The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv has arrested grain stored at the Olimpex grain terminal in Odesa region as part of criminal proceedings over tax evasion worth almost UAH 81 million, UNN reports .
"The prosecutor's motion is to be partially granted. To seize the property seized on June 7, 2024, at the grain terminal of Olympex Coupe International LLC, the current place of business of Attollo Granum LLC...", - reads the decision of the court.
In particular, the investigating judge seized 18-page consignment notes of the exporter Aftorx LLC and the customer Triple Trading LLC. In addition, 29 sea containers filled with wheat, more than 33 thousand tons of corn and more than 11 thousand tons of wheat were also seized.
The court's decision states that during the hearing, a detective of the Bureau of Economic Security noted that the transportation of grain to the Olympex terminal was carried out by Stepove. According to him, during the search, the head of Attollo Granum LLC refused to provide documents that would confirm the ownership of the products.
At the same time, according to the investigation, the director of LLC "Aftorx" is a fictitious person, as he re-registered the company in his name for a monetary reward and has no actual relation to the company's business activities.
The detective believes that the officials of Attollo Granum LLC deliberately did not provide information about the owners of the seized products, although they had correspondence with the person who controls Stepove SE.
During the hearing, the lawyer of Attollo Granum LLC said that the first owner of the agricultural products was a company owned by Odesa businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, Ferko, but the defense lawyer could not provide supporting documents.
In his decision, the investigating judge noted that he took into account the fact that the criminal proceedings are not limited to the events of 2021-2023, but also concern the circumstances of the commission of unidentified persons using the details of “risky” business entities: LLC “Aftorx”, LLC “Triple Trading”, LLC “TEO” in the period from 2024 to the present, unreasonably entering into official documents false information about the manufacturer and/or supplier of agricultural products in order to conceal them, that is, committing actions aimed at tax evasion in especially large amounts and assisting in such tax evasion to business entities - manufacturers and/or suppliers of agricultural products.
It is noted that these actions led to tax evasion in the amount of UAH 80,921,808.
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The Bureau of Economic Security is investigating three criminal proceedings related to the gray export of grain crops from the Olympex grain terminal. According to law enforcement officials, the most common scheme for such tax evasion worth tens of millions of hryvnias is the purchase of grain without documents of origin for cash and its subsequent export abroad using the details of "risky" or shell companies.
One of the most prominent examples of gray exports is the criminal cases related to gray exports from the Olympex grain terminal in 2021-2023, when it was actively managed by Odesa businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko.
In particular, in January 2021, law enforcement officers became interested in a number of grain export companies associated with the GNT Group agricultural holding of Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko. Ferko LLC, Metalzukrain Corp Ltd, Grain Transshipment Complex Inzernoexport LLC, and Vtormeteksport, which belong to GNT Group, actively used the details of “risky” companies to conduct export operations. During the investigation, the BES territorial office in Odesa region identified at least three such “risky” companies: OUTSTAFF 19 LLC, ALICENT TRADE LLC, and SOLTEK PRRSAKT 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.
As a result of the investigation, law enforcement officers found that none of the above-mentioned "risky" companies had evidence of purchasing grain that was to be exported, which is more than 2,000 tons of corn, barley, and wheat (this is only what law enforcement officers found during searches). In addition, all of these companies violated financial and tax reporting requirements, demonstrated zero profitability, and underreported income tax.
According to law enforcement estimates, Groza and Naumenko's companies caused losses to the state in the amount of almost UAH 37.5 million within this criminal proceeding alone. At the same time, the exporter of "gray" grains was Agiros LLC, owned by a well-known smuggler Vadym Alperin, against whom the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions in 2021 and who was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. According to media reports, another company controlled by Groza and Naumenko, Attollo Granum, shipped these grains.
This criminal proceeding is currently under investigation.
Another criminal proceedinginvolving Hroza and Naumenko's company Olympex Coupe International LLC is being investigated by the Kyiv territorial department of the BES. It was opened a year later, in 2022, but it also concerns "gray" grain exports.
The case is being investigated under articles on tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.
The scheme used by Groza and Naumenko's company is identical to the one used earlier, with only the names of the fictitious companies differing, and not all of them. In particular, it involves OUTSTAFF 19 LLC, mentioned in another criminal proceeding.
In addition to this company, they also used the "risky" companies Express Vsei and AGROTRANS-GROUP. With their help, according to the investigation, at least 40 thousand tons of grains and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023. In addition, BES detectives believe that criminal activities related to tax evasion through gray grain exports continue at the Olympex terminal .