The Ukrainian Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) has launched an investigation into three criminal proceedings related to the facts of "gray" export of grain crops from the Olimpex grain terminal.
This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office.
“We inform you that according to the data of the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, 3 criminal proceedings are being investigated on the facts indicated in your request (gray grain export from the Olimpex terminal - ed.), ” the UCP’s response states.
At the same time, the department clarified that criminal cases are investigated by detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security. The procedural management is carried out by the Prosecutor General's Office and the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.
It was previously reported that the Bureau of Economic Security is investigating several criminal cases related to gray grain exports. According to law enforcement officials, the most common scheme for such tax evasion of tens of millions of hryvnias is the purchase of grain that does not have documents of origin for cash and its subsequent export abroad using the details of “risky” or shell companies.
One of the striking examples of gray exports is the criminal cases related to gray exports from the Olimpex grain terminal in 2021-2023, when it was actively managed by Odessa businessmen Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko.
In particular, in January 2021, law enforcement officers became interested in a number of companies engaged in grain export and associated with the GNT Group agroholding of Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko. Ferko LLC, Metalzyukrain Corp LTD LLC, Grain Handling Complex Inzernoexport LLC and Vtormeteksport LLC, which belong to GNT Group, actively used the details of “risky” enterprises to conduct export operations. During the investigation, the territorial department of the BEB in the Odessa region identified at least three such “risky” enterprises: OUTSTAFF 19 LLC, ALISENTA TRADE LLC and SOLTEC PRODUCT LLC. In addition, the investigation established that the exported grain was stored, in particular, in the warehouses of Olimpex Coupe International LLC, which is also controlled by Groza and Naumenko.
According to the results of the investigation, law enforcement officers found that none of the aforementioned “risky” enterprises had any confirmation of the purchase of grain that was planned to be exported – more than 2 thousand tons of corn, barley, wheat (this is only what was discovered by law enforcement officers during the searches). In addition, all of these enterprises violated financial and tax reporting requirements, demonstrated zero profitability, and understated income tax.
Only within the framework of this criminal proceeding, according to law enforcement officials, the companies of Groza and Naumenko caused losses to the state in the amount of almost 37.5 million UAH. At the same time, the exporter of the “gray” grains was LLC “Agiros”, owned by the well-known smuggler Vadym Alperin, against whom the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions in 2021 and who was deprived of Ukrainian citizenship. And this grain was shipped, according to media reports, by another company controlled by Groza and Naumenko, “Attollo Granum”.
This criminal case is currently still under investigation.
Another criminal case involving Groza and Naumenko's company, Olimpex Coupe International LLC, is being investigated by the Kyiv regional department of the BEB. It was opened a year later, in 2022, but also concerns the "gray" export of grain.
The case is being investigated under articles of tax evasion, forgery of documents for state registers, legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime, and illegal handling of weapons or ammunition.
The scheme used by Groza and Naumenko's company is identical to the one used previously, only the names of the fictitious companies differ, and even then not all. It includes, in particular, the LLC “OUTSTAFF 19” already mentioned in another criminal proceeding.
In addition to this company, they also used the “risky” enterprises “EXPRESS VSI” and “AGROTRANS-GRUP”. With their help, according to the investigation, at least 40 thousand tons of grain and oilseeds disappeared from the terminal in 2023.
In addition, BEB detectives believe that criminal activity related to tax evasion through gray grain exports is ongoing at the Olimpex terminal.
