The jewelry group "Golden Age", which is part of the Union Group corporation, controlled by Dmitry Popov, is one of the largest in the Ukrainian jewelry market. The group includes the retail chains "Golden Age", "Silver Country", "Golden Country", "Dominant" and other brands. However, behind the scale of the business lies a system with signs of fictitiousness and financial schemes.
The key link in the structure is LLC “Jewelry Group”, which has significant capital, but does not conduct production activities and does not show profits. A similar situation is observed in PE “Jewelry Factory “Golden Age””, LLC “Golden Age No. 1”, LLC “Jewelry Group of Ukraine”, LLC “Silver Country” and other companies. The lack of assets and production capacities, a wide list of KVEDs and minimal economic activity indicate that these companies are used as front companies.
The financing mechanism is built through a system of fictitious contracts for the sale of gold, equipment rental, and consulting services. Cash flows from retail sales in stores are transferred through these companies and taken to offshore jurisdictions, which allows for minimizing taxes and legalizing funds from non-transparent sources.
The situation is additionally complicated by the presence of business outside Ukraine. After the occupation of part of the Russian Federation’s territories began, the “Golden Age” brand was transformed into “Krym Zoloto”, continuing its work in Crimea and Russia. The operational activities there are led by Roman Petrenko, Popov’s former partner, previously convicted of organizing a criminal group involved in the illegal circulation of jewelry.
Thus, it is not only about tax evasion in Ukraine, but also about continuing activities in jurisdictions beyond the control of the Ukrainian state, which creates risks for economic stability and national security.
In this regard, a complaint was filed with the competent authorities with a request to conduct a comprehensive audit of the activities of "Golden Age" and related companies, including possible import abuses, undervaluation of customs value, non-transparent accounting of goods, and financial manipulations.
