The problem of "gray" grain exports has existed in Ukraine for a number of years. In the recent period, such violations have become less frequent, but they still exist. This is evidenced, in particular, by the criminal proceedings, which are being investigated by the Territorial Department of the Kiev Economic Security Bureau, about "gray" grain exports and money laundering that took place at the Olympex terminal when it was managed by the GNT Group of Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, the UNN writes.
According to the decision of the Pechersky district court of Kiev, which arrested the property of Olympex Coupe International LLC, which is part of the structure of the GNT Group of Groza and Naumenko, during the pre-trial investigation, law enforcers exposed a scheme to export agricultural products from Ukraine without paying taxes by using the details of companies with signs of "riskiness" in export operations.
In particular, according to the investigation, the actual delivery and cash settlement were carried out at the production facilities, i.e. directly at the Olympex terminal controlled by Groza and Naumenko through Olympex Coupe International and Attollo Granum.
"Integral property complexes at the specified addresses are used in illegal activities for storage, accumulation and transshipment of agricultural products of ‘risky’ ARD (subjuncts of economic activity - ed.)", - stated in the court materials.
During interrogation on November 11, 2023, Vitaly Marchenko, who at the time was the director of Olympex Coupe International LLC, confirmed that his company provides loading, storage and unloading services for agricultural products.
According to the investigation, the following "risky" enterprises were used in the scheme: "AUTSTAFF 19, EXPRESS ALL and AGROTRANS-GROUPP. With their help, more than 40,000 tons of grain and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
During searches at the grain terminal, law enforcers found agro-products without documents on the property owners. Thus, on November 10, 2023, Olimpex had grain residues: about 22.6 thousand tons of wheat, almost 9 thousand tons of corn and 11 thousand tons of soybeans.
The chairman of the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, Hennadiy Novikov, told UNN in a commentary that "gray" or "black" grain exports will exist as long as settlements are made in cash. At the same time, he said, the number of non-cash settlements for agro-products has recently increased.
"It's already about 50/50 between cash and non-cash payments. In the past, cashless was 3-5%, if 10% is good, the rest is for cash. Therefore, the situation has improved, but not 100%," he said.
According to Novikov, exporters should not be interested in "black" exports because they will not receive VAT refunds and will lose competitiveness.
"Another thing is that they sell (products - ed.) to subsidiaries and withdraw capital, but this is a little different. It's not black exports, it's financial transactions, violations and the like," he said.
This explains, inter alia, why Groza and Naumenko's company, as alleged in submissions of the High Court of England and Wales, transported the allegedly spoiled grain out of the Olympex terminal on vessels controlled by them, GNT Europe.
According to Novikov, conditions were specially created at the grain terminal for one port operator. "There they forced or created conditions so that through a certain operator who had certain opportunities at this terminal they, so to speak, exported," Novikov said.
We are talking about Attollo Granum LLC, which had an exclusive contract with the terminal and was free to do as it pleased.
In particular, according to journalists' information, the Attollo Granum company controlled by Groza and Naumenko obtained half of the Olympex grain terminal through a scheme of illegal sale. It actively cooperates with the company of one of the most famous smugglers in Ukraine - Vadym Alperin, who fell under sanctions of the National Security Council in 2021 and was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship.
As proof of their cooperation, the journalists published a photo of the bill of lading, by which Attollo Granum shipped wheat to Alperin's company Agiros.
At the same time, according to data of the RBC-Ukraine publication, Alperin's company can now handle about 150,000 tons of grain per month through the Olympex Kupe terminal. Even taking into account the lowest price of 150 euros per ton, we are talking about 22.5m euros per month, of which the Ukrainian budget receives nothing.
Experts interviewed by UNN claim that last year alone, Attollo Granum made a net profit of 37 million dollars. At the same time, it officially declared a loss of more than 1.8 million hryvnias. It is not difficult to imagine how much the Ukrainian budget could have received if such port operators as Attollo Granum had been more decent.
Recall
The GNT Group, owned by businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, received investment loans from two US funds in 2019 and 2021 to develop the Olympex grain terminal in Odessa, which it owned at the time. These companies Groza and Naumenko, according to media reports, were actively cooperating with the company of the under-sanctioned smuggler Vadim Alperin, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Deciding not to repay their creditors, Groza and Naumenko took out loans from Ukrainian banks Vostok and Pivdenniy against the property of the grain terminal, which was already pledged to the Americans.
Through an uncomplicated scheme using controlled companies and Ukrainian banks, they resold the property of Olympex several times, trying to retain control over the terminal in this way.
Ukrainian law enforcers have opened several criminal cases in connection with the situation around Olimpex. For example, one of Naumenko and Groza's companies was found guilty of gray export of grain that was stored at the terminal.
And creditors, in turn, in international arbitrations demand the return of their funds and quite successfully. In particular, an English arbitration tribunal decided on a worldwide freeze of Groza's and Naumenko's assets.
More details about the conflict around the grain terminal Olympex can be read in the material: "Groza and Naumenko's company GNT Group blocked the work of the grain terminal in Odessa. Detailed chronology of the conflict".