The scandal with businessmen Groza and Naumenko is an example of the negative influence of individuals on the agricultural sector of Ukraine

The Olimpex grain terminal is one of the key players in the Ukrainian agricultural industry, playing an important role in grain exports. However, recent events related to it have attracted the attention of the public and law enforcement agencies due to scandals related to the alleged criminal activities of Odesa businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, UNN reports.

The Olympex grain terminal has become one of the leading logistics centers for grain exports in Ukraine. Its modern grain storage and processing technologies and favorable geographical location have made it an important element in the supply of Ukrainian grain to international markets. "Olympex currently plays an important role in the operation of the grain corridor.

However, in 2023, it turned out that the grain terminal's activities were linked to criminal schemes allegedly organized by Odesa businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko. Law enforcement officers uncovered numerous violations, including tax evasion, illegal grain storage and export schemes, and it turned out that companies controlled by Groza and Naumenko were cooperating with Russians.

In particular, the Bureau of Economic Security is investigating three criminal proceedings regarding tax evasion and gray exports of grain crops from Olimpex. One of them involves most of the companies that are part of Groza and Naumenko's GNT Group agricultural holding, and the total amount of money that the Ukrainian budget has lost due to schemes with grain at the terminal could reach hundreds of millions of hryvnias.

Despite the fact that Groza's and Naumenko's companies are involved in criminal proceedings, they continue to operate unimpeded at the terminal and, according to law enforcement, continue to violate the law .

People's deputies and experts interviewed by UNN believe that those who rob the state during the war are definitely not patriots of their country. Therefore, the parliamentary committee on national security and defense advises the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council to stop the activities of Groza and Naumenko and their business by applying economic restrictions against them. The NSDC, in response to a request from UNN, said it was ready to consider imposing sanctions after receiving relevant materials from the SBU.

Especially if we also take into account the numerous facts that may indicate active cooperation of businessmen with a well-known sanctioned smuggler Vadim Alperin, as well as Russian Mikhail Ipatovwho most likely actively supports Putin's terrorist regime in the war against Ukraine.

By the way, Groza and Naumenko's close ties to Ipatov may be evidenced by the fact that the Russian's company Omega Terminal-Ukraine is actively working at the Olympex terminal, and he is also a director of one of the agricultural holding's companies abroad.

The Verkhovna Rada is convincedthat Ukraine should impose sanctions on Ipatov, because it is shameful that in the third year of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russians continue to work in Ukraine.

In addition to illegal grain export operations, Groza and Naumenko allegedly used legal fraud to gain control of Olympex  through the illegal sale of the terminal's assets.

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

In order not to return the money and retain control of the terminal, Groza and Naumenko probably used a long-known scheme of re-mortgaging property, which is often used by unscrupulous entrepreneurs in Ukraine.

A few months after receiving an investment loan from the fund, Groza and Naumenko also took out a loan from a Ukrainian bank without the lender's permission, thus protecting their property from American claims. In 2020, with the help of companies that are part of Groza and Naumenko's GNT Group agricultural holding, they received a $17.5 million loan from Pivdenny Bank.

In early 2023, Pivdenny Bank urgently demanded repayment of the loan, which was due to expire on July 31, 2024, and seized the collateral.

It is worth noting that the bankruptcy court prohibited the alienation of the terminal's property before the foreclosure process was launched. In addition, all the terminal's property was under arrest as part of another criminal case against Groza and Naumenko. However, this did not prevent private notary Dmytrova T. from re-registering the ownership of the property.

"Pivdennyi sold Olympex's assets for just $4.3 million to Sanolta Feed (Sunolta Group). In 2020, the terminal was estimated to be worth at least $300 million.

Probably to further confuse American creditors and Ukrainian justice, Groza and Naumenko resold the property once again to Attollo Granum, also a Sunolta group company. This company was specifically created for the purchase a few weeks before the deal.

The last step in the intricate scheme was Attollo Granum's transfer of the property to Ozirky LLC, which, according to media reports, is controlled by Groza and Naumenko, as collateral for a $130,800 mortgage. Thus, half of the terminal was mortgaged three times and eventually ended up in the hands of Odesa businessmen.

The scheme involving Vostok Bank was similar. With the help of the companies they controlled, Groza and Naumenko took out a loan from Vostok Bank secured by the pledge of Sukhoi Port, which had already been pledged under the US loan. The full repayment of Vostok's loan was due on May 25, 2023. However, without waiting for the loan agreement to expire, as in the case of Pivdennyi, Vostok Bank began debt collection proceedings.

Even before the changes were made to the state register, on February 10, 2023, Vostok Bank assigned the right of claim under its loan agreement to Solyushins Factor FC LLC. On the same day, this company assigned it to LLC "Available Finance". On the same day, "Available Finance" sold "Dry Port" to Sunolta OU, a member of the Sunolta group of companies.

It is worth noting that the market value of Sukhoi Port in 2020 was at least $18 million. And Sunolta Group got it for only $4.7 million. Moreover, as in the previous scheme with Pivdennyi Bank, Sunolta bought the Dry Port despite the fact that it has 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 LLC "Grain Port". This company was registered just a few weeks before receiving the "Dry Port" and had no other property on its balance sheet, and its sole shareholder was Sunolta OU.

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

By the way, law enforcement officers are investigating a criminal proceeding regarding the illegal sale of Olympex assets with the help of Ukrainian banks.

The scandal surrounding the activities of Groza and Naumenko dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Olympex grain terminal. Foreign investors have become wary of Ukraine's agricultural sector. This, in turn, could negatively affect Ukraine's export opportunities.

Olympex has now become a telling example of how the criminal activities of individual businessmen can have large-scale consequences for the country's economy. He emphasized the need to strengthen control and transparency in the agricultural sector, as well as the importance of fighting corruption at all levels. Further developments will show how effective the measures taken by the authorities will be in restoring confidence in the Ukrainian agricultural sector and ensuring its sustainable development in the future.