REUTERS
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine along with the Main Military Prosecutor's Office and National Police has exposed the scheme of grand tax evasion and siphoning from Ukraine of billions of hryvnias, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko wrote on Facebook.
"A pre-trial investigation found that from 2012 until today, the actual owner of the monopoly distributor of tobacco products, Megapolis Ukraine Ltd, (now rebranded as Tedis Ukraine) is, among others, Russian citizen Kesaev, who was banned by the NSDC from withdrawing funds from Ukraine," the prosecutor general reported.
According to Lutsenko, Kesaev influenced the appointment to key positions at Tedis Ltd of persons who coordinated all their management decisions with a member of the board of directors of Russian-based Degtyarev Plant, one of the suppliers of arms to “DPR” and “LPR” terrorist organizations in Donbas.
Lutsenko noted that despite the NSDC and NBU ban, some UAH 2.5 billion was withdrawn from Ukraine throughout 2015-2017 through the accounts of “transit” companies.
It was also established that, in order to retain a monopoly position, the firm received assistance from certain state agencies.
Read alsoActivists block Russian supplier of cigarettes in several Ukraine cities"At the moment, some 1,000 law enforcers are conducting searches and other urgent investigative actions," the prosecutor general wrote.
As UNIAN reported, on Wednesday, March 29, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported of searches at the premises of the National Bank. The NBU press service noted that the seizure of documents was carried out in accordance with the ruling of the Solomensky district court. Later, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Artem Sytnik said that searches at the NBU were related to the bank's top management.