As follows from the leaked documents processed in an international investigative journalism effort, contributed from the Ukrainian side by Slidstvo.Info, as the partner of the international journalist community, the legal team from the Ukrainian company Avellum, which represents the interests of President Petro Poroshenko, appealed to internationally-acclaimed Appleby, based on the Isle of Man, requesting assistance in creating an offshore company.
According to Slidstvo.Info, In June 2014, after Poroshenko's inauguration, Avellum lawyers wrote the following letter to Appleby: "The matter is extremely sensitive. The client's name is Petr Poroshenko. We are working on restructuring of his confectionery business (Roshen). In order to obtain access to international markets, we’re going to establish a new holding company for the group in Luxembourg. Underneath will be a Dutch sub-holding, which will hold all operating companies. For tax purposes there will be a Cypriot entity on top of Luxco, which will be owned by offshore company (as I mentioned, BVI preferred but IoM could work as well)… it will hold the shares and receive dividends. Sale of shares at a certain moment is possible (provided there is an investor offering a good price)," the letter says.
But Appleby’s lawyers apparently decided that cooperation with Poroshenko’s corporation would be an endeavor too risky for them, so they turned down the request of representatives of the Ukrainian president.
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The journalists who took part in the investigation believe that Poroshenko's representatives wanted to create at least one offshore company for “tax purposes” rather than for transferring Roshen to a blind trust, as the Ukrainian president vowed.
"Apparently, offshore companies were created precisely to avoid taxes in case of sale or receipt of any income," the investigation claims.
According to journalists, a Netherlands-registered company continues to own Roshen, while Poroshenko himself insists that this is necessary in order to hand the corporation over to a blind trust.
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"This letter does not state that the trust was the objective or some option that could have been taken into account during the creation of the structure. The word “trust” is not even mentioned here at all. It was one of the possibilities for the future. Where such a structure is created, be taken into account in the construction of this structure was a trust, that is, the word" trust "does not appear here at all [...]Do you need this entire structure in order to hand the company over to a blind trust? In my opinion, no, you don’t. You would more likely need it if you plan a sale. For optimization of the income received as a result of the sale. For the trust, I do not see a need to create all these three companies," said Borovyk.
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