Parliamentary elections will take place on July 21, and Ukrainians will elect a new Verkhovna Rada. There are quite a few candidates representing the Dnipropetrovsk region. To make it easier to choose your vote, we decided to highlight who is best known for what. Today, our featured subject is current regional council member Serhiy Kisil.
Sergei Kisil has become very wealthy during his years as a member of parliament. His land holdings and businesses have increased significantly. His companies have large tax debts and are facing legal action.
Over the years of his tenure as a deputy, Kisil became covered in dirt.
Sergei Kisil became a regional council deputy in the 2015 local elections. According to his 2018 asset declaration, at the time of his election, he owned 28,8 hectares of land, and he held a power of attorney for another 253,8 hectares. It's worth noting that the majority of the land, 159,6 hectares in total, that the deputy uses under his power of attorney was registered just before the 2015 elections.
During his tenure as a member of parliament, Kisil acquired another 46,6 hectares of land. His common-law wife allegedly purchased another half hectare. The amount of land acquired by the deputy through power of attorney increased significantly—over 100 hectares annually. Over the course of three years, Kisil acquired nearly 400 hectares of land.
Kisil's business consistently evades taxes
Sergey Kisil's main source of income is entrepreneurship. He owns 12 companies entirely and partially owns about a dozen others. Many of them have outstanding taxes, and some are facing criminal charges for willful tax evasion.
SG TOV "RAYAGROHIM"—Kisil is the ultimate beneficiary of this company. It has unpaid the budget almost 90 hryvnias. TOV "KHUSTKHLIB" owes much more—almost 625 hryvnias. STOV "OZADIVSKE" is also behind on payments, owing 9 hryvnias. STOV "AKTSENT-AGRO" was also sued for tax nonpayment. However, they quickly rectified the situation.
Several companies are involved in cases of large-scale tax evasion. These include DP Agromervis 2000, VSP AF PROMIN LLC, and SG LLC RAIAGROHIM. The amounts involved exceed 3 million hryvnias. The companies are suspected of being fictitious. However, the court proceedings are still ongoing.
A similar story is unfolding with companies co-owned by Sergei Kisil, specifically, ZAGOTZERNO-LOSHKARIVKA LLC. It is also facing criminal charges. Investigators believe it embezzled nearly 9 million hryvnias worth of property from the Agrarian Fund of Ukraine through abuse of office. Chudnivske KhPP LLC is also facing criminal charges for large-scale tax evasion.
Betrayal of a companion for profit
In 2010, Sergei Kisil exploited his partner's illness for profit. Valery Zanuda owned 50% of the shares of the Privolnyansky Grain Receiving Enterprise, which controlled the bakery. Sergei Kisil was the other major shareholder. When Valery fell seriously ill, doctors didn't guarantee a quick recovery. Kisil hastened to take advantage of his partner's illness, deciding that his partner's illness was a direct path to enrichment. He hoped to pull off a scheme that would result in his partner's assets being seized.
Oleg Efimenko, director of the Privolnyansky Grain Receiving Enterprise, helped bring this plan to fruition. Violating the charter and the law (without holding a general meeting of shareholders), Efimenko unilaterally decided to transfer 1,494,638 shares of the enterprise, worth 374,000 hryvnias (96% of the authorized capital), to Sintez Trade Agro, a company wholly owned by Kisil.
Incidentally, Efimenko's actions fall under the Criminal Code, Article 365 of which provides for punishment for the intentional abuse of official authority, especially if they resulted in grave consequences.
Kisil himself appreciated the hard work of his accomplice and granted Efimenko the position of director of the bakery, now completely under the control of the fraudster.
The richest deputy
Serhiy Kisil is among the top 10 richest members of parliament in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He and his wife declared UAH 6,797,741 in income in 2018. The director of the Saturn Agro farming enterprise holds UAH 3,4 million in cash and $470,000 in cash.
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