"Fantastic creatures and where they live" or the story of the re-sale of the Olympex grain terminal

Odessa businessmen Sergey Groza and Vladimir Naumenko, who managed the Olympex grain terminal with the help of their companies, managed to re-mortgage the property three times. Thus, they probably wanted to maintain control over the largest gray export gates in 2021-2023. UNN found out which of the Ukrainian bankers was involved in the scheme of entrepreneurs.

Three main characters participated in the history of the grain terminal's re–mortgage - the aforementioned Groza and Naumenko, as well as the head of the board of the Vostok Bank and concurrently the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Odessa local Council, Vadim Morokhovsky.

In November 2019, the agricultural holding GNT Group received a $75 million loan from the American investment fund for the development of the Olympex terminal. As collateral for the loan, Groza and Naumenko transferred corporate rights, real estate (half of the grain terminal), as well as the Dry Port to the fund. The businessmen had to repay the loan by December 5, 2021.

Probably, Groza and Naumenko did not plan to repay the borrowed money from the very beginning, but they clearly did not want to lose Olympex either. While businessmen were trying to persuade creditors to postpone repayment of the debt, they were looking for ways out of the situation. Probably, having come up with nothing better, they took advantage of the long-known scheme of re-mortgaging property, which is often used by unscrupulous entrepreneurs in Ukraine. But for that, they needed an ally bank. No one could have helped Groza and Naumenko better than their fellow banker.

While the Americans firmly believed in the honesty of Groza and Naumenko, they decided behind the partners' backs to pull off a scheme that they were sure would allow them not to pay the bills.

A couple of months after receiving an investment loan from the fund, Groza and Naumenko decided to take out a loan from a Ukrainian bank without the lender's permission and thus secure their property from American claims. In 2020, with the help of Ferko LLC and Vtormetexport LLC, which are part of the GNT Group agroholding of Groza and Naumenko, they received a $17.5 million loan from Pivdenniy Bank. The aforementioned banker, Morokhovsky, previously headed the board of this bank. The collateral for the loan was half a terminal, the rights to which were already held by the American fund.

According to the law, before issuing a loan, Pivdenny had to verify the rights to the property that was being pledged. 

"The legislation of Ukraine clearly establishes the obligation of banks to carry out proper verification of pledged property. This includes checking for any other encumbrances or liens registered in the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property. However, in practice, there may be situations when this check is not carried out properly. The actions of a bank accepting collateral for property already encumbered by another collateral without proper verification and consent of the previous creditor are illegal and can be appealed in court. Banks are required to comply with legal requirements for checking property that is being pledged and take all necessary measures to prevent fraud," explained lawyer AB Kasyanenko and Partners  Dmitry Kasyanenko.

The lawyer gave several examples of how property can still be abused, except for double collateral. 

For example, fictitious transactions with property may be carried out. "Dysfunctional businessmen can use schemes when property is resold between affiliated companies under the guise of debt collection on a loan. For example, Company A provides a loan to Company B secured by property that is already pledged to Company C. In case of default, Company A "recovers" the property, but in fact it remains under the control of the owners of company B through a new company," Kasyanenko explained.

Ignoring court decisions is another abuse. According to the lawyer, if there is a court decision prohibiting the alienation of property, but the bank still carries out collection and resale, this may be a sign of collusion with the owner of the property. Such actions violate the law and may lead to criminal liability for fraud.

Therefore, the question arises, how did it happen that half of Olympex was mortgaged twice and sold with an existing injunction?

But the story doesn't end there. In addition to the loan itself, Morokhovsky also most likely contributed to the Thunderstorm and Naumenko in the future. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that the bank "Pivdenniy" at the beginning of 2023 began urgently demanding repayment of the loan, the term of which was supposed to end on July 31, 2024?

Groza and Naumenko companies received a demand from a Ukrainian bank to repay the debt in January 2023 and they had 30 days to fulfill it. But without waiting for the expiration of this period, which is a violation of the law "On Mortgage", the bank began the foreclosure procedure.

It is worth noting that the court in the framework of the bankruptcy case prohibited the alienation of the terminal's property even before the start of the foreclosure process. In addition, all the terminal's property was under arrest, as part of the criminal case against Groza and Naumenko. But this did not prevent the private notary Dmitrova T. From re-registering the ownership of the property.

Thus, Pivdenniy sold half of the Olympex grain terminal for only 4.3 million dollars to Sanolta Feed (Sunolta Group). In 2020, the cost of the terminal was estimated at at least $ 300 million.

To further confuse American creditors and Ukrainian justice, Groza and Naumenko resold the property once again to Attollo Granum, which is also part of the Sunolta Group. This company was specially created for the purchase a few weeks before the transaction.

The last step of the confusing scheme was the transfer by Atoll Granum of the received property as collateral for $ 130.8 thousand of the mortgage of Ozirki LLC, which, according to media reports, is controlled by Groza and Naumenko. Thus, half of the terminal was mortgaged three times.

Probably, after the trio was convinced of their success, Groza and Naumenko decided to convince Morokhovsko to repeat the "feat". This time we are talking about the "Dry Port" - the grain cargo preparation area at the Olympex terminal.

In the case of Pivdenim, loans secured by half of Olympex were taken by Ferko LLC and Vtormetexport LLC, controlled by Groza and Naumenko. And in the case of the Dry Port, instead of Ferko, the businessmen's company Grain Transshipment Complex Inzernoexport entered the game.

With the help of the Grain Transshipment Complex Inzernoexport and Vtoretexport companies, Groza and Naumenko took out a loan from Vostok Bank secured by the Dry Port, which had already been mortgaged. The full repayment period of the loan under the loan agreement was due to expire on May 25, 2023. But without waiting for the expiration of the loan agreement, as in the situation with "Yesterday", Bank Vostok began the debt collection procedure.

At the same time, according to media reports, Vostok Bank handed over the official request on December 2, 2022 on purpose instead of an official notification by mail. Thus, the bank violated Article 35 of the law "On Mortgage", which implies sending official notifications to the debtor.

In fact, according to media reports, the recovery procedure began two months after the notification – on February 13, 2023, by making changes to the State Register of Encumbrances of Movable Property, which may indicate that the first notification was a fake.

As in the case of the bank "Pivdennom", law enforcement officers check the activities of the bank "Vostok".

But the story didn't end there. Even before making changes to the state register, on February 10, 2023, Vostok Bank assigned the right of claim under its loan agreement to FC Solutions Factor LLC. 

This company assigned it to Affordable Finance LLC on the same day. On the same day, Affordable Finance sold the Dry Port to Sunolta OU, which is part of the Sunolta Group of companies.

It is worth noting that the market value of the Dry Port in 2020 was at least $ 18 million. And the Sunolta group got it for only 4.7 million dollars. Moreover, as in the previous scheme with the bank "Pivdenniy", Sunolta bought the "Dry Port" despite the fact that he had been under arrest in one of the criminal proceedings since March 2023.

This also did not prevent Sunolta OU from transferring the Dry Port on April 10, 2023 to its own Grain Port LLC. This company was registered just a few weeks before receiving the "Dry Port" and had no other property on the balance sheet, and its only participant was Sunolta OU. 

On April 19, 2023, Grain Port LLC transferred the Dry Port of the Olympex terminal for 20 years as collateral for a loan of 78.5 thousand dollars to Mind Set LLC, which, according to melon media, is controlled by Groza and Naumenko.

As you can see, both schemes of re-mortgage are very similar and ultimately both, according to media reports, lead to a thunderstorm and Naumenko. In this regard, the question arises, why are at least three places still empty in the Odessa pre-trial detention center?