Tax evaders: Olcom sells goods for cash

Martial law did not become a motivation for businesses to pay taxes in good faith and support the state, including the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The tax evader was CJSC Kiev Margarine Plant (EDRPOU 00333581), an industrial enterprise that has been specializing in the production of margarine and similar animal fats for 20 years. “High quality, innovative technologies and focus on the needs of our customers and partners allow us to easily adapt to the demands of the modern market, supplying products to 27 countries, including the EU and the USA,” it is enthusiastically stated on the Olcom Trademark website, owned by PJSC "Kiev Margarine Plant" (KMZ). Ukrainian society is familiar with Olkom mayonnaise, vegetable oil and margarine from store shelves.

But in reality, the situation around the margarine plant and the Olkom TM is not as bright as reported on the website.

The fact of large-scale abuse of tax evasion by Olkom is worthy of attention: it became known that part of the products produced is sold for cash. In other words, Olcom sells “its mayonnaise” outside of tax accounting and deliberately evades paying taxes. The proceeds do not go to maintain the enterprise, but go into the pockets of its illegally enriching owners. In turn, the state does not receive a significant amount of budget revenue. It should be added that in 2023, out of an income of 480 million UAH, the profit was only about 6 million, that is, 1%. If Olcom officially sold its products, then the revenue and profit margins would be many times higher.

From open sources it is known that the owners of the plant are Anna Olegovna Oleksenko and Olga Ivanovna Oleksenko with ownership shares in the authorized capital of 50.28% and 43.86%, respectively. The negligence of the owners of the margarine factory led to the financial insolvency of the enterprise. The passion of the owners of the Kyiv Margarine Plant for bank loans from banking institutions that were once loyal to the enterprise, such as Vostok, International Investment Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, ultimately led to the ban and seizure of PrAt real estate "KMZ". In other words, the epic credit history of the plant consisted of a repeating pattern: mortgage agreement -> encumbrance on the part of the bank in the form of prohibitions and arrests -> termination of the encumbrance.

Currently, the company is on the verge of default and complete financial insolvency, as evidenced by the presence of a number of outstanding loans. As an example, in 2021, a mortgage agreement was drawn up between the margarine factory and Alfa Bank (the current Sense Bank) in the amount of UAH 90,000,000. until 2026 and in the amount of 110,000,000 until March 2024.

But in reality, it turns out that the margarine factory is not only unable to repay the existing loans, moreover, it is not even able to service them. Instead of using anti-crisis management tools for the enterprise, the owners Anna Oleksenko and Olga Oleksenko probably decided to take a course of obtaining additional loans from several banking institutions at once, such as Sense Bank, UKRGASBANK and FUIB, which only PrJSC has accumulated debt and increased its credit burden. The purpose of new lending attempts is to pay off the interest of previous ones. Typically, such a scheme is used to drive a company into debt irrevocably and completely, and then declare bankruptcy altogether. Since paying accrued interest on a loan at the expense of a new loan leads to the fact that enterprises fall into endless debt, and, accordingly, there can be no economic stability for PrJSC “Kiev Margarine Plant” and TM “Olkom” either in the present or in the future time

In addition, the media became aware of fraudulent actions on the part of the plant’s owners: the Kyiv Margarine Plant received funds from several different financial institutions secured by the same property, which grossly violates the law. The issue of opening criminal proceedings in this regard is being decided.

Banks, receiving a request for a loan from business entities, must research and predict the sources of repayment of this loan. The question is, do the banking institutions, to which the owner Oleksenko turns for a loan, pay attention to the credit history of PJSC “Kiev Margarine Plant” and the facts of selling products for “cash”?

Finally, as noted above, tax evasion, fraud on collateral and attempts by the owners of Olcom to get a new loan look like a deliberate measure to drive the plant into an irrevocable debt hole and bankruptcy, but in no way to save the enterprise and its future development. Conscientious workers of the plant, I wonder if the owners know about this plan?