Full translation of the article Die Welt with Onishchenko’s revelations about the corruption of Poroshenko

The other day the authoritative German edition of Die Welt devoted five pages to the revelations of Alexander Onishchenko about the corruption of Petro Poroshenko. “Country” publishes the full translation of this article.

A story about.

“Real money is being made in the gas industry,” says Alexander Onischenko. He sits on a low comfortable sofa in a luxurious hotel room in Barcelona, ​​located on the top floor with panoramic views of the city. His temporary “office” costs about 4000 euros per day, according to the information on the hotel’s website, but he will receive a discount, because he stuck in Barcelona for a long time. He has a permanent residence permit in Spain, and has applied for political asylum. Now he can not return to Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko, with whom they used to work together on various matters, wants to imprison him, allegedly for embezzling $ 80 million.

Ukraine issued a warrant for the arrest of Onishchenko and asked the European authorities to enforce it. Only they are dragging out time with the detention of the Ukrainian oligarch at the request of his former friend. Therefore, for the time being, Onishchenko avoids crossing the border once again.

Although he would have traveled the world with pleasure, but better in the company of his horses.

Onishchenko is not just an oligarch, but also an athlete: he is professionally engaged in equestrian sport. For decades, he has consistently performed successfully at prestigious equestrian tournaments. With his national team, he participated in two Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. In Rio, he could not speak for Ukraine because he was declared internationally wanted by the president of Ukraine. The warrant for arrest, initiated by the president, stopped the conquest of new heights by Alexander Onishchenko. But the rider, capable of taking barriers at a height of 1.60 m in the arenas of world stadiums, will not allow himself to be intimidated by the chocolate maker, who currently occupies the chair of the president. Onishchenko gives the impression of a fearless man. Now he wants to give an answer. In an interview-exposure of Welt am Sonntag, he makes sharp attacks against Ukrainian President Poroshenko, sparing neither himself nor his. Rarely, what oligarch from the post-Soviet republics, related to the corruption system, can speak so frankly.

49-year-old Onishchenko has experienced much. Being from an early youth friend of the Klitschko brothers at the Kiev Sports Club, he never once went to the ring with them. He became a Soviet soldier and was trained in German in the GRU.

After the fall of the wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, he turned to capitalism. He cheaply bought the “Lada” in the Westphalian Bad Oyenhausen and resold them two and a half times more expensive in Ukraine. So it all began in 1991. Of several used cars there were several hundred, and then there were already columns of car carriers loaded with new cars. His father, a former Soviet general who at that time held a high post in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, defended him from the ubiquitous mafia that was actively developing in the new young Ukraine.

“For a few years I earned a hundred million marks,” Onishchenko said, as if dealing with several thousand. Then it’s time to enter the sphere of fuel and energy and make millions out of millions. At first, he was engaged in the resale of Russian gas, then his own gas fields with licenses appeared. So Alexander Romanovich Onischenko became an oligarch by profession. One of the many in the wild East. And also – a deputy with a keen acquaintance with Donald Trump and close ties with the Russian leadership, funny contacts with stars and stars from show business and politics. In a video about the life of a high society, you can see him in company with Pamela Anderson, Peris Hilton and Jean-Claude Van Dam.

Onishchenko, who speaks German fluently, at the best of times “cost” $ 5 billion. Today he is still rich, but is under great pressure, because he is the most wanted person in Ukraine and the state enemy number one for Poroshenko. Two years ago in Kiev issued an arrest warrant. Since then, according to the Ukrainian government, he is hiding. “I’m in exile,” says Alexander Onischenko. “This is the whole plot of the Ukrainian president, because, in his opinion, I did not pay a lot of money as bribes and was in opposition to the authorities.”

Since with such statements of friends in Kiev is not added, then in his exile the oligarch as comfortably as possible settles himself among the palms. When the football club “Barcelona” plays, he sits in the front ranks and in the characteristic manner of the businessman watching the game, almost without expressing emotions. His true passion is not football, but equestrian sport, to which he has already spent tens of millions of euros. The money went to the purchase of thoroughbred horses from German breeders, the horse base in Ensland and the creation of the Ukrainian national team. Even now, he trains as often as possible, near his hotel. “When jumping, you need to completely overcome your fear,” Onishchenko said.

This quality will be required for the exiled oligarch to survive and beyond the arena. A former post-Soviet “gasman” wrote a book – it’s a sensational crime fiction about corruption on 244 pages. Why is this work so dangerous to its author: he claims that the book does not have fictions. “The presidents in independent Ukraine were and are corrupt,” Initschenko briefly describes the content of his book. “” I know, I paid them all. ”

Anticorruption investigations, arrest warrants, treason charges are attempts to silence him. But he still plans to name all the names and publish the evidence online. The oligarch has a number of records of conversations with the president of delicate content, which he secretly recorded and plans to post on the Internet.

In 2019, Alexander Onishchenko plans something special: instead of performing at the Olympic Games for Ukraine, he wants to climb the political ladder to the very top – to become a presidential candidate. According to public opinion polls in Ukraine, Poroshenko does not have the best chance of winning. The status of presidential candidate provides Onishchenko with immunity from criminal prosecution of the government and law enforcement agencies that deprived him of the status of a parliamentarian. If he does not succeed in person, then, most likely, he will support the candidacy of Yulia Tymoshenko.

If he can participate in elections and will be elected president, he plans to stay only one term and make significant changes in the country.

This is as beautiful as the gold medal in the competition: it does not bring money, but it provides sporting glory.

Alexander Onishchenko was one of the closest to the president of Ukraine Poroshenko, until he fell into disgrace. His task: bribery. In an interview he reports on corruption, greed and power in his country
Authors: Stefan Aust and Helmar Bushel

Welt am Sonntag: Mr. Onishchenko, how much money do you need to have to be considered an oligarch in Ukraine?

Onishchenko: Approximately one billion dollars, at least 700-800 million. Money in itself does not mean anything in Ukraine, if there is no power and influence. To do this, you need to have several people in parliament who will protect your business. Only in this way we can play at the very top.

Welt am Sonntag: Who is the richest oligarch in Ukraine?

Onishchenko: Rinat Akhmetov. A former boxer, like me. He earns his money by coal and electricity. Previously, he had 30 billion, but since he has to pay bribes to the government, so as not to be in exile, his condition has greatly diminished.

Welt am Sonntag: And you? In the best of times, your fortune was estimated at $ 5 billion.

Onishchenko: I did not accumulate money, but always reinvested them, for example, in gas production, and the annual profit was 30-60 million dollars, not more.

Welt am Sonntag: And now?

Onishchenko: When I left Ukraine, they took everything from me. But, of course, I have some money. Not so much, but I have enough.

Welt am Sonntag: How did you get rich?

Onishchenko: For this, I thank Germany. When in 1991, as a soldier, I served in the territory of the former GDR and the Soviet Union ceased to exist, I bought a second-hand Lada in Westphalia for 800 marks and sold it in Kiev for 2000. So it all began.

Welt am Sonntag: So do not become an oligarch.

Onishchenko: It’s not true. Step by step. First one car, then every week there are two full auto carriers and so on. When the Soviet Union was gone, we, Ukrainians, had nothing. Our mentality is such that first of all everyone wants a good car in order to be considered a successful person, that’s why I started to engage in cars. At that time it was the best business. On the profit I have built several buildings, mostly office buildings. One of them was bought by Sergei Taruta – then one of the richest people in Ukraine. I sold it for $ 14 million. It was my first big money.

Welt am Sonntag: And then?

Onishchenko: Then in 2002 I entered the gas business. I bought gas in Turkmenistan and sold it in Ukraine. I was the biggest seller number one on the market. You pay the government, for example, $ 20 million for a license to trade in gas. I received a discount from the market value when buying. On this I earned.

Welt am Sonntag: How much?

Onishchenko: The prices were good. I played a little: buying gas in the summer, storing and reselling in the winter. At the same time, I earned from 50 to 70%. It was good money. And because of this problems began.

Welt am Sonntag: What?

Onishchenko: The script was similar to the current one. It was 2006 year. The tax opened a criminal case against me. I had to pay – or leave the country.

Welt am Sonntag: Explain more.

Onishchenko: The constant change of government is a problem for businessmen in Ukraine. New powers have sent their sixes to rich people to raise money. I decided that this time they want too much, and preferred to leave and wait.

Welt am Sonntag: Under what government was it?

Onischenko: This was when Viktor Yanukovych became prime minister. He appointed his man to the position of tax chief. This shot first of all looked, how much and from whom it can receive. At that time, I had no patronage, no one who could politically protect me from Yanukovych. Therefore, his people wanted to get me, and I decided to leave. I ordered an early flight to Munich at 6 or 7 am, and at 8 already about a hundred people were in my office (laughs). I arrived in Germany, I invested my money in the equestrian yard and began to prepare for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Welt am Sonntag: Have you completed the business in Ukraine, took money with you abroad?

Onishchenko: Yes. I lived in a small village in Germany. But people from the Ukrainian government constantly tried to contact me and come to an agreement.

Welt am Sonntag: Why did you return to Kiev then? You knew this was a corrupt criminal system. Why did not you stay with your money in Germany, Cyprus or Maldives?

Onishchenko: I had a family, a wife and children. They lived there. So I negotiated with the government. First they wanted 20 million, then 10, 5, eventually I went back for two million before the election. They said: “Give two million, so that we can conduct the election campaign, and the issue will be closed.” And then I returned to Kiev.

Welt am Sonntag: Could you trust the transaction? How could you be sure that the arrangements would be respected?

Onishchenko: It always works like that. It’s business. Everyone knows this from us. The person agrees and the person pays. A person can come back. If the government does not comply with the agreement, soon no oligarch will pay. Then all of them will be compelled to leave, and politicians will remain on a dry ration.

Welt am Sonntag: In 2010 Viktor Yanukovich from the Prime Minister became president. What has changed for you?

Onishchenko: His need for money increased (smiles bitterly). In Donetsk there was an office building, where the eldest son of Yanukovych Alexander controlled all large enterprises in Ukraine for his father. He tried to get 50% of everything. In 2012, he also began to demand a share of companies, although earlier it was only about money, and then it was necessary to rewrite and share. After that, businessmen in Ukraine started supporting the revolution – Vitali Klitschko, Klitschko’s sponsor Dmitry Firtash and others.

Welt am Sonntag: So President Yanukovich lost support among the oligarchs?

Onishchenko: Yes. In the beginning he wanted 50%, but then more and more. We, businessmen, saw that his appetites were exorbitant, and worried that we could completely lose our business.

Welt am Sonntag: You supported the revolution not because you wanted to be closer to the West, but …?

Onishchenko: Because Yanukovych’s people have become too greedy. They came to medium and small entrepreneurs: owners of small cafes, restaurants, etc. Then there was a confrontation between the oligarchs, when they were asked to give up shares in their enterprises. Then the oligarchs agreed to overthrow Yanukovych.

Welt am Sonntag: It follows from your words that the bloody riots in Kiev in November 2013, EuroMaidan, were not an uprising of the people, but a putsch of oligarchs?

Onishchenko: Yes, with the support of the Americans.

Welt am Sonntag: Yanukovych then rushed headlong into Russia.

Onishchenko: Yes. At least 3 billion dollars, which he took with him.

Welt am Sonntag: What was your role during the Maidan?

Onishchenko: Personally, I supported Vitali Klitschko. I’ve known him for a long time. We used to do boxing in an army sports club.

Welt am Sonntag: Did you go out with him in the ring?

Onishchenko: No, he is in a completely different weight category. But we lived in the same barracks, we trained together there. I knew him well, and his younger brother Vladimir was my best friend.

Welt am Sonntag: But Klitschko did not become president.

Onishchenko: No, Vitali is a boxer, and Poroshenko knows how to speak better. The Americans wanted to see him on the post, and our oligarchs eventually too. Then there was the deal, concluded in Vienna. Klitschko refused from 50% of the income owed to the president, then Poroshenko suddenly wanted to get $ 15 million from Vitaly for his election campaign. When Vitali refused, Poroshenko stopped co-operation.

Welt am Sonntag: You still started working for Poroshenko.

Onishchenko: Yes. I was forced. I tried to save my business.

Welt am Sonntag: And then in your book you describe in detail how, during almost two years, dirty deals were conducted for Poroshenko. Why?

Onishchenko: Because at the beginning I thought that I could not be worse than Yanukovych.

Welt am Sonntag: And?

Onischenko: It was a delusion. Poroshenko wants not only one half, he wants everything. I had an agreement with him: leave me alone and my business, let me make money, then I openly and legally support your policy.

Welt am Sonntag: Was not that enough for him?

Onishchenko: No, I do not. As soon as he got into the saddle firmly enough, he demanded that I buy up the gas enterprises of the oligarchs cheaply, whom he had previously survived from the country with fictitious criminal cases. I invested almost all my money, performing his tasks. As soon as I collected all the gas companies under one roof, Poroshenko decided to get rid of me and expel me from the country. It was Poroshenko’s new business model. He no longer wanted to buy businesses, but wanted to get a bribe for the roof. To threaten the oligarchs with fictitious criminal cases was much easier for him and created less work.

Welt am Sonntag: How many companies did you buy for Poroshenko?

Onishchenko: Three gas companies. Money for them, about $ 30 million, I paid their escaped owners through a network of offshore accounts abroad.

Welt am Sonntag: Were you involved in other dirty machinations of the president?

Onishchenko: Of course. I constantly bought the votes of deputies to provide support for Poroshenko’s power.

Welt am Sonntag: Can you give examples?

Onishchenko: Yes. When the budget was adopted, I had to buy the votes of the whole party. A very sensitive moment was the appointment of the Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko through the parliament. Despite the fact that he was a man close to Poroshenko, he did not have the appropriate legal education. He is an electrical engineer. In order to occupy the post of Attorney General, it was required to pass an examination in jurisprudence, which was enshrined in the law. On behalf of Poroshenko, I was responsible for making appropriate changes to the law, allowing a person without a higher legal education to take the post of general prosecutor. It worked. In May 2016, Lutsenko was appointed Prosecutor General.

Welt am Sonntag: What is the amount of bribes you paid the deputies for this decision?

Onishchenko: On the whole, about 2.5 million dollars.

Welt am Sonntag: Where does Poroshenko take so much money? Are the revenues from his chocolate factory enough to cover such expenses?

Onishchenko: Of course not. The secret of success is the personal attorney general.

Welt am Sonntag: The same Attorney General, whom you commissioned Poroshenko by means of bribes, approved in office?

Onishchenko: Yes, that’s it. The Prosecutor General raises falsified criminal cases against the firm or its owner. Criminal cases provide for detention, conviction through the purchased judges, which threatens the oligarch with imprisonment for many years. Then the mediator from Poroshenko said, for example, to Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in Ukraine: “Give us $ 200 million, and we’ll make sure that your problem disappears.” Poroshenko’s business model now is just a racket. As in the mafia, only at the governmental level and with great scope.

Welt am Sonntag: So you and your two and a half million dollars spent on buying votes for the appointment of the Attorney General, dug themselves a hole for themselves?

Onishchenko: Yes, you can say so (smiles bitterly).

Welt am Sonntag: And how did this happen to you?

Onishchenko: I had a task to persuade the former Prime Minister, and later the opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, to cooperate and create a coalition with the ruling party Poroshenko. But Julia, whom I know well, refused. This was the reason for the use of punitive measures against me. Poroshenko ordered the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to open a fictitious case against me on charges of allegedly evading taxes. I allegedly owed the state 80 million dollars. At the same time, the presence of a written agreement on tax holidays for my company, which because of all the bribes did not receive any profit, did not play a role. Through my people in the judicial system, as early as January 2016, I knew that under the direction of the president’s apparatus, secret investigations were being conducted against me. At the same time, I began to collect compromising materials against Poroshenko and prepare my escape. When in the summer of 2016 the status of the immunity of the deputy was taken from me, I realized that my arrest should soon follow. Then through Byelorussia I fled to Germany. How good it was then that I had my own plane.

Welt am Sonntag: Did the government offer you a deal like “pay us X money and we’ll forget about criminal cases”?

Onishchenko: Yes. Often. They tried and try to return me to Kiev with similar proposals.

Welt am Sonntag: How much did you have to pay for stopping criminal cases?

Onishchenko: $ 20 million. One-fourth of what I ostensibly owe to the tax.

Welt am Sonntag: Why did not you agree then?

Onishchenko: Because I do not believe in Poroshenko. After receiving the money, he would still put me in jail. His people could, of course, close the case with the tax, but would have thought up an excuse for another criminal prosecution. In freedom in Ukraine, I’m too dangerous for the president.

Welt am Sonntag: If everything is as you say, are not you afraid that you can be silenced otherwise? What will the government come to you if you do not come to it yourself?

Onishchenko: They already tried. Last summer, they sent people who entered my house here in Barcelona. Fortunately, I was not at home at that time. The robbers snatched the safe from the wall, opened it and threw it a few hundred meters from the house. In October last year, they also entered my lawyer’s office and opened an armored safe, where documents and audio records were kept. They were real professionals.

Welt am Sonntag: Hackers found what they were looking for?

Onishchenko: No, I do not. I did not store really important materials where it could be so obvious.

Welt am Sonntag: Is your insurance information that you have not yet disclosed and published in a book that is a lever of pressure on the president?

Onishchenko: Yes. Of course.

Welt am Sonntag: What kind of information is this?

Onishchenko: I can not just say everything now. I can only say that I secretly recorded a lot of conversations with Poroshenko, some of which I will publish along with the release of my book.

Welt am Sonntag: Are not you afraid that you might be silenced if you continue to publicize further exposures?

Onishchenko: Of course, this can happen, but it will not stop me. Life without risk does not exist. As a professional rider I used to look death in the eye. Poroshenko is too cowardly to decide to kill his opponents. At least, I really hope so. In addition, he is a very religious person, a believing Christian. He even has his own chapel at the house. And he probably knows the fifth commandment – do not kill (laughs).

Welt am Sonntag: We do not really believe in this demonstrative bravado in the face of danger. A recent case with Skrypal has shown that even staying in Western Europe is unsafe when you have such influential enemies.

Onishchenko: Of course, I’m afraid for my life. I’m afraid of becoming a pawn in the new Cold War between East and West and getting into these millstones. I was looking for protection in Germany, but my lawyers have been waiting unsuccessfully for several months to get permission to get acquainted with the documents. I have not received any support in Germany yet, nor any information about my status.

Welt am Sonntag: Why did you choose Spain as a temporary refuge?

Onishchenko: Because Spanish state bodies are investigating Poroshenko’s money laundering cases. In particular, in Spain, he invested the money stolen in Ukraine. I turned to the Spanish investigative bodies and offered to witness against Poroshenko. For this I will receive a residence permit plus additional protection, for example, immunity from extraditing me to the authorities in Ukraine. In addition, I applied for asylum. While this procedure is under way, no state that is a member of the EU has the right to issue me to Ukraine.

Welt am Sonntag: In your book, you compare corruption in the homeland with a huge octopus, which holds a grip on the whole country in its tentacles.

Onishchenko: Yes. Unfortunately, this is reality. For the Western reader, this may seem like something incredible and implausible, but as soon as someone comes to power in Ukraine, this person immediately becomes so corrupt that it is hard to believe. I do not know why this happens. Perhaps at the top of power people breathe other air.

Welt am Sonntag: Is there anyone in Ukraine who is not corrupt?

Onishchenko: I do not know such people.

Welt am Sonntag: A gloomy conclusion, is not it?

Onishchenko: Yes, but this is my personal experience. Everyone is mired in corruption.

Welt am Sonntag: Hope not left?

Onishchenko: Why? Poroshenko must leave, and we must build clear rules for the game. In each country, in each company must adhere to the rules. Even his corrupt predecessor, Yanukovych, adhered to the established order. The worst is when there are no rules of conduct, as it is now. You do not know how to behave. Poroshenko wants to break all entrepreneurs. If everyone except him and his associates does not have enough money, then no one else can finance the opposition, and also form and expose a strong candidate from the opposition. Poroshenko wants to establish full control.

Welt am Sonntag: Do you believe that someday you will be able to return to Ukraine?

Onishchenko: Yes, next year I intend to participate in the presidential elections. When I first started fighting with Poroshenko, I received tremendous support. This gives me strength and motivation, because according to the current legislation, I can be a candidate, even being in exile.

Welt am Sonntag: But the election campaign costs a lot of money.

Onishchenko: I will not pay anything. I hope for the support of the people.

Welt am Sonntag: Then you are most likely to be the only candidate who will not pay to be given political support?

Onishchenko: Yes. According to recent polls, from 60 to 70% of the population really hate Poroshenko, so this time there will be other rules of the game. Of course, the commission must register me as a presidential candidate. But I am extremely skeptical that Poroshenko will allow such a variant of events.

Welt am Sonntag: Why do not you just buy people on the election commission?

Onishchenko: Buy it?

Welt am Sonntag: Yes. As you used to buy politicians and officials for money, bribes and small tips.

Onishchenko: That will not work. The election commission is completely under the control of Poroshenko. Bribes work only when the president allows it. If he does not allow, and in my case, I think he will not allow, then I have no chance, no matter how much money I would offer.

Welt am Sonntag: If you are registered as a candidate, will you get immunity?

Onishchenko: Yes. And then I will try to return to Ukraine and hold a real election campaign.

Welt am Sonntag: Let’s say you are elected president. President Onishchenko really wins corruption?

Onishchenko: Yes, of course. First, I will return the entrepreneurial freedom to businessmen in their country. I will tell them the following: “Pay taxes that go to schools, kindergartens, new roads, and do not pay, as before, in the president’s pocket.” I will not be in office for more than one term. It is better to lead five years correctly than to impose bad management for many years.

Welt am Sonntag: Why should Ukrainian citizens believe in you? You for many years have been involved in the top of the corruption system?

Onishchenko: But I myself have never been corrupt. I only acted for a while in the interests of the president, following his instructions. You can make inquiries in the Kiev district, from which I acted as a deputy, that I always supported people and never robbed them. People will confirm to you that I do not need even more money. I do not care: two billion or 30 million. So much still impossible to spend. No, when I become president, I will make people’s lives better and try to use the unclaimed potential of Ukraine.

Welt am Sonntag: And are you really sure that people will accept you?

Onishchenko: Yes. And my book. Everyone should know before the presidential elections what exactly I did and what not. And then everyone should decide for themselves whether he can trust me or not.

Collective treason
Ukraine is the world leader in the level of corruption

According to statistics, the territory of Ukraine is 70% larger than Germany, but at the same time there are half the population, whose average monthly income is 211 euros. In Germany, this figure is at 1893 euros. Ukraine’s economic might is 11 times less than Germany’s, and the civil war, smoldering for many years with the support of separatists from Russia, does not help improve the situation. But one indicator of the camp, located on the eastern outskirts of Europe, is the undisputed leader: the level of corruption that is present everywhere.

Collective treason became part of the DNA of this country, which since 1991 split off from the Soviet Union with the active support of the United States and its allies. The consultants to the London office of Ernst & Young in 2017 recognized Ukraine as the most corrupt country in the sphere of doing business, after a survey was conducted among 41 countries and over 88% of the interviewed entrepreneurs confirmed that bribery and corruption are a common phenomenon in this country. And this happens in the country that wants to join the European Union and NATO. According to the general corruption index of Transparency International, which is also engaged in the compilation of ratings, Ukraine is 130th out of 180 just behind Sierra Leone and in front of the Dominican Republic. Transparency International justifies its findings by the fact that the government lacks the political will to fight corruption. In addition, there are bills in the parliament that may interfere with the work of the newly created anti-corruption bodies organized under pressure from Western partners. The general conclusion of Transparency International is this: corruption remains the most acute problem for business and ordinary citizens.

Absence of pressure

According to anti-corruption activists, this problem has so struck all sections of society that it can only be eradicated through joint efforts and pressure from Ukraine by partners and creditors from the US, EU and IMF governments. Since 1991, they are all interested in Ukraine breaking away from the eastern bloc and getting out of Russia’s influence. This strategic interest prevents effective pressure on the current government, especially since the beginning of the smoldering conflict in the east and the annexation of the Crimea in 2014.

The real degree of corruption became visible after the escape to Russia of President Viktor Yanukovych, loyal to Moscow. The operation for his evacuation took place with the help of special forces of Russian special services. After his estate became public, it instantly turned into a symbol of post-Soviet kleptomania. Yanukovich, in his first specialty, was a gas fitter, was tried for theft and bodily harm, studied engineering and public law, and after independence could become chairman of the regional state administration, in 2002, prime minister and in 2010 president. His official salary as president was about 900 euros. His business or shares in other enterprises he did not have. After his escape, the Attorney General of Ukraine said that Yanukovych and his family had exported more than $ 100 billion worth of goods from the country, mostly to Russia, of which $ 32 billion was in cash. Such fantastic figures are political speculations, as well as the fact that for many years law enforcement agencies have closed their eyes to this. The fact is that the American economic magazine Forbes in 2013 included 10 Ukrainian oligarchs in the rating of the 100 richest people on the planet. At the same time, the state of the 100 richest Ukrainians was estimated at 53 billion dollars, which was 1/3 of Ukraine’s GDP.

Chocolate King

Since the beginning of pro-Western protests in Kiev in winter 2013-2014, a calm has come around the topic of fighting corruption. “Because now it’s our people already stuffing their pockets,” Welt am Sonntag, a former employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on anonymity.

The pro-Western henchman, apparently, also does not torment with conscience, when it comes to money. During perestroika in 1991, Poroshenko was a graduate student of the Department of International Economic Relations of Kyiv State University. His penniless salary did not differ from that of other future academicians during perestroika in Ukraine. According to Poroshenko himself, the history of his entrepreneurial success began with the trade of cocoa beans. Then he bought several confectionery factories and created the concern Roshen. Since then, Poroshenko is called the chocolate king. In 1998, he received a seat in the Verkhovna Rada as a deputy from the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united). In 2001, he became a member of the Party of Regions, established with his direct participation. In 2009, Poroshenko took up the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in 2010 under President Viktor Yanukovych was appointed Minister of Economic Development and Trade. He actively engaged in the issues of Ukraine’s rapprochement with the West. After the bloody riots on the Maidan, Yanukovich’s escape to Russia and the annexation of the Crimea, in June 2014 Poroshenko becomes the new president of Ukraine.

Two years later Poroshenko declared 26.7 million dollars on accounts and 100 thousand dollars in cash. This declaration was published as a result of a law adopted under the pressure of the IMF, so that Ukraine could receive the next tranche of the IMF from a common boiler with a volume of 40 billion dollars.

Offshore accounts

Most of all attention was attracted not by the modest sums of savings specified in the declaration, but by the number of companies that the president owns. The chocolate concern Roshen turned out to be just a glaze on the huge cake of its assets. That is why Forbes at the same time estimated the assets of the president at 868 million dollars and placed it on the 6th place among the richest people in Ukraine.

The fact that the evaluation of the president’s condition was significantly underestimated became evident after the Panamanian scandal broke out. Then the informer merged information to journalists (a total of 11.5 million e-mails, faxes and other correspondence), from which it was possible to trace in detail how the company, on the orders of its mega-rich clients, concealed the real size of their assets from the public and tax authorities at their homeland. One such client was Peter Poroshenko. While the country was at war and the government was looking for funds to replenish the treasury, the president created a network of offshore companies in the Caribbean basin. Poroshenko was the sole owner. This model allows to save millions of dollars on taxes in Ukraine, – journalists of the opposition media say after disclosing this information. Through his lawyers, Poroshenko said that this structure was needed in order to make it easier to sell Roshen later. Whatever the case, the Attorney General in Kiev is Poroshenko’s protege, and to this day the criminal case was not instituted due to lack of evidence.

In addition, it is for certain known that Poroshenko owns a group of companies in Cyprus and the Netherlands, a holding company in Panama, a conglomerate of companies in the automotive, defense and agricultural sectors. Officially they are controlled by Father Poroshenko. In addition, the president owns Channel 5, which is a small financial investment in comparison with the influence that is on public opinion.

Peter Incognito

One of the leading Ukrainian channels made public the information that the president flew in a private plane to celebrate the New Year in the Maldives, using fake documents for fake names to cross the border. At the same time, the seven-day vacation cost more than 500 thousand dollars. Ukrainians were very surprised: 188 thousand for a charter, 46 thousand dollars for living in a day – all this was almost completely paid for in cash.

To live in a new way – with such a slogan presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko agitated the Ukrainians. For one Ukrainian, this really became a reality – for Peter Alekseevich himself.

Monetary elevator in the Presidential Administration

In his book with revelations, which will be published in a few days, the oligarch Alexander Onishchenko tells how politics is done in Ukraine. “Peter V” – this is the name of the book, containing sensational exposures of ubiquitous corruption in the author’s homeland, a runaway deputy and oligarch. The subtitle reads: “The true story of the Ukrainian dictator.” Apparently an allusion to the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko for whom Onishchenko, in his own words, for almost two years was engaged in the bribery of deputies, secretly bought up businesses and dealt with sensitive issues with television before he fell into disfavour and was forced to leave the country.

“Poroshenko is in the center of organized criminal structures of Ukraine,” Onishchenko wrote on the cover of his book. “He’s a king, a feudal lord and dictator.” On 244 pages the insider talks about his life as an oligarch and assistant to the two presidents, about sports bags stuffed with dollars, which were delivered by a special elevator from the underground garage in the presidential administration. Next week the book will be published in Ukrainian, English and German. Welt am Sonntag exclusively presents excerpts from a new book.

“For me, politics has never been a matter of full employment. I was always determined that my work would bring money. Unfortunately, large Ukrainian entrepreneurs can not afford such a luxury. Businessmen are forced to go into politics, and the deputy mandate is needed to protect their own assets, and not to write bills. Initially, we agreed with Poroshenko that I would be nominated as a candidate from the Our Ukraine party. Poroshenko told me that it would cost $ 5 million and I agreed … ”

The information is taken from: https://strana.ua/news/137349-perevod-stati-die-welt-s-otkrovenijami-onishchenko-pro-korruptsiju-poroshenko.html