Secret of Hlyniana’s trunk: carousel frauds, fronts, safe deposit boxes and Hrynkevych’s eggs
On August 9, officers of the Bureau of Economic Security detained an accountant of a company that supplies products to the Ministry of Defense. She was carrying 4.7 million euros in her trunk. She could not explain the origin of the money.
At the same time, law enforcement officers noted that it was a company that supplied food worth UAH 14.5 billion including VAT to the Ministry of Defence in 2022-2023 alone. "At the same time, its officials documented a number of non-commodity transactions for the purchase and supply of food with controlled enterprises that have signs of fictitiousness," the BES said in a statement.
It also stated that the seizure of the money was being considered.
As of August 15, the money was seized by the Solomianskyi Court of Kyiv.
In addition, other court rulings make it clear which companies and which transactions are involved.
The fact that the BES had supplied the Ministry of Defence with food worth UAH 14.5 billion was enough to make it clear that it was Tatiana Hlyniana's group.
The businesswoman, who started supplying the Ministry of Defence many years ago with the companies" Khutrovychka" (as she is known to old MoD staff behind the scenes) and "Visit", now has a network of up to 20 companies, allowing her to participate in tenders under a new sign every year.
Tetiana Hlyniana became widely known after the scandal over 17 eggs each that her company, Active Company, was supposed to supply to the Defense Ministry. She was not paid 17 UAH for the eggs, the price was reduced to 9 UAH, but last year alone, Hlyniana's company earned almost 8 billion from direct contracts.
Since Active Company appealed the return of the electronic bidding, her second company, Grand Consult, was already bidding in the Prozorro system.
According to the results of bidding in the Prozorro system, Grand Consult LLC signed contracts for UAH 8.6 billion.
At the same time, even after the introduction of the electronic system, only two companies from Hlyniana applied for the largest lot of the Ministry of Defence, which concerned the supply of food in the Kyiv region. And it got this part of the market with the highest price of "DOS (day of supply)" (the price of three meals a day for the military) - UAH 147.
At the beginning of the year, it became known that in the last year alone, Hlyniana had bought 4 hotels in Croatia, which she hastily sold to some little-known businessman when information about her property was leaked to the media.
At the time, Hlyiana's lawyers assured her that it was all legitimately earned money from business abroad. However, the trunk with almost 5 million euros in cash suggests a completely different story.
You can read how Hlyniana's companies organized a scheme to replace invoices, stealing a third of the military's food, here.
At the same time, the BES recorded a number of economic frauds by this group of companies.
Which companies are involved in the proceedings?
MEAT MIX LLC (EDRPOU (Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine) code 42241839, formerly known as MILE LLC), ZIVIS UA LLC (EDRPOU code 22206848, formerly known as VIZIT LLC), ACTIVE COMPANY LLC (EDRPOU code 40209490), GRAND CONSULT LLC (EDRPOU code 42239070), OK LAND FOOD LLC (EDRPOU code 41950625), TERRA BM LLC (EDRPOU code 42226852, formerly known as PREMIUM COMPANY LLC), MEAT PROM LLC (EDRPOU code 44189514), LAKTRADE PLUS LLC (EDRPOU code 36911542), Vavilon Food LLC (EDRPOU code 44657811), and Miasoprom Private Enterprise (EDRPOU code 31487623).
They are charged with "actions aimed at legalisation (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means in particularly large amounts", as well as non-payment of value-added tax to the budget in excess of UAH 23 million.
"During the pre-trial investigation of the criminal proceedings, it was established that the details of MEAT MIX LLC were used for the purpose of deliberate tax evasion by minimising tax liabilities through the artificial formation of a tax credit and withdrawal of state budget funds received under contracts with the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine into the shadow economy, with the enterprises having a decisive influence on the conduct of financial and economic relations belonging to one person - PERSON_4 (tax ID NUMBER_1), in particular: ZIVIS UA LLC, ACTIVE COMPANY LLC, GRAND CONSULT LLC, OK LAND FOOD LLC, TERRA BM LLC, UKRPRODAKORD OR LLC, OPT PROD TORG LLC," the court ruling says.
In particular, while in 2022, according to the information provided, OK LAND FOOD LLC leased premises and workshops where production and storage of products could be carried out, in 2023, the lease of office, warehouse and refrigerator space was reflected only in January. At the same time, the place of storage of the products sold on February 28 and March 31, 2023 (the dates of the tax invoices) is unclear.
In addition, in 2023, OK LAND FOOD LLC purchased only 2 services for the transportation of goods on January 06 and 14 from Uzyn to Stepove village and Sumy city, which also made it impossible to supply food to both military units and two other buyers in 2023:
- ACTIVE COMPANY LLC LLC (code: 40209490, place of registration: Kyiv) for a total amount of UAH 2,799,999.9 including VAT, with a volume of 71,789 kg of products in the range;
- VT DEVELOPMENT LLC (code 43413041, place of registration: Vinnytsia region, Hryshivtsi village) for a total amount of UAH 104,303,097.3 including VAT, with a volume of 1,397,307 kg and 578,918 eggs. By the way, VT DEVELOPMENT is known to journalists as a company from the Hrynkevych family (the father of the family was caught bribing law enforcement last year, but their company continued to supply food to the Ministry of Defence). The luxurious lifestyle of the Hrynkevych family also sets us to thinking about a significant withdrawal of money into the shadows.
But let's go on with Hlyniana`s schemes.
The former Premium Company, under the sign of TERRA BM LLC, formalized "non-commodity" transactions in 2023 totaling UAH 84,546,648, which led to the alleged evasion of value-added tax in the amount of UAH 14,091,108.
Law enforcement officers also recorded that officials of MEAT MIX LLC reflected transactions that have signs of doubt and may be related to VAT evasion with the following counterparties: MEAT PROM LLC (the current supplier of the MoD), VAVILON FOOD LLC, MIASOPROM Private Enterprise, PIK & K LLC, EURO VIK LLC, MIT-POSTACH LLC, MEATPLUS LLC, BUSINESS MEAT PRODUCT LLC.
"In turn, the established VAT limit in the electronic administration system (VAT EAS ) due to the execution of non-commodity transactions allows MEAT MIX LLC and other enterprises to reduce the payment of VAT to be credited to the state budget. At the same time, there is an increase in the food products stock balance in the warehouse, which the above-mentioned enterprises lease from MEAT MIX LLC at 23A Zavodska Street, Uzyn. This scheme ensures the illegal withdrawal of non-cash funds of enterprises of the real sector of the economy into the shadow, that is, uncontrolled by the state, bypassing the taxation system - state control and financial monitoring bodies," the decision says.
Tax invoices under the scheme could be registered for UAH 781,986,876.38 and then sold to other companies.
At the same time, the officials of ACTIVE COMPANY LLC and OK LAND FOOD LLC do not have information about the business operations of the companies, which, according to law enforcement officers, may indicate that another person actually controls such companies.
Law enforcement officers also received evidence of how the tax credit of GRAND CONSULT LLC, which is actually the largest supplier of food to the Ministry of Defense, was formed.
"It has been established that GRAND CONSULT LLC has been forming a tax credit in the amount of UAH 256,818,000 from GRANPRI LTD for the purchase of food. Interrogated as a witness, the head of GRANPRI LTD testified that he did not conduct any transactions with GRAND CONSULT LLC," the ruling says.
Apparently, all the money withdrawn was then deposited in individual (bank) safes at Raiffeisen Bank in Bila Tserkva.
"During the searches, the detectives found data on rented safe deposit boxes, as well as data on companies whose details were used to withdraw non-cash funds into cash (into the shadow economy)," the decision says.
An expediter driver of MEAT PROM LLC and a car SSANG YONG REXTON were used to hide the funds.
The money was to be transported from Bila Tserkva to Kyiv.
It was during this transportation that the BES detained the group.
Given the court's ruling, the founder and director of the Meat Mix companies are key to the investigation.
According to You control, the ultimate owners of Meat Mix are Nazarii Ruslanovych Bereziuk (apparently, Hlyniana's grandson) and Oleksandr Dmytrevych (also the owner of Active Company and Zivis UA).
The head of the company is Liudmyla Tsilitska, who also headed one of Hlyniana`s first enterprises, Vizit.
In 2015, Tetiana Hlyniana and her son-in-law Ruslan Bereziuk were involved in a case of bribery of a National Guard colonel for facilitating the winning of a tender for canned food for 10% of the contract amount. But then Hlyniana was not included in the verdict at all, and her son-in-law Ruslan Bereziuk was sentenced to a short suspended sentence, Nashi Hroshi notes.
Since then, this is probably the first time that law enforcement officers have taken an interest in the Hlyniana`s family. For example, in last year's case of stealing from military units, the heads of her companies were only witnesses.
Another important point is that on the eve of the detention of the car with the trunk of euros, law enforcement officers seized a number of documents from the companies, including invoices, consignment notes, and quality certificates concluded between MEAT MIX LLC and MEAT PROM LLC in the period 2022-2023.
As well as contracts, expense invoices, consignment notes, and a manufacturer's declaration concluded between MEAT MIX LLC and Vavilon Food LLC in the period 2022-2024.
Vavilon Food LLC has the same managers as MEAT PROM LLC, which is currently a supplier to the Ministry of Defence.
According to the tender documents, the Lviv company leases the facilities of Hlyniana`s business in Uzyn.
Among the seized documents is a 4-page Supply Agreement dated 01.01.2024 between MEAT PROM LLC and MEREL PLUS LLC.
The latter company, according to official data, specializes in wholesale trade in meat and meat products and construction. At the same time, Opendatabot shows that it has only 1 employee and an income of UAH 200 for 2023.
As you know, Meat Prom first made a loud statement that law enforcement officers were disrupting supplies to the army (as all companies supplying the Defense Ministry do when they are searched) and then denied for another week that they had anything to do with the trunk with money.
The DOT also claimed that the cases were not related to their period of operation.
So Meat Prom continues to supply food to the Ministry of Defense. And the Ministry still has no mechanism of action in this case. Because they can only terminate the contract in case of non-delivery, not because the supplier company is involved in criminal proceedings for money laundering.
Recently, the Ministry of Defense announced the creation of blacklists of companies that will include companies in the arms industry that have disrupted supplies. The same is planned for logistics. However, if we look at the case of the Hlyniana group, it becomes clear that while the investigation and the courts are ongoing, clever businessmen will have time to register another hundred new companies.
Therefore, the way out of this situation should be at the entrance and consist in tightening the qualification criteria for tenderers, as well as in the transition from purchases from the ACME to the actual producers. But so far, the entire movement in this direction at the Ministry of Defense is at the stage of theory and search.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor. NET
