The fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has once again found himself at the center of public controversy, this time over the issue of charitable donations and purchases of military bonds for huge sums. After the scandal related to the receipt of 37 million hryvnias from the Hungarian government, Poroshenko got into another conflict when he announced that he would invest a large part of his funds in supporting the Ukrainian army. However, these actions have become the subject of new questions and criticism from the public.
On the face of it, investing in military bonds in difficult times for the country is a prudent decision, given the fact that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Digital Transformation are calling for it. However, according to political scientist Valentyn Gladkyh, Poroshenko invests in securities not his own funds, but the money of his charitable organizations, where Ukrainians donate for military aid.
Charitable organizations cannot earn money from voluntary contributions, and buying OVDP bonds with public donations and receiving interest for it is what it is - earning money, which directly contradicts the statutory requirements of the funds.
At the same time, it turns out that not one, but three charitable foundations collect public money: the NGO "Solidary Community Action", the All-Ukrainian charitable organization "Poroshenko Charitable Fund" and the "ROSHEN Charitable Fund".
According to the tax reporting, the NGO "Solidarna prasva hromad" received UAH 152.2 million in 2022, and UAH 203.7 million in profit in 2023. "Poroshenko Foundation" 203.9 and 357.6 million UAH, respectively. And "ROSHEN" Fund - UAH 366.7 and 516.43 million.
As the mass media wrote in December 2023, the Poroshenko Foundation and the NGO "Solidary Affairs of Communities" spent more than UAH 4 billion on the needs of the military over the course of two years. However, even if you add up the total amount of profit of all three funds over the course of two years, it will amount to about UAH 1.8 billion.
Valentyn Gladkikh, an expert, was the first to pay attention to OVDP transactions almost a year ago. According to calculations, almost 156 million hryvnias in securities will allow the politician to get a 32% profit in almost two years (22 months), which is about 50 million hryvnias. At most, this profit will also be tax-free.
"The bill states that the Poroshenko Charitable Fund is buying the bonds." This is a fund where Ukrainians will donate Poroshenko to the Armed Forces. This includes the money of Ukrainians for mobile phones, walkie-talkies and other things for the front, and not for Pyotr Oleksiyovych's earnings. But he decided to scroll through them for the benefit of the wallet," Hladkykh wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to the Statute, the "Poroshenko Charitable Foundation" has the right to organize the collection of charitable donations, aid, contributions and other property for the fulfillment of statutory tasks, as well as to carry out economic activities without the purpose of making a profit.
At the same time Mr. 6.5. The charter stipulates that the fund must use charitable contributions of legal entities and individuals only in accordance with the purpose stipulated by the person who made this contribution. At the beginning of the year, Poroshenko's publicists actively reported that he not only "invested UAH 156 million in military bonds", but also "supported" the state in difficult times.
All payments and acquisitions of securities are made by Poroshenko's funds through the International Investment Bank. He received about 1.5 million hryvnias of income in the form of a commission only for the settlement and cash service of the specified transaction at the bank. That is, in fact, the politician receives double earnings thanks to such a scheme.
"Charity", which Petro Poroshenko tries to present to Ukrainians as help to the state and the Armed Forces, turns out to be a way of making money. After all, charitable foundations are non-profit organizations, and therefore cannot earn money, at the same time, through them, Poroshenko buys OVDP, which is an investment, receiving a significant profit even when making payments.
And this is already a matter of criminal responsibility: according to Part 3 of Art. 201-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the use of charitable donations for the purpose of obtaining profit during martial law is punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to seven years with confiscation of property.
