Ukrspirt
A group led by influential figures from the Yanukovych regime has organized a unique type of criminal enterprise in Ukraine. Using long-standing connections in the security and government agencies, these individuals are effectively seizing factories that are part of the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt and producing illegal alcohol and alcoholic beverages there. There is reason to believe that the proceeds from this scheme are used to finance the war against Ukraine in Donbas.
On October 27, a group of auditors from the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt arrived in the village of Zirne, Bereznivsky District, Rivne Oblast, to inspect certain aspects of the economic activities of the Zirne Distillery, which is part of the state-owned concern. However, the plant's workforce, misled by the former director of the state-owned enterprise, prevented the auditors and the new director from entering the plant.
The case is that the previous director, A. Silchenko, was suspended from his duties on October 6 by a corresponding order from Ukrspirt's management. However, he is attempting to challenge this decision and has effectively embarked on a path to seizing the state-owned distillery and establishing illegal alcohol production there.
Officially, the plant has been idle since 2012, and Ukrspirt has not granted permission to restart it. However, upon approaching the plant, I. Ilchyshyn, head of the Ukrspirt state enterprise's audit and control department, who was forced to go to the scene on October 30 to investigate, saw smoke coming from the chimneys. This and several other signs indicated that the plant was illegally producing alcohol. However, former director Silchenko denied this, claiming the plant was producing animal feed. To confirm his claim, the auditors were even shown pressed distillery vinasse (a byproduct of alcohol production with a characteristic "bready" odor).
Ilchishin filed a complaint with the district police department regarding the denial of access to the officially appointed auditors and the suspicion of embezzlement of state property. The auditors also sealed the entrance and exit roads to the plant and organized joint patrols with the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the plant's entrance gates.
Who could have imagined that the events that followed would resemble a thriller? At 11:30 PM, the Ministry of Internal Affairs patrol suddenly left its post, and almost immediately, three vehicles left the distillery. The first blocked the Ukrspirt security guards who were monitoring the distillery. The other two, with semi-trailers carrying tankers, broke through with their lights off and disappeared in an unknown direction.
However, this time, the illegal alcohol producers failed to cover their tracks. The following day, security from the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt discovered one of the vehicles that had broken into an abandoned pig farm, carrying a full tank of alcohol. A truck carrying corn from the Zhytomyr region was nearby. According to the driver, the grain was intended for the distillery as raw material for production, but due to an inspection by auditors, they decided to temporarily hide it. The vehicle and tank were seized and taken to the district police station in Berezna.
But this detective story is just one episode in Ukrspirt's fight against a criminal group attempting to expand its operations into state-owned distilleries.
Maidan centurion Andriy Babyar, now deputy general director for security at the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt, personally addressed the president of Ukraine with an open letter. In it, Babyar informs the guarantor that two enterprises within the state-owned enterprise Ukrspirt have been seized by "titushki" (illegal criminals) from a group led by Oleksiy Chebotarev, a notorious vodka magnate during the Yanukovych era. Today, these enterprises, namely the state-owned enterprise Shpanivske EZPE and the state-owned enterprise Zirnensky Distillery, located in the Rivne region, illegally produce ethyl alcohol and vodka products worth tens of millions of hryvnias. There is evidence to suggest that these funds are being used to finance militants in the self-proclaimed "DPR" and "LPR." In his letter, the Maidan centurion provides evidence confirming the illegal production of vodka by the seized enterprises, their negative impact on the activities of the state-owned enterprise "Ukrspirt" and, to put it mildly, the inadequate response of law enforcement agencies to the situation.
Repeated appeals by the Ukrspirt company's management to the relevant security and law enforcement agencies have received no response, the Maidan centurion writes in his appeal. All local authorities are well aware of the events unfolding in and around the distilleries. Yet, despite this, no action is being taken to stop the illegal production of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The raiders' illegal activities continue despite the ongoing criminal investigation. The case itself, opened on September 27 of this year under Part 2 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code against officials of the seized enterprises, has strangely migrated between various agencies and departments. It has already been handled by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General's Office, ending up in the local financial investigation department of the Ministry of Revenue.
According to Andrei Babyar, this, unfortunately, indicates that Chebotarev's corrupt connections have not weakened, and that he still retains sufficient leverage within the highest levels of government, which is precisely what forced Andrei to appeal personally to the president.
"Every bottle of 'illegal vodka' sold, produced at factories controlled by criminals, is a bullet that could take the life of a Ukrainian soldier and patriot tomorrow," the Maidan centurion concludes his address to Petro Poroshenko. He expresses hope that only the "strong hand" of the president, whom he met at the first barricade on Khreshchatyk during the Revolution of Dignity, "will be able to overcome the inaction of law enforcement, expel the criminals from the seized state-owned factories, and punish the guilty."
The mirror of the week. Ukraine
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