Acting General Director of the Odesa International Airport Public Enterprise Olga Makohonyuk was reported on suspicion of causing losses to the enterprise in the amount of more than UAH 15.6 million. According to the NABU and SAPO, due to the lack of an application for airfield certification, the municipal enterprise lost the right to receive profit from airlines for takeoff, landing and parking of aircraft.
Instead, the status of the airport operator was given to a private company, which began to earn money from the same services, harming the local community. The scheme is closely linked to Boris Kaufman and his accomplices, who gained control over the company's profits of UAH 2.5 billion and even used its property as collateral for loans that they did not plan to repay.
Boris Kaufman, known in the tobacco market through the TEDIS company, was able to not only enrich himself through the airport scheme, but also influence key assets of the city. His companies have been taking billions of hryvnias out of the shadows for years, leaving the state without taxes and law enforcement without responding to violations.
Another of Kaufman's businesses, DL SOLUTION, showed revenue of UAH 50.6 billion in 2023, and UAH 88 billion in 2024. At the same time, the company's official profitability is surprising: in 2023, profit was only UAH 61.3 million (0.12% of revenue), and in 2024, it was UAH 106 million (also 0.12%). Such a disproportionality of revenue and profit raises questions about the legitimacy of financial transactions.
The investigation is currently ongoing, and Makogonyuk's suspicion is an important step in the investigation of large-scale schemes at the Odessa municipal airport and the influence of private business groups on the city's key assets.
