Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security are conducting searches in the Attolo Granum company, controlled by Odessa businessmen Sergei Groza and Vladimir Naumenko. She is suspected of "gray" grain exports from the Olympex terminal in the Odessa region. This UNN became known from its own sources in law enforcement agencies.
The BEB exposed a scheme for exporting agricultural products from Ukraine without paying taxes by using the details of enterprises with signs of "riskiness" during export operations.
According to the investigation, the actual delivery and cash payment were carried out at the production facilities, that is, directly at the controlled by Groza and Naumenko through the companies "Olympex Coupe International" and "Attollo Granum" terminal "Olympex".
"Whole property complexes at the specified addresses are used in illegal activities for the storage, accumulation and transshipment of agricultural products of "risky" storage facilities (business entities - ed.)," the materials say the courts.
For this purpose, such "risky" enterprises were used: OUTSTAFF 19, EXPRESS ALL and AGROTRANS GROUP. With their help, at least 40 thousand tons of grain and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
During preliminary searches at the grain terminal, law enforcement officers also found agricultural products without documents about the owners. So, on November 10, 2023, Olympex had about 22.6 thousand tons of wheat, almost 9 thousand tons of corn and 11 thousand tons of soybeans.
The BEB is investigating criminal proceedings under articles on tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.
In addition, Attollo Granum LLC, controlled by Groza and Naumenko, actively cooperates with Vadim Alperin, a well-known smuggler in Ukraine, against whom the NSDC imposed sanctions in 2021 and was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.
It was this company of Groza and Naumenko that shipped grain to the Alperin Agiros company at the Olympex terminal.
We are talking about at least 20 thousand tons of corn and 10 thousand tons of wheat, the exporter of which, according to law enforcement, was the company "Agiros".
According to RBC-Ukraine, Alperin's companies can now handle about 150 thousand tons of grain per month through the Olympex terminal. Even taking into account the lowest price per ton of 150 euros, we can talk about the amount of 22.5 million euros per month, of which the budget of Ukraine receives nothing.
Recall
The GNT Group of companies, owned by businessmen Sergei Groza and Vladimir Naumenko, in 2019 and 2021 received investment loans from two American funds for the development of the Olympex grain terminal in the Odessa region, which it owned by that time. Having decided not to return the money to creditors, Groza and Naumenko took loans from the Ukrainian banks Vostok and Pivdenniy secured by the property of the grain terminal, which was already secured by the Americans.
Due to a simple scheme using controlled companies and Ukrainian banks, they resold the property to Olympex several times, thus trying to maintain control over the terminal.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers have opened several criminal cases in connection with the situation around the "Olympex". And creditors, in turn, demand the return of their own funds in international arbitrations, and quite successfully. In particular, the English court decided to freeze the assets of Groza and Naumenko worldwide.
You can read more about the conflict around the Olympex grain terminal in the article: "Groza and Naumenko's company GNT Group blocked the operation of the grain terminal in Odessa. A detailed chronology of the conflict."