Poroshenko’s “wallet” is under threat – European banks began to block accounts

European banks have begun to actively block the accounts of Petro Poroshenko’s confidant, to whom part of his foreign assets is registered. We are talking about a classmate of the ex-guarantor Sergei Zaitsev, who under the previous government was called “Poroshenko’s wallet,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

This was reported by the Kiev edition of Vesti, citing a source in diplomatic circles.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

According to the publication, the reason for such a reaction from financial institutions is that Zaitsev’s person has recently attracted close attention from the German prosecutor’s office, which is conducting an investigation into him regarding possible money laundering. In the future, accounts will not only be blocked, but also closed.
Poroshenko, according to the publication, is extremely concerned about the current situation. Fulfilling obligations to external partners through channels associated with Zaitsev has become problematic. And the prognosis is unfavorable: as the investigation continues in Germany, accounts will begin not just to be blocked, but to be closed.

Let us note that Sergei Zaitsev is an old friend of the former president. For many years he worked at the Roshen Presidential Corporation, and currently holds the position of Deputy General Director.

Zaitsev has also been overseeing Poroshenko’s agricultural and confectionery business offshore for a long time. He owns the Cyprus company Camarin Limited, which is a co-owner of the German company Interstarch GmbH with a 75,05% stake.

It was not by chance that he came to the attention of European law enforcement officers. The fact is that in 2011, while already working at Roshen, Zaitsev managed to buy with his Cypriot company Camarin Limited the assets of the German company Food Retail and Production in Germany (in the Elsteraue region) - a modern factory for the production of wheat starch in Europe for 30 million .euro.

And later Zaitsev signed an agreement to manage this company with Interstarch Ukraine, the ultimate beneficial owner of which is Petro Poroshenko.

The publication reports: law enforcement officers have a suspicion that Poroshenko was originally behind the purchase of the German company, and he used Zaitsev to cover up this transaction (and the income from it) - that is, for anonymity and further tax optimization through a Cypriot company.

After the Panama Papers scandal, in which Poroshenko was exposed “in full” and the requirements of the EU directive on combating money laundering, Germany adopted a law on a register of transparency of company owners. German companies must enter the names of their ultimate beneficiaries in such a Register. And while this law was being adopted - in the summer of 2016 - the Cypriot company Camarin Limited officially sold a 24,95% minority share of the German company Interstarch GmbH to the Ukrainian company Interstarch Ukraine (Poroshenko). But the main co-owner - with a share of 75,05% - remained the Cypriot company Camarin Limited. It turns out that Poroshenko was and remains the real owner.

According to the Vesti publication, the main activity of INTERSTARCH UKRAINE LLC (code 38307757) is the production of starches and starch products. It is also known that Marina Poroshenko, the wife of the former president, worked in this company in 2015. She even officially earned 11178 UAH there.

According to the Unified Register of Enterprises of Ukraine, Sergei Zaitsev has a 0,5% stake in the Central European Confectionery Corporation LLC, the beneficial owner of which is also Poroshenko.

Previously, Central European Confectionery Corporation LLC (this is another name for Roshen) was 85% owned by the Dutch company Roshen Europe BV, which is 100% owned by Confectionery Investments. And this latter belongs to Rothschild Trust AG as part of Prime Asset Capital Trust. After creating the trust, the Rothschilds appointed their own directors, but Poroshenko’s classmate, Sergei Zaitsev, for some reason still remained a director at Roshen Europe; the Rothschilds did not fire him. According to Vesti, Zaitsev still oversees foreign trade operations at Roshen and owns a minority stake in the company.

This is far from Zaitsev’s only business in Europe. He was the sole owner of Intraco Management Limited (the company is closed), which made money by organizing charter flights for Ukrainian oligarchs. Also, according to media reports, a number of Poroshenko’s offshore companies are registered in the account of the Austrian company JB Park, which belongs to the Cypriot offshore Euro Business Investments - and its owner is again Sergei Zaitsev.

Such involvement in the “number one” business brings dividends to Zaitsev. For example, Zaitsev owns a private business jet Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign and an expensive yacht MIKA “Maestro 65”. Owning luxury goods in itself may be of interest to German fiscal authorities. And the financial system in Germany works in such a way that banks often block or refuse to open accounts even before the official investigation into the purity of the origin of the money is completed.