Vasyl Astion, suspected of illegal enrichment and raiding, may be released on a "kopeck" bail: what is known
He "heated" the state by at least 61 million, but can he be released for just one million hryvnias? On January 12, the Shevchenkiv District Court set a "kopeck" bail for the Dnipro agro-dealer Astion, who is accused of tax evasion and numerous raids. Did "authoritative" patrons of the businessman contribute to such a decision of Themis? After all, threads from Astion's alleged schemes stretch to a number of former and current politicians, and part of the traces lead to the aggressor country.
On Friday, January 12, Judge Anzor Saidullayev of the Shevchenkiv District Court made an unprecedented decision regarding businessman Vasyl Astion, suspected of economic crimes, reducing the amount of bail by 61 (!) times. So this high-profile case attracted the attention of our editors.
Influential business group Dnipro Agro Group, disgraced oligarchs Dmytro Firtash and Ihor Kolomoiskyi , former regional deputy Vitaly Khomutynnik and Kherson collaborator Serhii Rybachok-Ushinskyi, criminals from the Narika OZ, tycoon Pavlo Fuchs and official of the President's Office Andriy Smirnov. What connects all these figures with Vasyl Astion, who is suspected of concealing and withdrawing multi-million profits?
On what (perhaps raider) schemes did the agribusinessman get rich? And why is his father-in-law Mykhailo Koshlyak, who is called the "shadow master" of Dnipropetrovsk Region, involved? The StopCore team investigated the details of the case of the Astion brothers and tried to untangle the tangled tangle of connections between the participants.
So, what crimes is Vasyl Astion officially suspected of and how is the case progressing?
As the editors of StopCor learned, on September 23, 2022, detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine initiated criminal case No. 72022000400000005 against Vasyl Astion and his brother Yevhen Astion: they are accused of large-scale tax evasion.
According to the case file, the Astion brothers, who control a number of agricultural enterprises of the Dnipropetrovsk region (Vidrozhennya LLC, Peremoga LLC, Kamyanske Agro LLC, Dniproagroalliance LLC, Agrofirma Shid Agro LLC, etc.), during 2017- 2021 systematically received income in the form of dividends and unlawfully avoided paying income tax in the amount of almost UAH 61.5 million (over $1.5 million). Instead of entering the State Budget, these funds were probably transferred by Vasyl Astion to the controlled Cypriot offshore company Dnipro Agro Alliance LTD.
Thereby, the Astions violated clauses 141.4.2 and 141.4 of Article 141 of the Tax Code of Ukraine in particularly large amounts. The investigation also established the facts of forgery of financial and tax reporting documents, as well as the circumstances regarding the withdrawal of the specified funds through the accounts of companies controlled by Vasyl Astion in the following banking institutions: JSC "Taskombank" (Ukraine), AB "Pivdenny" (Ukraine), "Zapad Bank JSC" Podgorica" (Montenegro), JSC "Regional Investment Bank" (Latvia).
It is noteworthy that in 2021, the former deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, Vasyl Astion, came under increased scrutiny by the NACP. His declaration was included in the list of those that the computer system of logical and arithmetic control (LAK) recognized as the most risky.
On January 9 of this year, according to the documented signs of criminal offenses, the law enforcement officers officially charged Vasyl Astion under part 3 of Art. 212, Part 2 of Art. 205-1, part 2 of Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Note that according to Art. 212 of the Criminal Code, deliberate evasion of taxes or fees (mandatory payments) is punishable by a fine of 15,000 to 25,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years with confiscation of property. The sanction of part 2 of Art. 205-1 (forgery of documents) provides for a fine of up to 10,000 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or imprisonment for a term of 3 to 5 years. A criminal offense under Art. 366 includes a fine from 2,000 to 4,000 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or restriction of freedom for a period of up to 3 years. That is, at the same time, a hefty fine or a very real term of imprisonment can "run in".
Simultaneously with the announcement of the suspicion, the detectives of the BEB and the prosecutor of the General Prosecutor's Office sent a request to the Shevchenkiv District Court of the capital to apply preventive measures to the person involved in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 61,419,560.
And already on Friday, January 12, 2024, the investigating judge of the Shevchenkiv District Court, Anzor Saadulayev, considered this petition. However, the amount of bail for Vasyl Astion was determined by a completely different one - only UAH 1 million, that is, 61 times less than the amount that, according to the investigation, was illegally appropriated by the agribusinessman.
Why Themis so sympathetic to the suspect?
After all, the amount of the deposit could not just magically drop from UAH 61 to UAH 1 million. So, taking into account the realities of the judicial system, it can be assumed that either the "telephone law" worked in this situation, or a certain material interest of the servant of Themis in mitigating the verdict for Mr. Astion, or both at the same time. What facts can support this hypothesis?
According to the information that became known to StopCor from its own insider sources, such a mild judicial decision could have been taken by the investigating judge under some influence from the deputy head of the President's Office Andrii Smirnov, a long-time friend and ex-partner of Vasyl Astion.
As the investigative colleagues from "Our Money" found out, Vasyl is an old friend of Andriy Smirnov, who before being appointed to the President's Office was also a deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council and a lawyer for local businessman Mykhailo Koshlyak (part-time, Vasyl Astion's father-in-law).
In turn, the journalists of "Mirror of the Week" established that JSC "Closed non-diversified venture corporate investment fund "Genesis Capital", the beneficiaries of which are the Astioni brothers, became the founder of a similar company with the same name "Interway Capital", which acted as a "technical candidate" during the auction for the sale of the office space of the bankrupt Arkada bank. The company of the odious ex-minister Mykola Zlochevskyi won the auction, and Andriy Smirnov himself could have been involved in the "scheme", as the publication suggested.
And most interestingly, in the declaration for 2020, Smirnov indicated a loan received in 2019 for the total amount of UAH 9.8 million from Olga Astion, a member of Fingroup Factor Financial Company LLC and the mother of Vasyl and Yevhen Astion.
