue of returning foreign currency earnings from agricultural products. This was announced during a briefing on Wednesday by First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine-Minister of economy Yulia Svyrydenko, answering a question from an UNN correspondent.
Details
"I think that only our grain traders can give you an expert assessment of the latest figures of "gray" grain exports, but it is clear that there is a share. We believed that if we are talking about the shadow economy, then 40% is a potential figure for finding the economy "in the shadows". I think it is obvious that this applies to the agricultural sector, including the export of agricultural products. Therefore, the law signed by the president should make it possible to better control the issue of returning foreign currency earnings from agricultural products. Over the past six months, in fact, there has already been a shift in the figures in the return of foreign currency earnings, because we, together with the NBU, monitor these revenues. But let's look at the dynamics. We hope that the situation will improve by the end of the year," Svyrydenko said.
She added that this is important because if foreign currency earnings are not returned, it threatens the financing of the state budget.
Recall
Earlier it became known that the Bureau of Economic Security is investigating several criminal proceedings related to "gray" grain exports. According to law enforcement officers, the most common scheme of such tax evasion for tens of millions of hryvnia is the purchase of grain that has no documents of origin for cash and its further export abroad using the details of "risky" or shell companies.
One of the striking examples of gray exports are criminal cases that relate to "gray" exports from the Olympex grain terminal in 2021-2023, when it was actively managed by Odessa businessmen Sergei Groza and Vladimir Naumenko.
In particular, in January 2021, law enforcement officers were interested in a number of companies engaged in grain exports and associated with the agricultural holding GNT Group of Sergey Groza and Vladimir Naumenko. Ferko LLC, Metallzyukrain Corp LTD, Inzernoexport Grain Transshipment Complex LLC and Vtormetexport enterprise, belonging to the GNT Group, actively used the details of "risky" enterprises for export operations. During the investigation, the territorial department of the BEB in the Odessa region identified at least three such "risky" enterprises: OUTSTAFF 19 LLC, ALICENTA TRADE LLC and SOLTEK PRODUCT LLC. In addition, the investigation found that the exported grain was stored, in particular, in the warehouses of Olympex Coupe International LLC, which is also controlled by Groza and Naumenko.
According to the results of the investigation, law enforcement officers found that none of the mentioned "risky" enterprises has evidence of the purchase of cereals that were planned to be exported, which is more than 2 thousand tons of corn, barley, wheat (this is only what was discovered by law enforcement officers during searches). In addition, all these enterprises violated the requirements of financial and tax reporting, demonstrated zero profitability, and underestimated income tax.
Only within the framework of this criminal proceeding, according to law enforcement officers, the Groza and Naumenko companies caused damage to the state in the amount of almost UAH 37.5 million. At the same time, the exporter of "gray" grain was LLC "Agiros", which belongs to the famous smuggler Vadim Alperin, against whom the NSDC imposed sanctions in 2021 and who was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. And these grains were shipped, according to media reports, by another company controlled by Groza and Naumenko, Attollo Granum.
Currently, this criminal proceeding is still under investigation.
One more thing criminal proceedings, in which Groza and Naumenko's company Olympex Coupe International LLC appears, are being investigated by the territorial department of the BEB of the city of Kiev. It was opened a year later, in 2022, but also concerns the "gray" grain exports.
The case is being investigated under articles on tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.
The scheme according to which the Groza and Naumenko company operated is identical to the one used earlier, only the names of fictitious companies differ, and even then not all. In particular, it includes what has already been mentioned in another criminal proceeding of OUTSTAFF 19 LLC.
In addition to this company, they also used the "risky" enterprises "EXPRESS ALL" and "AGROTRANS GROUP". With their help, according to the investigation, at least 40 thousand tons of cereals and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
In addition, BAB detectives believe that criminal activity related to tax evasion by "gray" grain exports continues at the Olympex terminal.