To Pin the Fraud on Ihor Bereza

Everyone who has at least basic financial experience knows the meaning of the notion ‘financial monitoring’. Its main function is fighting against the legalization (simply put, laundering) of the illegally obtained money through banking system.

Ihor Bereza is assigned as Head of the Financial Monitoring Department at the National Bank of Ukraine. He is subordinated to NBU’s First (Criminal) Deputy Head Kateryna Rozhkova.

Mr. Bereza has got a wife by name Anna P. Andriyko. According to public sources she works for LLC ‘NG Trading’ (State Registration Code 40729007). In 2017 Anna received 304 205 UAH as wages that is approximately 20 000 UAH of her net pay per month.

LLC NG Trading is engaged in the natural gas trade. The figure-head of the company is Oleksiy V. Yakubenko born in 1983 and registered on the uncontrolled territory at the address 3/4 Oboronna Street, Donetsk.

Rinat Ahmetov is the real owner of the company. He controls LLC NG Trading through the offshore company that is called FURGENCO TRADING LTD. The company is registered in Cyprus and its accounts are located in Ahmetov’s own bank PUMB.

There’s sort of nothing illegal in the whole situation. However, only for 2018 LLC NG Trading has already been repeatedly caught trying to evade taxes. The list of court decisions is given below:

- 26/02/2018 Kramatorsk - http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/72576936

- 11/05/2018 Kyiv, Pechersk District - http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/73950144

- 07/08/2018 Kyiv, Solomyanskyi District - http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/75741770

Based on the decision of Pechersk District Court of Kyiv as of May 11, 2018, the prosecutor’s office pointed out that NG Trading had signs of fictitious nature and its involvement in money laundering.

It means that the wife of the principal fighter against money laundering at the National Bank of Ukraine is engaged in money laundering herself. Moreover, she is doing this job perfectly.

Anna P. is not just a staff member of NG Trading; she is a member of NG Trading Management bearing responsibility for services provided to the company while it participates in different tenders. Her name, surname, patronymics and cell number are published in tender documentation.

NG Trading has concluded contracts for approximately 25mln UAH (this number includes just the contracts concluded with the enterprises of the public sector) for the past few years selling gas to public companies and institutions.

Having this information, 2 logical questions arose:

1. Isn’t the monthly amount of money (that is only 715 USD) received by Bereza’s wife too small for her taking into account the importance of the job she does as supervisor of gas wholesale trade?

2. Has Head of NBU’s Financial Monitoring Department Ihor. V. Bereza been informed about tax fraud performed by the management of LLC NG Trading taking into account the fact that his wife is a member in the company’s managerial board and the company is under suspicion of being involved in such a crime?

By the way, the second question is a rhetorical one since the data concerning the suspicions raised against the comoany are in public access.

So the wife of the state official responsible for the NBU financial monitoring and countering money laundering leads the money laundering schemes herself. This fact brings in a conflict of interest regarding Mr. Bereza’s responsibilities at the National Bank of Ukraine.

Moreover, it all gives grounds for the criminal proceedings to be initiate (it’d be justified to say here that the National Bank is led by criminals) and Bereza’s further dismissal.