Grey exports are destroying the Ukrainian economy, so tax evasion schemes with their help should be eliminated. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive comment by UNN by the head of the subcommittee on food industry and trade in agro-industrial goods of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy of Ukraine, Pyotr Yurchyshyn.
President Vladimir Zelensky signed a law envisaging the fight against the "black grain" and the non-return of foreign currency earnings. The document gives the Cabinet the right to launch mechanisms that minimize opportunities for abuse during the export of agricultural products. In particular, the government may introduce an export security regime for certain types of agricultural products.
"Everything that is being done around the President is being done for Ukraine and its economic development. Grey exports must be destroyed because it is the destruction of the economy. Our manufacturers should be in the first place, both in terms of VAT refunds and assistance from the state, all the others are scammers," Yurchishin said.
According to him, if the country manages to overcome gray grain exports, then revenues to the Ukrainian budget will increase significantly.
"I know one thing – everyone should work honestly and fairly – then we will have income and there will be no problems," Yurchishin stressed.
At the same time, he noted significant shifts in the fight of law enforcement agencies against dishonest entrepreneurs who export grain "in the gray", evading taxes. "Because every day facts of violations are being revealed, collaborators and traitors are being identified. We will defeat both the external enemy and the one inside the country – the gray exporter," he concluded.
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Earlier it became known that the Bureau of Economic Security is investigating several criminal proceedings concerning gray grain exports. According to law enforcement authorities, the most common scheme of such tax evasion for tens of millions of hryvnia is the purchase of grain that does not have 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 LLC, Inzernoexport Grain Transshipment Complex LLC and Vtormetexport enterprise, belonging to the GNT Group, actively used the details of "risky" enterprises to carry out export operations. During the investigation, the territorial department of the BEP 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, Atoll 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, BEB detectives believe that criminal activity related to tax evasion through gray grain exports continues at the Olympex terminal .