The NOVAAGRO group of companies, controlled by former regional MP Dmytro Shentsev and businessman Serhiy Polumysny, has built a multi-level scheme that combines collaborationism, tax evasion, fictitious entrepreneurship, and money laundering.
With the outbreak of full-scale war, part of NOVAAGRO's grain elevators in Hrakovo, Velyky Burluka, Shevchenkovo, and Kozacha Lopan ended up in temporarily occupied territories. However, instead of ceasing operations, the company's managers established the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products to the Russian Federation and the ORDLO.
The sale of almost 70 tons of corn belonging to Agroma LLC was documented without any accounting and with gross violations of storage rules. Payments were made exclusively in cash, which allowed taxes to be avoided.
The funds received were used to purchase fuel and spare parts from Russian suppliers and structures controlled by the occupation authorities. Moreover, the equipment and warehouses of NOVAAGRO were transferred to the enemy, effectively ensuring the functioning of the Russian economy.
Through affiliated structures, in particular LLC "NOVAAGRO UKRAINE" and LLC "TRADING HOUSE "NOVAAGRO", dozens of fictitious contracts for the sale of agricultural products were concluded. Most of them were signed with shell companies that did not conduct real activities.
It is particularly telling that many of the deals occurred during periods when access to the warehouses was physically impossible due to hostilities and occupation. This indicates their artificial nature and use only as a cover for money laundering.
In addition, some of the products were sold abroad through offshore companies at market prices, but without being declared in Ukraine. The total volume of such "shadow" operations exceeds 5 billion hryvnias - direct losses to the state budget.
The NOVAAGRO schemes are not only economic crimes against the state, but also evidence of cooperation between Ukrainian business and the occupiers. The investigation of such cases should become a clear example that no company or official will be left without responsibility.
