Imperial's activities today are interesting. As is well known, after the loss of Crimea and the outbreak of war in the Donetsk-Luhansk region, smuggling, especially its most "black" variety, flourished. Armenian smugglers established meat supply routes to the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, while Odessans did the same to Crimea. For some of them, this ended badly.
READ PART ONE: THE HISTORY OF FRUITS. OR THE HISTORY OF TAXES FOR IMPORTING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FROM THE DERKACHS TO THE PRESENT DAY
In late November 2014, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a member of the Odessa Regional Council on charges of pork smuggling. FSB special forces were dispatched to Crimea to carry out the final stages of the operation. Fearing a leak, local security forces were briefed on the details of the operation at the last minute. On November 18, several dozen trucks carrying counterfeit meat were detained at the Armyansk and Chongar border checkpoints. According to FSB sources, the criminal group that organized the smuggling of contraband meat into Crimea included at least ten people. All of them have been detained. The Kyiv District Court of Simferopol ordered their pretrial detention. According to the press service of the regional FSB department, the alleged organizer of the criminal group was Mykola Karpenko, a deputy of the Odessa Regional Council. Until March 2014, he served as deputy head of the Ukrainian Fisheries Agency. On November 21, Karpenko was detained at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow while attempting to enter Russia from Ukraine. On November 23, Karpenko was transported to Simferopol. After his arrest, Karpenko offered FSB officers a bribe of $30 for the opportunity to fly to Ukraine. Nikolai Karpenko was elected to the regional council on the list of the pro-Russian Rodina party. Remarkably, the Ukrainian authorities have so far failed to respond to the detention of the regional council member by foreign intelligence agents.
It's worth noting that "Imperial" was protected in Kyiv by B.N. Katrushin from the Ministry of Health, who currently serves in Crimea as the first deputy at the Crimean Ministry of Health. And in Odessa, Karpenko "rose" thanks to the support of "Maradona," the head of the separatist Rodina party, Igor Markov. Here's what was written about this "tandem."
The Markov-Karpenko partnership began in Odessa with wholesale banana sales, later expanding into meat imports. The proximity of the port and Markov's connections allowed Imperial to quickly gain momentum. Numerous scandals involving the supply of substandard food products have not impacted the dynamically developing business.
It's no surprise that Nikolai Karpenko, who is far from politics, became a deputy of the Odessa Regional Council in 2010, representing Igor Markov's Rodina party. The partners' responsibilities were clearly divided: Karpenko ran the business, while Markov provided administrative support and lobbied for his interests within government.
In subsequent years, with the support of Odessa Mayor Oleksiy Kostusev, Markov shifted his focus to household waste removal and recycling, which was handled by his company, Soyuz LLC. However, this didn't prevent Markov from maintaining a stake in Mykola Karpenko's businesses—according to some sources, at least 50%.
Things seemed to be going well, Karpenko even created several more companies: Ukrainian Meat Company LLC, Agro Soyuz LLC, Ukrainian Seafood Company LLC, Imperial Fish Company, Consulting-Pivden LLC, the Ukrainian company Imperial, Viva Ltd., and Imperial Trading House, which took on all the most financial scams.
The income made it possible to finance the party and also acquire new assets.
The expanding business needed protection at the national level. In 2012, Markov became a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Karpenko became deputy chairman of the State Agency of Fisheries of Ukraine.
This combination of circumstances allows the Imperial Group of Companies to effectively monopolize the banana, meat, and fish markets in Ukraine. Monthly meat imports alone exceed 50,000 tons, and the company's annual turnover amounts to €1,5 billion.
Nikolai Karpenko's lifestyle has also changed. Now he drives a luxurious Maybach, surrounded by two Geländewagen security guards. Whether they can help him now is a big question.
And now can I ask you again: what will help Nikolai Karpenko? And what corrupt connections and schemes of current Ukrainian officials will he expose to the FSB?
Here we cannot help but recall the security forces who protected these schemes for many years and effectively cultivated the Odessa smuggling hydra.
Prosecutor Nikolai Vasilievich Klyantsko.
One of the key corruption figures in the Odesa region is Prosecutor Mykola Klyantsko. He is a well-known figure in the region, having begun his career in the Primorsky District Prosecutor's Office and previously worked in the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. For several years, he headed the Illichivsk Transport Prosecutor's Office.
What is this civil servant, representative of the law, protector of the state and citizens so famous for?
Nikolai Klyantzko, a direct representative of the authorities and with the support of influential figures in the Prosecutor General's Office, chose his primary focus in the fight against crime: organizing a corruption scheme for his own enrichment by obtaining funds in the Odessa region.
According to unofficial sources, the prosecutor received between $500 and $4000 for each container imported into the region. Using his official position, he extorted and received between $1 and $2 per ton of "general" cargo (sulfur, metal, coal, etc.) exported from Ukraine, and $2 per ton of grain and corn exports. By "covering" illegal and corrupt schemes at ports in conjunction with the Phytosanitary Service, he received $30,000 monthly. By pressuring Rostislav Prokopets, head of the Black Sea Environmental Inspectorate, he lobbied for Mykola Boyko to be appointed head of this service at the Illichivsk port, from whom he received between $50,000 and $100,000 monthly for his "services."
Nikolai Klyantzko, using his skills and knowledge, “provided services” for a fee of between 50,000 and 120,000 US dollars to organize corruption schemes in the ports of the Odessa region.
According to media reports, Mr. Klyantzko, who oversaw the Illichivsk port and collaborated with Vasyl Prisyazhnyuk to organize a unique scheme for the delivery and sale of contraband goods into Ukrainian customs territory, creating a monopoly on customs clearance. He also earned considerable income from close cooperation with Odessa's VAT conversion centers.
On November 24, 2014, Nikolai Klyantsko, apparently in recognition of his considerable service to the country and its people, was appointed Deputy Prosecutor of the Odesa Region. Since his appointment, neither Klyantsko's photograph nor his income declaration have appeared on the Prosecutor's Office website.
It's believed the deputy prosecutor didn't have time to file a tax return because he's busy working part-time to supplement his official salary. Indeed, how can his bare salary buy his wife a brand new Audi A8 worth approximately $120,000, license plate number 0001, and how can he himself drive to work in an Audi A6 worth approximately $80,000, license plate number 0303, while owning a Range Rover worth approximately $200,000?
After his confirmation in Ilyichevsk, prosecutor Klyantsko appointed his father (a former policeman from Lutsk) to the position of deputy director of the Ilyichevsk Trade Port.
Nikolai Klyantzko has several lawyers on his side, one of them being lawyer Alexander Plipchuk (a former employee of the Primorsky District Prosecutor's Office). The two civil rights defenders concocted a rather daring plot and executed it. In 2011, Nikolai Klyantzko swindled $50.000 from an importer in Odessa for stopping illegal actions by the Plant Quarantine Service. Having received $50 from the Quarantine Service, N. Klyantzko returned the money to the importer—the prosecutor had spent $5.100 in a week, so the total was $44.900, not $100. After handing over the importer, N. Klyantzko sent lawyer Alexander Plipchuk to the pretrial detention center, and further developments occurred. An importer was arrested for smuggling – he overpaid Customs by $700 compared to other importers for the same amount of cargo. The case was supported by S. Buyadzhi. After holding him in pretrial detention for over six months, Nikolai Klyantsko decided to settle accounts with an old friend, whom he had underpaid $5.100. Through his police officer, Andrey Belinsky, N. Klyantsko, accompanied by A. Pilipchuk, entered the Ilyichevsk pretrial detention center and began intimidating the detainee with the complexity of the criminal case, which in reality involved an overpayment to the budget of more than $700. Without even removing the detainee's handcuffs, N. Klyantsko obtained a receipt for $150 by exerting psychological pressure on the detainee. The deal was complete – N. Klyantsko converted the $5.100 spent into a debt of $144.900 – isn't he a magician?
Another law enforcement magician is Mr. Gennady Bezrodny, an officer with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the Odessa region. Here is the text of Mr. Bezrodny's statement regarding his activities:
Application Form
Please check and clarify the appropriateness of the inspections and criminal case initiated in March-April 2011 by Gennady Bezrodny, an employee of the SBU of the Odessa region, against enterprises that had working relations with the Arcadia private enterprise.
Despite regular illegal actions by employees of the State Medical and Sanitary Inspectorate and the Plant Quarantine Service, the importer of fresh fruits and vegetables, SPDL "Soloveychuk," continued to pay more than double the inflated rates for imported fruits and bananas.
Thus, on 02/07/11, during customs clearance of the m/v NELSON STAR, the amount of 108.063 dollars was paid for 19297 boxes of bananas, which is 61.751 dollars more than other importers paid for the same amount of bananas.
On 20.02.11, during customs clearance of the m/v PLUTO, the amount of 474.264 dollars was paid for 84690 boxes of bananas, which is 254.070 dollars more than the importer Fruit Line paid for the same bananas from the same vessel that called at the Odessa port.
On March 11, 2011, during customs clearance of the m/v FUJI BAY, the amount of 522.340 dollars was paid for 93275 boxes of bananas, which is 298.480 dollars more than other importers paid for the same amount of bananas.
On April 10, 2011, during customs clearance of the m/v ICE FLAKE, the sum of $173.600 was paid for 31000 boxes of bananas, which is $99.200 more than what the importer Fruit Line paid for the same bananas from the same vessel that called at the Odessa port.
In total, between February and April 2011 alone, importer SPDL Soloveychuk paid $713.501, exceeding the maximum payments for banana imports in the Odessa region by other importers. Between 2008 and 2011, the total overpayments by Arcadia Group of Companies exceeded $10.000.000.
However, in the spring of 2011, the SBU officers of the Odessa region carried out deliberate measures and actions to stop the company's activities, including the arrest of the head of the Arcadia Group of Companies, O.V. Rybalchenko, and the confiscation of a vessel with an EDRO III orange worth more than $800.
Thus, a group of individuals led by V. Alperin put an end to the process of legally importing fresh fruits and vegetables, creating conditions for themselves to illegally receive kickbacks in the amount of $30 to $100 per ton of products passing through the customs border of Ukraine.
The scheme is still in effect today, and no importer wants to repeat the fate of the Arcadia Group.
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The illegal actions of customs and plant quarantine officers are compounded by the refusal to clear banana shipments in the vehicles mentioned above. The shipments became unusable due to their failure to release them for sale after the funds had been deposited into customs accounts for approximately one month or more. The value of the damaged shipments exceeds $6.000.000.
The actions of Gennady Bezrodny were aimed at concealing the losses caused by the illegal actions of officials in Ilyichevsk and the Southern Customs Office, by arresting the head, Rybalchenko O., on deliberately false grounds.
Next, Gennady Bezrodny helps some employees of the Arcadia Group of Companies find employment at a new enterprise called Status Plus LLC (the exact name needs to be clarified).
Thus, Oksana Evenko (banana procurement manager at Arcadia Group) joined the work at Status LLC as a project manager.
Igor Shpak and other employees of the Arcadia Group of Companies, who had access to information and certain skills in working with bananas and other fruits, also joined the work at Status LLC.
The company OOO Status Plus is one of the enterprises involved in the schemes of Sergey Kurchenko.
The rootless Gennady called employees of the Arcadia Group of Companies who were undesirable to him or to the projects of Kurchenko S., threatening to jail anyone who would communicate with Rybalchenko O.
There is also an undeniable connection between Gennady Bezrodny and the defendants in the Ilyichevsk case of minimizing customs and tax payments, Oleg Savelyevich Sokolov, Roman Bulat, and Vladimir Evstratov.
Having either reached an agreement with Gennady Bezrodny, or knowing his plans, Sokolov O.S. in February 2011 dared to sell a shipment worth $120.000, which had arrived at the Arcadia Group of Companies from the Turkish supplier Altash, to another recipient. Bezrodny G. oversaw all shipments—see S. Muntyan's explanation. The SBU representative in Ilyichevsk could not have been unaware of Sokolov O.'s actions.
(to be continued)
Igor Angelov, "General plan»
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