The charitable foundation of the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has found itself at the center of a scandal over the use of charitable contributions to purchase government bonds. According to the publication "Law and Business", in January 2024, the foundation purchased "military" domestic government bonds (OVDP) worth 356 million hryvnias using donations.
The publication also writes that charity on behalf of Poroshenko is essentially financed by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine through the payment of interest on bonds.
"According to experts, it was the interest accrued by the state on government bonds in the amount of approximately UAH 2.5 billion that financed all of Poroshenko's charitable PR projects since the start of the full-scale war," the publication says.
Also, for transactions with these bonds, the International Investment Bank, owned by Poroshenko, withdrew one and a half million hryvnias in commission from Poroshenko's fund (i.e., "charitable" money turned into commercial profit).
The publication believes that contributions to the Poroshenko fund, which are then used to buy bonds, are made under the control of the former president of the company - in order to minimize the payment of taxes, which are not levied on charitable payments.
Journalists write that the use of charitable donations for the purpose of profit and minimizing taxation falls under the articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
