Igor Salo
Journalists learned of this fact from the heads of the Kharkiv enterprises "Vertical" and "Perspektiva." These are the two plants that Salo and Garibyan are attempting to seize.
"Vertical" and "Perspektiva" specialize in the manufacture of electrical equipment. According to management, they have had no legal problems to date.
But just a few months ago, the prosecutor's office turned its attention to Vertikal and Perspektiva. Specifically, they are accused of VAT fraud. Allegedly, the companies deliberately inflated their expenses in order to later apply for a particularly large VAT refund from the Ukrainian budget. The managers of both companies consider these accusations false, as the firms were constantly subject to all sorts of tax audits. Perspektiva and Vertikal suspect that all their current problems stem from the fact that notorious Kharkiv gangster Artur Garibyan, acting under the direction of FSB agent Igor Salo, is trying to "squeeze" their businesses.
We attempted to investigate the situation independently from the companies' management. It's no secret that Vertikal and Perspektiva are part of the Triol corporation, whose president is a certain Dmitry Khachaturov. We learned that Khachaturov had long collaborated with Garibyan. This was confirmed by Vertikal employees. Another friend of Garibyan's, Vyacheslav Asanov, owner of the customs brokerage company Millennium LLC, helped clear cargo for a long time. This was learned from speaking with local customs officials. They also said they were surprised that Asanov and prosecutors were always personally present during cargo inspections, as they had no right to be in the customs zone.
Let's think about it for a moment. Two factories have been operating in Ukraine for over ten years. They have no legal problems and are profitable. Both enterprises operate with customs, meaning they have the ability to export capital. Garibyan is well acquainted with their operations. So why not use these companies for money laundering? After manufacturing 1,000 units of equipment, only 100 are transferred honestly, paying all necessary fees and VAT, and the remaining 900 are smuggled out using illegal methods.
Of course, Salo isn't interested in Vertikal or Perspektiva, but rather in Triol. Incidentally, this firm cooperates with Russia's Gazprom. That's precisely why these companies caught the attention of Garibyan and Salo. Salo also has his own people who can help organize smuggling and extort money from Ukrainians. But even for him, this proved too difficult a task. Therefore, the decision was made to "take over" this business, starting with representative companies.
But why are "Vertikal" and "Perspektiva" being accused specifically of a tax-related case? The answer wasn't immediately clear. But after analyzing Igor Salo's circle, it became clear who helped him. Among Igor Salo's acquaintances is a certain Oleg Orlov. This man was appointed acting head of Kharkiv Customs in 2013. But before that, Orlov served as deputy head of the Kharkiv Tax Police Department. We believe this case was brought through him. But the prosecutor's office initiated the investigation against these two companies. This means that Salo, who has seized more than a dozen Ukrainian enterprises over the past five to seven years, including the Indar insulin plant, has his own people in the new prosecutor's office. Because "Vertikal" and "Perspektiva" are currently undergoing large-scale investigations.
Incidentally, while working on this material, a couple more instances of corporate raids led by Igor Salo were uncovered. There are reports that he is currently "working" on seizing state-owned distilleries.
Question: How many more facts need to be made public for the SBU to take up this character, and for the prosecutor's office to open cases against his accomplices?
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