A Turkish Patient

The homecoming of Myroslav Prodan known as a scandalous former governor of the State Fiscal Service was accompanied by miracles. Those who raised alarm concerning his prior crimes simply disappeared. There were the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor-s Office and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine among them. Mr. Prodan’s partners in crime represent the recorded videos in order to prove the accusations against him to be faked. And the contraband curator of the state that is Prime-Minister Volodymyr Groysman can’t stop talking about the consistently increasing income of Ukrainians.

However, the criminal actions of Myroslav Prodan and Volodymyr Groysman haven’t vanished. They seem to have been hidden by agreement between Groysman and Poroshenko. The agreement referred to distribution of the stolen loot and the guaranteed obedience of Groysman to Poroshenko who was the President so far.

It stands to reason that Dubinsky.pro has nothing to do with any agreement like that so I’m publishing the information on the thievish schemes of Myroslav Prodan whose fate is about to be decided in the court.

So today I’m going to tell you about the Turkish investments of Prime-Minister’s cash box in the human guise of Myroslav Prodan.

Having analyzed the correspondence between Myroslav Prodan and his consiglieri that provided investment of money stolen by the State Fiscal Service, one can conclude that the shady income of the recent returnee (and Ukrainian official at the same time) reached 1 mln USD per month.

A part of the sum was transformed into Prodan’s vast investing into real estate in Vinnytsya and Kyiv. According to the published data, the authorized representatives of Mr. Prodan are involved in construction of the residential complexes ‘Naberezhnyi Kvartal’, ‘Dynastiya’, ‘Impoeriya’, ‘Oskar’ and ‘Europeyskyi Kvartal’. Besides, there are three apartments of 157 sq.m being under construction for Prodan in the village called Stoyanka that is located in 20 km from Kyiv. By the way, the apartments are in the neighborhood of Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

For only three month of the current year Ex-Governor of the State Fiscal Service Myroslav Prodan has stolen 3 mln USD out of the customs. The money was taken out of the state with the help of Prodan’s friend in whose name two luxury houses in Turkey at the cost of 1.2 mln EUR each were registered. A lot of banknotes needed for payment of the cottages became damp, covered in mould and fungi since they were stored by Prodan in a damp place (it could be a barrel or a basement). That’s why it caused a number of troubles connected with money transfer and its conversion. Nowadays Myroslav Prodan still tries to re-register that realty in the names of figure-heads. For that reason he ordered mass media to release a number of articles and video messages by his partners in crime saying that he was not involved in the scam.

After Prodan’s scandalous escape from the country he had to come back. However, the documents confirming his treatment as well as any type of evidence have not been provided by him to date.

Some Turkish investments were also mentioned in the correspondence between ex-SFS governor Myroslav Prodan and his friend Maksym Pavytskyi published by the media. I’d like to describe these investments in greater details since Mr. Prodan has already tried to hush up the story.

The press has talked that Prodan’s Turkish purchase cost him approximately 500 k USD. But it’s not true in fact since the total amount of money he spent on the real estate in Turkey was 3 mln USD.

At the moment Maksym Pavytskyi, Prodan’s friend, who is responsible for all of the shady financial operations of Myroslav, tries to re-register Prodan’s Turkish dwelling in the name of Borys Podolskyi (a former shareholder at TAKO agricultural holding). Mr. Pavytskyi reported in media that he was supposedly doing a joint construction business on real estate together with Mr. Podolskyi.

Besides Mr. Pavytskyi, there is one more friend of Prodan who came out. It is Vtalyi Astahov named ‘Smartie Vitalik’. He supervised the deals of Ukraine’s chief fiscal officer and executed them.

Vitalyi is an authorized delegate of Mr. Pavytskyi and Mr. Prodan. Legalization of income obtained by criminal means is his main function. Mr. Astahov has got good ties in banking and deals with dummy firms on money laundering. Mr. Astahov is a co-founder of Vasco Dagama Company that is engaged in financial intermediation.

Mr. Astahov denied his connection with Myroslav Prodan in his video message reporting such information to be faked. However, it is Vasco Dagama Company that is involved in a number of criminal proceedings along with the other connected to Astahov firms. The proceedings refer to charges on criminal activity of the group that was organized for taxes and customs duties evasion. Except Mr. Astahov, the group included officials of the State Fiscal Service.

It is established during the pre-trial investigation that in the period from 2015 to 2018 officials of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine were regularly assisting different commercial structures to evade taxes and customs duties with the purpose of personal enrichment, abusing their official authority in the line of duty while controlling export and import of goods by enterprises with Ukrainian registration.

Public organization ‘On Economic Reforms Furtherance and Entrepreneurship Protection’, LLC Alba Veritas, LLC DOUBLE-B and LLC Denetto were founded and led by Mr. Astahov and in the period from 2015 till 2018 all of them were involved in pre-trial investigations on activities implying criminal organization that included officials of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine and economic entities.

Myroslav Prodan decided to invest the stolen (including through Astahov) funds into foreign assets for that purpose he chose the realty in Mediterranean Turkey.

For this kind of a task to be accomplished he ordered his private accountant and friend Maksym Pavytskyi to find suitable accommodation.

I’m providing you with a full text of the correspondence between Prodan and his partner in crime preserving the chronology of the events that took place when they were buying the cottages in Turkey.

One can conclude out of the correspondence of Prodan and Pavytskyi that the chief corrupt official of that State Fiscal Service picked up the western coast of Turkey at first. He chose the coast of the Aegean Sea in the area of Bodrum.

To make the boss satisfied Mr. Astahov was going to come to Turkey himself to select the right dwelling and check all the documents. Mr. Pavytskyi trusts the abilities of Smartie Astahov and considers him to be a respectable person rather than a ‘money-grubber’.

After the arrival of Smartie Vitalik to Turkey, he started to prepare the choice set of dwelling for Mr. Prodan. Pavytskyi suggested that Prodan should invest in several complexes as it was risky to invest money into only one complex. He said that it would be better to buy several apartments and conduct a thorough analysis of the purchase as the cost of such realty had to be rather high.

Mr. Astahov sent a couple of pictures including the geographic location of the villas on the Bodrum peninsula that is the outskirts of Yalikavak, Gündoğan and Bitez settlements. According to the notes on the map, the price of the proposed housing ranged between 1.5 mln EUR to 9.5 mln EUR. I’m giving you the pictures of the outskirts and of one of the villas.

On April 3, 2018 Pavytskyi arrived in Turkey on board THY466 and Astahov had already been there waiting for him. Vitalyi selected several housing options for Head of the State Fiscal Service Prodan.

Pavytskyi sent a couple of pictures in the correspondence as of April 7, 2018 saying that the specified complex was the most expensive option in Turkey and was called Mandarin. A lot of princes resided there so it was hard to get on its territory. But Astahov had a friend there who could show him everything around. A house in such a villa usually cost from 7mln to 20 mln EUR.

Pavytskyi let know that he and Astahov had already seen round two closed-type villas in search of the right housing and one of them had already been repaired. For buying both houses a discount of 50 k EUR would be given per each so one villa would cost 1.2 mln EUR. Astahov considered that option to be a good investment since the rent of such a villa would cost around 85 k EUR per year and he recommended Prodan leasing both villas at once after the purchase.

So Myroslav Prodan chose the option of buying two houses for 2.4 mln EUR in total.

On April 13, 2018 Head of the State Fiscal Service ordered Mr. Pavytskyi to start the whole purchase procedure. He also asked when exactly there should be a person in whose name the realty would be registered during the procedure. Pavytskyi notified him that such a person was already needed and said to Prodan that I’d be much easier to register the house in his name. Otherwise it’d be necessary to visit Turkey one more time and spare 1 or 2 more days in order to get the documents prepared.

Pavytskyi also asked in the correspondence to solve the town planning issue and deal with restrictions on redevelopment of one part of the non-residential real estate at the address 29 Chornovola Street in Vinnytsya where the residential complex ‘Naberezhnyi Kvartal’ was situated and whose development was financed by Myroslav Prodan.

Maksym Pavytskyi opened a multicurrency bank account (TRY, USD and EUR) at the Turkish bank DenizBank (since 2012 the bank has belonged to Russian SberBank). He quickly achieved the stated by his friend objectives and got the stipulated discount of 120 k USD for the purchase of two villas. So the houses cost Prodan 2.4 mln EUR excluding the cost of processing and the commission fee.

The Turkish brokers asked to leave 1mln TRY as a deposit (it is a bit less than 250 k USD). Smartie Vitalik had to deliver the money as soon as possible. The principal part of the sum would be paid in the course of mortgages and undergoing repairs. The amount to be paid off and its payment period had to be specified in the contract.

The reaction of Pavytskyi was extremely swift and he expressed to Astahov his readiness to deliver the money after 15 minutes. But there was one condition: to communicate with the messenger (by name Oleg) via internet and not via the phone for security reason. Astahov said that Oleg could contact him through the Telegram app.

The Head of the State Fiscal Service handed over 250 k USD to Oleg that was transformed into the promised prepayment for the housing and had to be delivered to someone by name Mehmet (Turkey) after deduction of 2.5% of commission fee and its conversion from USD to EUR. Astahov confirmed the receipt of the money and he notified in just 20 minutes that the banknotes were very damp and he was trying to exchange them. “Was the money kept in the toilet tank?”, - he asked.

Mr. Pavytskyi said that the wavy surface of the banknotes caught his eye but in general the money looked just fine. There was a picture of a wad of US dollars attached to the correspondence. Smartie Vitalik (that is Vataliy Astahov) promised to sort everything out and exchange the notes that could be accepted. The rest of the money would be delivered back by Oleg to be replaced as the issue was not in the money being damp but in the mould a lot of banknotes were covered with.

Maksym Pavytskyi reported a bit later that the prepayment was successful and Mahmet confirmed receipt of the money and even arranged a mortgage (an arrest on his behalf).

The payments were also reconciled. According to them the cost of the first house was to be fully paid off till the end of April 2018 and the second one had to be paid off till the end of May 2018.

Pavytskyi messaged his friend Prodan about the debt of 2.2 mln EUR that had to be paid off till the end of May 2018.

In the course of the dialogue they discussed the payment report and the rest of the debt: another payment that Pavytskyi was ready to deliver reached 500 k EUR. He asked Prodan to let him know when he would be ready to hand over the needed amount and demanded the banknotes to surely be clean. Prodan asked about the price he had to pay for the houses once again. Pavytskyi reminded him about the discount pointing out that the price was final with the repairs and hardware included.

Head of the State Fiscal Service confirmed his readiness to provide a part of the sum that day assuring that there would be no any troubles concerning the quality of the banknotes.

Reading the correspondence between Maksym Pavytskyi and Myroslav Prodan further, it becomes known that approximately 375 k EUR was already paid for the Turkish real estate and the finances were needed again.

Besides, Smartie Vitalik addressed Pavytskyi with a request to provide him with the payments plan since the process of transferring 500 k USD took around 2-3 days that’s why he had to know the correct time-frame.

Myroslav Prodan notified that he could provide a part of the sum that very day. That part of the funds would include the finances for the development of the residential complex ‘Naberezhnyi Kvartal’ that Mr. Pavytskyi had asked for before.

After a while Smartie Vilalik reported to Prodan that the Turkish recipient had already received 867 k EUR. He obtained another batch of money and at that moment he was in the middle of recalculation. Vitaliy also added that there were a lot of moulded and dirty banknotes found again.

Later on Maksym Pavytskyi wrote to Myroslav Prodan saying that the cost of one house reached 1.26 mln EUR. Overpricing took place due to additional costs that covered money transfer, military permit, state duties, taxes, agency fees and registration.

There was 358 k EUR left for Prodan to pay off for the first house at that moment and the first payment of 200 k EUR for the purchase of the second house was already made. The total amount of money paid was 1.1 mln EUR.

Similarly to Pavytskyi, Mr. Astahov (that is Smartie Vitalik) personally reported to SFS Governor Prodan for each sum of money that had been handed over through the mediator so that to pay for the real estate in Turkey. He notified that the regular payment in the amount of 200 k USD was received and the total Turkish payment amounted to 1.27 mln EUR. 240 k USD was left to pay for the first house.

On May 10, 2018 Astahov received another 140 k USD and the total sum reached 1.47 mln EUR. The rest of the amount to be paid was 1.3 mln in USD and the next payment could be accepted in the amount of maximum 500 k USD.

In such a way Prodan was investing the illegally obtained money in Ukrainian and foreign real estate. For the period from April 2018 to May 2018 the total sum reached 3 mln USD and that’s at minimal calculations.

In accordance with the article 368-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, illicit enrichment is punished with up to two years imprisonment with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or carry out certain activity of up to three years with confiscation of property

Well, there is a ‘ray of light’ in this story that is shed by Prodan’s notebook.

If the Security Service of Ukraine pays attention to the people Myroslav Prodan messages per Telegram it can acquire a lot more information:

Hennadyi Chekita. He is a deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc. This person was involved in the correspondence with Mrs. Yuzhanina concerning lobbying certain candidates for senior posts at the fiscal body in Odessa. It’s been rumored that Mr. Chekita is an overseer of the whole illegal export of grain through the Port of Odessa. The exported grain is bought from agricultural producers for cash. But looking in the documentation, the grain purchase went through dummy firms. The export volume is huge. Moreover, these operations on grain export are used for VAT reimbursement amounting to hundreds of millions UAH.

Private Company Prom-product. It is an enterprise known in small circles of individuals. Well it’s been rumored to be engaged in fuel business and its location spot is in Chernihiv. Its turnover reaches hundreds of millions UAH per month. The fuel itself is of really low grade and they sell it at 9 filling stations. The firm buys low-octane gasoline, gas condensate and absorbent. These substances are used as components for production of gasoline and diesel fuel. The purpose of the company is to further produce illegal fuel of higher octane value and sell it through the network of filling stations in Chernihiv and Kyiv regions. The company’s owners have recently decided to close it down. In such cases a new short-term firm is usually opened so that all of the filling stations could be handed over under its regulation. It should be noted, that when making a decision of closing the company down, a mandatory inspection of the entity that is subject to liquidation should be arranged. However, in the case under discussion such an inspection was not even initiated.

Prom-product Company has already been involved in a criminal case so far. It was charged for assistance in evasion of tax and duties payments (compulsory payments) provided by taxation system. In the period from March 2018 to July 2018 the company was working in complicity with the State Fiscal Service officials undertaking actions that resulted into understating of VAT liabilities by business entities (that is legal entities) that carried out fraudulent financial operations through dummy firms.

Hryhoryi Koberskyi. He is assigned as Head of the Financial Investigation Bureau of the General Department of the State Fiscal Service in Vinnytsya region.

What does Prodan have to do with all of these people? Guess what :-)

There is a record on Smartie Astahov for you to have a look in.