In Ukraine, a scheme of "shadow" supplies of Russian drugs worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias was exposed during the full-scale invasion, among the organizers are the owner of a Russian pharmaceutical holding and the director of a subsidiary company from Ukraine, reported the Prosecutor General's Office on Wednesday, writes UNN.
According to UNN, it is about the founder of LLC "NVF "Materia Medica Holding", a citizen of the Russian Federation Oleg Epshtein, and four officials of LLC "Materia Medica-Ukraine".
An organized group led by a citizen of the Russian Federation has been exposed. The Prosecutor General's Office and the National Police of Ukraine stopped the activities of a well-established scheme for supplying Russian homeopathic drugs to the territory of Ukraine for sale and profit, which were subsequently transferred to representatives of the aggressor state
According to the prosecutor's office, "it was found that it was organized by a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the owner of a large pharmaceutical holding in the Russian Federation." Through controlled persons, in the early 2000s, he reportedly created a subsidiary in Ukraine with an almost identical name.
"After 2014, the holding opened production on the territory of a European state bordering Russia to circumvent sanctions and cover supplies. In fact, only the packaging of Russian medicines was changed there - they were disguised as products of European origin. Subsequently, the import of goods was put "on stream"", - the prosecutor's office said.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the owner of the Russian holding involved the founder and director of the Ukrainian enterprise, a responsible person for quality control, a manager for drug registration and pharmacovigilance, as well as the chief accountant of this enterprise in this scheme.
According to the investigation, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the pharmaceutical company - the official representative of the Russian holding in Ukraine "did not stop its work, but instead intensified measures to disguise its activities and continued to support the economy of the aggressor state."
Since then, according to the prosecutor's office, medical preparations of Russian origin worth over UAH 270 million have been sold. "Part of the funds was withdrawn to the accounts of the enterprises of the ultimate beneficiary - a citizen of the Russian Federation," the Prosecutor General's Office reported.
A number of drugs, as indicated, were made from rabbit droppings, snake venom, and crushed bodies of honey bees. Their medicinal properties have not been confirmed by any international studies, and their use could pose a threat to health.
Under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, based on the collected evidence, the organizer and all participants of the scheme were notified of suspicion of conducting economic activity in cooperation with the aggressor state, committed as part of an organized group (Part 3 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)
During searches in offices, vehicles, and at their places of residence, it is reported that more than 40 boxes of documentation for drugs, computer equipment, and mobile phones "with correspondence between the management of the Ukrainian company and the Russian holding, where profit distribution, withdrawal of funds, price coordination, advertising, avoidance of sanctions, and concealment of the country of origin of products were discussed" were seized.
"As part of the investigation, a house with an area of over 700 sq. m. in the center of Kyiv, which belongs to the owner of the Russian holding and was used as an office and a homeopathy warehouse, was seized. Also, the issue of canceling registration certificates and state registration for 11 medicinal products owned by the Ukrainian enterprise was initiated before the Ministry of Health of Ukraine," the Prosecutor General's Office reported.
Addition
In July, law enforcement officers exposed a Ukrainian oligarch who, despite sanctions, continued to produce and sell medicines in the Russian Federation, financing its budget. His company earned over UAH 420 million by selling medicines, including to Russian military hospitals. According to UNN, it was about the Arterium corporation, whose beneficiary is Kostiantyn Zhevago. Enterprises that are part of the corporation were probably involved in the criminal scheme.