As deputy chairman of the OP, Tatarov took control of the BEB, Customs, and the State Bureau of Investigation. They cover up smuggling and corruption
Tatarov is responsible for the law enforcement system, he was able to place his people in key positions in law enforcement agencies, in particular, in customs and in the Bureau of Economic Security.
Since the end of the year, a temporary investigative commission has been working in the Verkhovna Rada, investigating egregious facts of corruption in law enforcement agencies, customs and the Bureau of Economic Security, which is supposed to expose economic criminals.
BusinessCensor talked with the head of the VSK, a deputy of the Holos party, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, about the growth of corruption and smuggling during the war, and which is related to the deputy head of the President’s Office, Oleg Tatarov.
Tatarov is one of the key people in the Ukrainian law enforcement system. He was able to place his people in key positions in all law enforcement agencies (except for NABU and SAPO): the National Police, the SBU, customs, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Economic Security.
In particular, Tatarov’s man is considered to be the recently appointed Deputy Prosecutor General Anton Voitenko.
Tatarov’s godfather Maxim Tsutskiridze works in the leadership of the National Police, he holds the position of Deputy Head of the National Police.
Close to Tatarov is considered the chairman of the SBI, Alexei Sukhachev, as well as the deputy head of the main investigative department of the SBI, Dmitry Mirkovets.
In addition, the head of economic counterintelligence of the SBU Artem Shilo is guided by Tatarov. According to Bigus.infofor ten years in the special service, amassed a fortune of $ 4 million.
The director of the Bureau of Economic Security, Vadim Melnyk, also Creature of Oleg Tatarov. In addition to him, former friends and colleagues of Tatarov during his work at the Ministry of Internal Affairs were employed at the BEB, in particular Tatarov’s godfather, ex-prosecutor Vitaly Gagach, an analyst at the BEB central office Nikolai Chinchin, who was once the direct superior of Oleg Tatarov, and Alexander Tkachuk, who is in charge for detective work.
___
Who is Oleg Tatarov
Oleg Tatarov is a lustred official from the governing bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Yanukovych era, who during the Maidan told foreign media that the Maidanists shot themselves.
In 2005, he received a master’s degree from the National Academy of Internal Affairs. In 2010, he graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University with a degree in Accounting and Audit. Then he graduated from the University of London and received a European lawyer’s license.
From 1999 to 2014, Tatarov served in the internal affairs bodies.
Since 2011, he has been deputy head of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During this period, he was a member of various working groups to improve the legal regulation of the activities of pre-trial investigation bodies, the prosecutor’s office and the bar.
In 2014, after the escape of President Viktor Yanukovych, Tatarov was fired from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, the courts of three instances then recognized Tatarov’s dismissal as illegal.
Since 2014, Tatarov has been practicing law as a managing partner of the Tatarov Farinnik Golovko Law Firm.
In this capacity, Tatarov defended the ex-deputy head of Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, Andrei Portnov, in court. In 2016, he was a lawyer for the people’s deputy from the Opposition Platform for Life Vadim Novinsky, he defended in court the former head of the Court of Appeal of Crimea, Valery Chernobuk, who is suspected of treason. In 2014, he called on Crimean judges to take Russian citizenship and rule legal proceedings according to Russian laws.
Tatarov was also a lawyer for Olesya Kuznetsova, the wife of the deceased Ivan Kuznetsov, who attacked activist Sergei Sternenko. In May 2019, Tatarov demanded that the SBU investigator declare Sternenko suspected of premeditated murder and completed attempted murder of two people. This provides for a sentence of up to life imprisonment.
Until 2017, Tatarov headed the legal department of the Ukrbud corporation. NABU and SAPO are suspected of complicity in receiving a bribe in the form of a parking space in the Artyomovsky residential complex from the owner of Ukrstroy, Maxim Mikitas, to Konstantin Dubonos, Deputy Director of the State Research Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. But after the intervention in the case of the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, Tatarov was denied the allegation of suspicion, the prosecutors who were supposed to present charges in court were secretly changed to others, and the case was taken away from the NABU and the SAP and transferred to the SBU, which, it is believed, , is a pre-trial investigation body more loyal to Tatarov due to close ties with the leadership of the department.
Tatarov is also associated with individual members of the commission for the election of the head of the SAP, which for more than a year and a half sabotaged the appointment of the head of the SAPO Oleksandr Klymenko, a former NABU detective known for investigating the case against Tatarov about the theft of housing for the National Guard during the construction of Ukrstroy.
On August 5, 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Tatarov to the position of Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. This mission, as expected, caused criticism in society. A few days later, Zelensky explained the appointment by saying that Tatarov seemed to be a professional and “it’s unfair to consider all the people who headed this or that link of power during the “Yanukovych era” to be considered the “old government.”
In the OP, Tatarov is responsible for the law enforcement system, he was able to place his people in key positions in law enforcement agencies, including customs and again in the Bureau of Economic Security.
___
– How did Oleg Tatarov, given his biography, end up in a fairly close circle of President Zelensky?
It’s hard to even imagine who started it. On the day it was appointedTatarov as Deputy Chairman of the Office of the President-BC) I was in the circle of many “Servants of the People”, some of them were on the Maidan or their children took part, for them it was a shock. They did not expect such a destination and rated it poorly. It is difficult to explain such purpose. If you read Tatarov’s biography, you will immediately understand that his appointment will be a reputational problem.
– Is it possible to assume that Oleg Tatarov had strong broad connections in law enforcement agencies, and therefore they decided to appoint him to the OP?
– Have you ever heard the name of Tatarov at least once before the appointment? Personally, I have been following this area for a long time, I have not heard. He was remembered from the Maidan. Tatarov was a lawyer for Portnov, Novinsky, Judge Chernobuk, and helped Mikitas. Of course, he has connections, but I have never heard of this man’s significant influence. I think his influence began to grow with his position in the Office of the President.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak
— In one of your interviews, you said that if Tatarov was fired, it would have a significant economic effect for Ukraine. They called the amount of damage due to his activities at the BEB at UAH 80 billion, at customs at UAH 120 billion. Can you tell us how you calculated these numbers?
— For example, for customs, last year there was a plan, not very ambitious, UAH 528 billion, which should have been collected according to “peaceful” calculations. Then a large-scale war began, of course, we have limited logistics. In addition, high inflation, devaluation. But we take the tax, also large tax benefits, occupation, but their plan is fulfilled by 99.4%. And at the customs, only 56.9%, or UAH 300 billion, were completed.
Our committee, in which the majority of members are from the party in power, voted unanimously half a year ago to recognize the work of customs as unsatisfactory. People do not want to bear political responsibility for what is happening at the customs. There is a corrupt anarchy. Demchenko actually does not manage anything except the Volyn customs, everything is managed by his deputy, Mr. Ruslan Cherkassky, who, under Yanukovych, worked at the Donetsk and Energy customs. He runs customs under Tatarov’s supervision.
We are investigating several episodes of customs, some I can tell. In addition to various petty schemes such as fumigation in Odessa, when they take money so that there are no worms in the grain, or deliberately delay the cargo in order to get money, there are not very many systemic corruption flows.
We at VSK have been repeatedly sent anonymous messages when they appoint the head of customs, they bring him the size of the unlawful benefit that he should generate, and then this head independently decides what methods and efforts to ensure this. As an official, I cannot confirm this yet, but we receive such information from VSK from various sources. Our VSK will check it. And if confirmed, it will transfer the information to NABU, because the level of customs deputies falls under the accountability of this anti-corruption body.
— Could you tell us about the main cases at customs that are currently being considered by your VSK?
“Firstly, this is “black” grain, which was either stolen or bought for black cash, or illegally grown at state enterprises, and it is exported by firms through the grain corridor. Since September, there has been a memorandum between the tax, customs and BEB. If you want to export grain, you must submit a preliminary customs declaration. Customs provides this data to the tax auditing firm. If it has no employees, land, warehouses, bank accounts, has paid zero taxes, has all the signs of fictitiousness, the tax office sends information to customs and BEB, which should arrest this grain.
There are about 600 such suspicious enterprises. It turns out that some of them quietly export. Nobody even tried to stop them. And according to the available information from the BEB and the SBU, who conducted searches in December, whether such a company will finally export or not depends on the corruption component of the customs officers.
When we asked the customs officials what is the difference between similar companies, which allow some to pass without customs forms of control, and others do not, they could not explain. A simple, stupid and rather primitive scheme. At the Odessa customs now, Mrs. Victoria Dubovik, who is a close friend of Cherkassky.
– What is the size of the undue benefit on the grain?
– I have different information, in the showers of documents from the case of searches, some journalists indicate the amount of 1% of the export price. Sources interviewed by the VSK say even more. Various figures are voiced: 40 cents for fumigation, 40 cents for non-obstruction of export, another 1% of the export price. Whether these figures correspond to reality should be checked by our law enforcement agencies.
– Have you already analyzed what percentage of the exported volume of grain is the so-called “black” grain?
– Out of a sample of 3,000 customs declarations of such firms, about 600 were installed, of which at the time of the beginning of our investigation there were 118. Some are simply in an incomprehensible status. The final number is definitely higher.
– Do large grain traders – multinational companies help you in investigating information about illegal grain?
“They’re really interested because these gray firms are taking up space on the ship. Gray firms that did not pay taxes did not return foreign exchange earnings. However, everyone who is involved in the schemes themselves, like spiders in a jar, leak information to each other. Insiders from various law enforcement agencies help much more.
– I propose to talk about cigarette smuggling through the duty free scheme.
— Duty free cigarettes are made for sale in duty free shops. This direction at customs is now subordinated to Ruslan Cherkassky. In Ukraine, a huge amount of such duty free is produced, some goes to Poland, Romania, and other countries, but they also end up on the Ukrainian domestic market. And they make up a huge part of it.
We are talking about a cigarette manufacturer in Zhovti Vody, a rare schematosis. The “Schemes” project was investigated about him, the proceedings are connected with Mr. Nikolai Martynenko from the “Popular Front”, who then, due to a corruption scandal, drew up a mandate and is now under investigation by NABU.
In Zhovti Vody, the equipment has not yet been completely removed by law enforcement officers, which suggests that this is not profitable for someone. Duty free cigarettes from Vinnikovskaya Tobacco Factory can also be found in kiosks. And there is a connection between the recently fired Deputy Prosecutor General Alexei Simonenko, Tatarov’s man, who went on vacation to Spain in the car of the owner of this tobacco factory, Grigory Kozlovsky.
The level of illegal cigarettes on the market is now 22%, almost three times more than under Yanukovych. This causes the country 20 billion hryvnia damage.
– Regarding the imported humanitarian aid, then sold in stores. Did such a phenomenon really take place?
“I have no doubt that this could really happen at the beginning of a full-scale war. There is no doubt that the goods were also driven “along the green”, along the path through the forest. By some miracle, it turns out that some well-known volunteers are nightmares at customs, we all know them, their reputation is beyond doubt. And there are firms that have never been heard of, and they drive huge volumes of “humanitarian aid”. I was told from customs about the fund, which is not even embarrassed to use the word “Azov” in the name. He drives huge volumes. And the customs and law enforcement officers have no questions.
How are these corruption schemes related?
– When you have such problems at customs, a whole ecosystem always grows next to black financial flows. “Black” grain and gambling, non-payment of wages in the white by some large networks – one and the same financial system. Our gambling business has not paid about UAH 9 billion in taxes. For example, you pay for the game, and the money is withdrawn from the card as for advertising services. This can go to the account of an individual, so we don’t see it, we don’t tax it.
Then this money is partially transferred to the cards of employees of retail chains, and then partially converted into the currency that is paid for the “black” grain. And then she enters the country. I would never have thought that grain, gambling could be related.
The same goes for smuggling. If we brought a thousand “iPhones” through the Transcarpathian customs, which need to be sold without documents. You can most likely sell them for cash, and then you need to do something with this cache. A big money laundering scheme begins. Therefore, leaky customs is not only a problem for customs officers. Its inaction creates ecosystems that cause us to lose even more money.
We take BEB, which should fight economic crimes. Compensated to the state UAH 33 million. We spent about UAH 300 million on them, as a government agency, last year. Estimated from losses in the gambling business, according to the most conservative estimate, is UAH 10 billion. The Gambling and Lottery Regulatory Commission submitted 1,698 applications to BEB for illegal websites and 605 for gambling halls. Initiated by the BEB of criminal proceedings 34. And the accused act, or at least suspicion, is none.
While they have all the authority, it is their accountability. And there is no result. The BEB project failed, because at first there was a direct order from Tatarov to appoint Melnik as the head of the BEB. Melnik created an even worse body than the tax police. There was at least one grouping, but here three groups are quarreling among themselves, leaking information to each other.
To me, as to the head of the VSK, one group “knocks” on the other and gives out their schemes. This greatly simplifies the work, we will process all the materials. First there was a group of Gmyrin, already a resident of Dubai, and now, according to the sound recording from the VSK, which Yuri Butusov taught, Tatarov is sitting there, completely controlled by the BEB: Gagach as a deputy answers, Tkachuk – for detectives, Chinchin – for analytics. All these people are biographically connected with Tatarov. They took theirs. And so far, the BEB has been just exposing corrupt officials for the whole year. The only thing that can be done from BEB is to completely reboot it, as it used to be from NAPC and SAP.
– How can you influence the removal of Tatarov?
– My feeling shows a strange correlation, albeit a very pleasant one. Those persons who our public anti-corruption organizations acted on will very quickly fall into the US sanctions list. Tatarov made about the same mistakes as the OASK judge Pavto Volk. Their biographies are similar, they had cases from NABU, they successfully avoided it in court, they prevented the transparent election of the head of the SAP, they exerted illegal influence on law enforcement agencies, suspicions that this influence develops into improper monetary gain are justified. If you look at the history of Andrey Portnov, Alexander Dubinsky or Volk, you will find certain coincidences and I think that Tatarov has almost collected a full house from such things. Any power goes through stages of rejection, acceptance, reconciliation. It seems to me that the President will make personnel decisions in advance.
Olga Prokopishina, translation Skeleton.Info
