Former director of the state enterprise "Spetstechnoexport" Pavlo Barbul, who is currently on trial in the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court for corruption crimes and is wanted by the NABU in a new case, does business in Poland.
According to the Polish Business Register, Barbul is the founder of U-Lead business community spzoo in Warsaw, together with Anna Fedorenko. Barbul is not listed as the owner on the project’s official website, and Fedorenko acts as the “face” of the project, although she does not actually run her own business.
The project is positioned as the largest international community of Ukrainian entrepreneurs and investors in different countries, created to help Ukrainian businessmen who were forced to leave the country due to the war. It was intended to facilitate business relocation and opening up new opportunities in the world. Allegedly, the community united over 2,000 entrepreneurs and held over 100 events in Poland, the UAE, Spain, Italy, Austria, the UK and France. However, in practice, the project turned into a series of limited promotional meetings and eventually froze its activities.
Until the end of 2023, Barbul was also a co-founder of the British PATRIOT INVESTMENTS LLP with his mother Karina Atanasyan. It was through her that he registered his corruption business while in public office. Recently, Atanasyan has begun to withdraw from Barbul's businesses, transferring the rights to Resta+ LLC and changing the founders of other companies, in particular JSC ZNVKIF Absolut.
This case once again demonstrates how individuals involved in corruption schemes in Ukraine continue to conduct business abroad, using family ties and complex legal schemes to cover up their activities.
