“Gray” grain exports are taking a heavy toll on Ukraine's state budget. If the issue were finally resolved, the authorities would not have to increase taxes for businesses and raise electricity prices. This opinion in an exclusive commentary UNN expressed the President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation Leonid Kozachenko.
"I agree that this ("gray" grain exports - ed.) is not normal, and it is necessary to punish all those involved in the schemes - both the perpetrators and those helping them, but this requires political will. Therefore, it is necessary to put a stop here long ago. The budget loses a lot (through "gray" grain exports - ed.)," Kozachenko said.
He recalled that the authorities are currently planning to increase the tax burden on businesses, as well as to raise electricity prices for households. However, this, according to Kozachenko, did not have to be done if grain exports took place “in the white”.
"A lot of money could be bridged if we stop exporting 'in gray'. Because it affects the budget very much," he noted.
Kozachenko explained that “gray” exports become possible due to cash settlements and the issuance of fictitious documents by fiscal authorities. According to him, fiscal authorities receive 10% for issuing fake documents.
Add
Earlier UNN wrote that the largest gates "gray" exports of grain from Ukraine remains a grain terminal. "Olympex" is one of the largest in the Odessa region. "Gray" exporters use several export schemes - for cash, as well as through fictitious firms. One of the brightest examples of violators was the company of businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, Olympex Coupe International.
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 due to the use of details of companies with signs of "riskiness" during export operations.
According to the investigation, the actual delivery and cash payment were made 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 above addresses are used in illegal activities for storage, accumulation and transshipment of agricultural products of ‘risky’ ARD (economic entities - ed.),” the court materials say.
Such “risky” enterprises were used for this purpose: “AUTSTAFF 19”, “EXPRESS ALL” and “AGROTRANS-GROUPP”. With their help, at least 40 thousand tons of grain and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
During searches at the grain terminal, law enforcers also found agro-products without documents on the property owners. Thus, on November 10, 2023, about 22.6 thousand tons of wheat, almost 9 thousand tons of corn and 11 thousand tons of soybeans were at Olimpex.
Recall
The GNT Group, owned by Groza and Naumenko, received investment loans from two US funds in 2019 and 2021 to develop the Olympex grain terminal in Odessa Region, which it owned at the time. Groza and Naumenko's companies, according to media reports, actively cooperated with the company of the under-sanctioned smuggler Vadim Alperin, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Having decided not to return the money to their creditors, Groza and Naumenko took out loans from Ukrainian banks Vostok and Yuzhny against the collateral of the grain terminal's property, which was already pledged to the Americans.
Through a simple scheme using controlled companies and Ukrainian banks, they resold Olympex's property several times to companies under their control in an attempt to retain control over the terminal.
Ukrainian law enforcers have opened several criminal cases in connection with the situation around Olympex. The creditors, in their turn, are demanding the return of their own funds in international arbitrations, and quite successfully. In particular, the English court decided to freeze the assets of Groza and Naumenko worldwide.
More details about the conflict around the grain terminal “Olympex” can be read in the material: “Company Groza and Naumenko GNT Group blocked the work of the grain terminal in Odessa. Detailed chronology of the conflict”