LLC Energy Service Company Esko-North, which is part of the Burisma Group of gas oligarch Nikolai Zlochevsky, disappeared from case No. 42018000000002900 under Part 5 of Article 191, Part 2 of Article 205, Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code.
The case was opened at the end of 2018. At first the SBU dealt with it, then it was transferred to the National Police.
According to the investigation, from 2016 to 2019, a group of individuals, using financial instruments of PJSC Ukrainian Capital Bank, as well as groups of companies associated with Ukrinvest Group LLC, evaded paying taxes by illegally transferring non-cash funds into cash, groundless formation of a tax credit for value added tax for business entities in the real sector of the economy, assistance in the misappropriation of funds and legalization of proceeds from crime.
"Skela Tertium", "GK "Investservice", "Synergy Gas Energy", "Gaztorgpostach", "Esco-North", "Gazenergopostach", "Gas Trading Company", "Gazprominvest LTD", "Ukrainian Gas Trading Company", "GP " Promservis", "ZNVKIF "Verdun"
Funds for the purpose of tax evasion, for the illegal transfer of non-cash funds into cash, the groundless formation of a tax credit for value added tax, assistance in the misappropriation of funds and the legalization of proceeds from crime are transferred to the accounts of controlled business entities with signs of fictitiousness. Thus, during 2018 alone, funds in the amount of about 200,000,000₴ were transferred to the Skela Tertium accounts from PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia, and the total volume of illegal financial transactions carried out under this scheme monthly is more than 100,000,000₴.
Gaztorpostach bought gas from the transit enterprise Gaztransproekt (Onishchenko), as well as directly from producers, mainly Esko-pivnich (Zlochevsky) and PJSC Ukrnaftoburinnya (Stavitsky), and small volumes from Karpatygaz LLC (Firtash ).
Then the gas was sold mainly to Skela Tertium and RGK Trading LLC. The plus difference in price (on average, one thousand 1,500 rubles per thousand cubic meters), in order to avoid taxation, was brought into the shadows by reflecting transactions for obtaining agency services.
Stavitsky and Zlochevsky worked through Skela Tertium LLC. The chain looked like this: the miner Esko-Sever, PJSC Ukrnaftoburenie - Gaztranspostach - Skela Tertsium. In two months, Gaztorgpostach sold Skele Tertium gas in the amount of 454,000,000₴.
In February 2024, the Shevchenko District Court lifted the arrest from the multi-currency accounts of the Esko-Sever company.
Interestingly, this happened after Zlochevsky was released from criminal liability in August 2023. #Zlochevsky donated 500,000,000₴ to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the “Drone Army” project, but still ended up on the list of corrupt officials. Zlochevsky was accused in a bribery case, but took part in the court hearing remotely. The fact is that he has been living in Cyprus for the last few years. However, at the final stage, Themis moved from an open consideration of the case to a closed one. This made it possible to hide the full text of the verdict against Zlochevsky from the public.
The gas production business is formed into the Burisma group. The structure includes 12 operating companies: “Esco-North”, “Pari”, “First Ukrainian Oil and Gas Company”, “Aldea-Ukraine”, “Systemoilengineering”, “Burisma Service”, “Technocomservice”, “Nadragaz”, “Nadragazvydobuvannya”, "Gazoilinvest", "Kub-Gaz", "Oil-Industrial Geology". In 2021, ex-Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Zlochevsky re-registered the mining companies in the name of his two daughters Anna and Karina.
All materials will be transferred to Mark Scarsi, a Trump-appointed judge overseeing the criminal case between Zlochevsky and Burisma.
