In a week, an unprecedented event in Ukrainian history will take place. Representatives of Yanukovych's so-called "family" will be suing the country. Despite the former president's inner circle hiding from the "hard" life in Monte Carlo and Rostov, their Ukrainian businesses continue to enrich the modest "family" budget.
Ukrainians are asking themselves: "Why are illegally seized businesses feeding their former owners and financing the invasion of Donbas?", "Where is Themis looking?", "Who can cut off the financial flows to the 'family'?"
The Supreme Court of Ukraine will answer this question on September 2. On that day, it will consider the restoration of the legal rights of the owners of the largest market, "7 Kilometer," which was "squeezed out" in 2010 by the notorious Party of Regions MP and Yanukovych friend Yuriy Ivanyushchenko* and his partner. Ivan Avramov.
How the 7th Kilometer was Squeezed
In 2010, the Odessa market "Seventh Kilometer" became the object of close attention of the Yanukovych "Family".
Then the market owners were given a condition for "normal" operations: to ensure the business continued operating without endangering their lives and health, they were required to "donate" 25% of the company's authorized capital to Yuriy Ivanyushchenko's son. All but one of the owners accepted this offer.
Shortly after the changes to the company's charter were made, one of the remaining co-owners of the market died, and Ivanyushchenko's team gained complete control over the market and its cash flows.
Moreover, the market's director, Boris Melnychuk, swore allegiance to the "family." The old man was retained because he was privy to all the shady schemes and money flows in the market. Melnychuk now handles all of the 7th Kilometer's "illegal" cash registers. Under orders from Ivan Avromov, the former overseer of the Odesa region and Yenakievsky's partner, Melnychuk is responsible for making payments to the separatists. Odesa media outlets and activists have repeatedly drawn the attention of security officials investigating the May 2 tragedy to the leadership of 7th Kilometer.
With the arrival of the new "owner," tax revenues dropped significantly, despite the fact that before Ivanyushchenko's team took over, the company was the largest taxpayer in the Odessa region. The market essentially stalled, completely refocusing on replenishing the "family's" accounts.
But the revolution changed everything. Viktor Yanukovych and his inner circle fled the country.
Former "overseer" of the Odessa region Ivan Avramov
A "Family" Contract: Ivan Avramov's Brother, Sergei Business, Against the "Overseers"
Business vs. the overseers
The only shareholder who refused to give up his stake, Odesa businessman Denis Voloshin, decided to fight Yenakievsky in court. The businessman won his first court case in September 2012. The market's deal with Ivanyushchenko's company was declared illegitimate.
Then the "regional" party used its status and forced the Supreme Economic Court. A couple of months later, the market became "family" property again.
Voloshin didn't back down and began a new round of legal proceedings in early 2014. On June 12, the "7th Kilometer" case was heard in the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Today, the "family's" accounts are frozen in Europe and the United States. On the run and desperately in need of funds, representatives of the Ivanyushchenko group are trying to extract as much money as possible from the disputed enterprises.
"Kilometer 7" is a source of illegal cash for the "family," collected by Ivan Avramov through his confidant, Oleg Gres, and market director Boris Melnichuk.
Stopping official financial flows did not stop the shadow flows at all.
Avramov is urgently trying to extract the maximum from an asset that he is about to lose.
According to a Channel 5 investigation, the current owners of "7 Kilometer" are planning to sell it to the controversial businessman Telman Ismailov, known as the former owner of the Cherkizovsky Market in Moscow.
The former owner of Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market plans to relocate the Seventh Market's retail space to a new location on the Kyiv-Odesa highway.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to shift the entrepreneurs' attention away from the sale of the market to Ismailov, representatives of the "family" launched a massive media campaign against the chairman of the regional council, Alexei Goncharenko, as well as businessman Denis Voloshin, who has been trying for four years to recover the property seized by the "family" through legal proceedings.
Experts believe the "family" will squeeze every last drop out of its assets, while simultaneously testing the strength of Ukraine's judicial system.
"The return of the enterprise to legal ownership is a very significant process. After all, if the government's renewal doesn't happen until the parliamentary elections in the fall, then the judicial system's strength is already being tested," says political expert Vladimir Tsybulko.
According to Tsybulko, many enterprises illegally seized during the reign of the previous government continue to work for its representatives today.
"Entrepreneurs are still forced to support two families: their own and the so-called 'family' of the former president. This raises many questions for the judicial system, which is currently facing dozens of cases of corporate raids," the expert said. "Given the armed conflict in Donbas, the issue of filling the state budget has become increasingly pressing. But instead, revenues from Ukrainian businesses continue to be siphoned out of the country by its former leadership, which negatively impacts the overall approval ratings of the new government," Tsybulko emphasized.
On Wednesday, August 27, the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office conducted a criminal investigation at the market under the Criminal Code of Ukraine's article "fraud and embezzlement of property."
During the pre-trial investigation, law enforcement officers, in accordance with a court decision, conducted authorized searches in non-residential premises of the enterprise's administrative buildings.
Investigators acted on the basis that representatives of the "family", using forged documents from Promtovary Rynok LLC, illegally obtained ownership rights to the property of the said enterprise.
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