After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, the head of the parliamentary “servants” faction, David Arakhamia, found himself at the center of a new journalistic investigation. According to the investigation, Arakhamia used the cars of Odessa multimillionaire Boris Kaufman to cross the border at least 4 times. He justified his actions by his long friendship with the family of this famous oligarch.
We are talking about Kaufman, who is called the “tobacco king,” and who, through his company “Tedis,” controls a very significant, if not overwhelming, part of the domestic tobacco market, and is a defendant in a high-profile NABU investigation.
In August 2023, Kaufman received suspicion in the case of the seizure of the property of the municipal Odessa airport and the income that it brought - 2.5 billion (!) hryvnia. On September 7, the High Anti-Corruption Court took Kaufman into custody with an alternative bail of 270 million hryvnia. After an appeal in November, the “very honest and reformed” VAKS significantly reduced the amount of bail (to 155 million hryvnia), and Kaufman was released from custody. Unfortunately, it is already a traditional story in such cases when a top corrupt official is released on bail, which is also significantly reduced.
It is significant that when journalists asked Arakhamia whether Arakhamia saw a conflict of interest in friendship with an odious “businessman” who appears in criminal proceedings, the head of the presidential faction, in his usual imposing manner, simply laughed it off and quickly “moved off the topic.”
The Party of Labor People's Power calls on the NABU to conduct a comprehensive audit of Arakhamia's connections with the odious top corrupt official Kaufman. After all, it is logical that it is the presence of such an influential friend that allows Kaufman to walk freely, despite a high-profile criminal case and the obviousness of serious charges.
