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In addition, previous leaks such as the Panama Papers, as well as of loan and deposit data for Poroshenko’s Ukrainian pocket bank International Investment Bank (IIB) obtained by bne IntelliNews in 2016, provide some reference points for cross checking.
A first glance at the data indeed shows that Poroshenko’s pals’ network of offshores extends far further than previ- ously known. Previous investigations
by bne IntelliNews and OCCRP pointed to a handful of Cyprus and British Virgin Islands firms banking in Vienna. But “Ukrainian Papers” shows there are over a dozen such shell firms, with Viennese accounts, and some more banking in Latvia and Cyprus.
Many of these are formally owned by Serhii Zaitsev, one of Poroshenko’s
top managers at the chocolate factory Roshen. Others are owned by Oleh Hlad- kovskiy, whom Poroshenko fired from his post of deputy head of the National Security and Defence Council over cor- ruption allegations on March 4.
Vienna-based manager Dmytro Lytvynets acts as director for both Zaitsev and Hladkovskiy’s firms, which also have the same incorporation agent, according to the leaked documents.
Zaitsev has always denied owning off- shores on behalf of Poroshenko. "I have, and had, my own business interests
and projects, for which I have set up a number of companies," he told Interfax Ukraine in 2016.
But while formally owned by Zaitsev, according to the leaked documents,
the offshores are financially integrated with Poroshenko’s business, banking in Ukraine at Poroshenko’s bank IIB, while crediting Poroshenko’s firms, such as the boatyard Kuznya on Rybalska (for- merly Leninskya Kuznya), with millions of dollars, according to deposit and loan data for IIB obtained by bne IntelliNews, and the leaked documents.
Questionable deals
There are also signs that the Zaitsev- owned offshores have received funds from questionable sources. One previ-
Ukraine’s far right protestors attack riot police with toy pigs
bne IntelliNews
Members of Ukraine’s far right parties hurled toy pigs at riot police during an anti-government demonstration in Kyiv on March 16.
Several thousand people rallied outside the government offices and chanted nationalist slogans. Tensions have been rising as the population are increas- ingly dissatisfied with the government that has failed to deliver on the prom- ises of a better life made during the 2014 Maidan revolution. A poll from the US-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) NGO last year found that over 70% of Ukrainians consistently believe their country is going in the “wrong direction.”
Thousands of people protested and were mostly members of the right-wing radical political party National Corps and the National Wives organisation, reports RFE/RL. The demonstration was provoked by a mushrooming defence contracts scandal where bne IntelliNews award winning reporter Graham Stack found evidence linking President Petro Poroshenko with a defence contract scam, reported in the article ““Ukrainian Papers” massive business data leak embroils Poroshenko in a new corruption scandal” on March 14.
The protestors gathered near the Presidential Administration and faced off with a four-deep line of police in full riot gear but began to pepper them with a barrage of soft toy pigs. One man even brought a catapult, which he used to launch pigs into the phalanx of police officers. The police remained calm and the protest was largely peaceful.
This was the second demonstration in a week by the right wing groups against the defence scandal.
Thousands of far-right demonstrators peppered riot police with a barrage of toy pigs outside
of the presidential administration building to protest against a defence sector corruption scandal.
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