Former Deputy Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Ruslan Cherkasky, together with Vitaliy Kiro, who was involved in the production of cigarettes with counterfeit excise stamps, purchased apartments and office space in Dubai, worth about $25 million. Some of this property was leased out by the owners, while others have already been sold. This was reported by Schemes with reference to transaction data from the official Dubai registry, which journalists received access to as part of the international investigative project Dubai Unlocked, UNN reports.
"Skhemy noted that Ruslan Cherkasky's available property declarations do not contain any information about these investments or income from sales or leases.
According to the Dubai leak, Cherkassky, together with Vitaly Kiro, invested in 2010 in two apartments in Pentominium tower A (now known as Six Senses Residences - ed.) with an area of 649 square meters each. The total transaction value is over $10 million.
It is reported that a year earlier, in 2009, Cherkassky, together with Kiro, bought an office space in Dubai Pearl, with a total value of $14 million. Cherkassky's share is 861 square meters.
Both residential complexes are currently unfinished. Ruslan Cherkasky's available property declarations do not mention these investments.
Earlier, Cherkasky had indicated other real estate in the United Arab Emirates in his declarations. With the help of the Dubai leak, Skhemy found out that these are two apartments in the Bahar 6 residential complex. One of them is also a joint purchase with Vitaliy Kiro.
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According to the Dubai Land Registry, Cherkassky bought an apartment in this residential complex in 2008, after he resigned from his position as the First Deputy Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine. According to these transactions, the co-owners paid $162 thousand each. Indicating this real estate in the declaration, Cherkasky entered it with a mistake in his surname - Koro instead of Kiro. The Skhemy article suggests that this is no coincidence, as Vitaliy Kiro is a subject of journalistic investigations. He is known, among other things, for his interest in the cigarette business, which operated in violation of the law.
Vitaliy Kiro's wife, Olga, indirectly owned a stake in United Tobacco, a tobacco factory in Zhovti Vody, Dnipro region, which produced cigarettes with fake excise stamps. This was previously covered in an investigation by Skhemy journalists, after which the court ordered the factory to pay taxes and a fine of more than three million hryvnias.
According to the transaction data, Cherkassky sold his stake in Bahar 6 to Kiro in 2023. Ruslan Cherkassky sold another apartment in the same residential complex in early 2021. The total amount of the transactions was $224 thousand. Both apartments brought in rental income: a total of $75.6 thousand from the apartment shared with Kiro and $123 thousand from the other, the investigation says. There is no information about this income in Cherkasky's available declarations.
So far, Schemes has not been able to get Cherkasky's comment on the Dubai property.
Ruslan Cherkassky started working as an inspector in the early 90s and held various positions at customs under all presidents of Ukraine, the investigation says. On March 24, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Cherkasky from the post of deputy head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine. This happened amid reports that law enforcement officers had exposed more than 10 high-ranking officials involved in a scheme to embezzle funds from Ukrainian grain exports. Reportedly, the persons involved in the organization of the fraud included the deputy head of a department of the State Customs Service and the management of the Odesa Customs. On February 1, the government dismissed the management of the Customs.
Earlier, Slovo i Dilo found out that the NABU and the SAPO are investigating the alleged legalization of funds received by Cherkasky. His live-in girlfriend Maria Trifonova, the owner of cosmetology clinics in Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, is allegedly involved. Detectives are also investigating Cherkassky's alleged enrichment.
According to the investigation, the former deputy head of the State Customs Service acquired assets in the form of cash, vehicles, real estate and other property, the value of which exceeds his legal income by more than 6500 tax-free minimum incomes.
The investigation of Skhemy specifically found that Maria Trifonova's financial situation improved in 2017, when Cherkasy customs officer began to list her as a cohabitant, a civilian wife, in his declarations. In response to a request for comment, Trifonova said that she would only answer questions about "aesthetic medicine".