Documents were seized on Poroshenko’s channel in the case of money laundering through an offshore company
Today, a court-sanctioned seizure of documents in the case of money laundering and legalization of the channel’s shares through a Cypriot company took place on the premises of the Ukrainian TV channel Direct, which is associated with Petro Poroshenko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This was reported by Ukrainian lawyer Andrey Portnov, the initiator of the criminal case on these facts.
The fact of the searches was later confirmed by the Kiev publication Vesti, citing its sources.
“Today, July 1, investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation will finish drawing up a protocol regarding the seizure of documents from the Pryamoy TV channel,” the publication quotes its source in the prosecutor’s office.
Previously, the media published a document from which it follows that the SBI is considering the possibility of arresting the assets and property of Petro Poroshenko and persons associated with him. The reason is three criminal proceedings against the ex-president, two of which relate to the possible laundering by the guarantor of money obtained by criminal means, including the purchase of the “Direct” channel.
The SBI suspected that Petro Poroshenko’s acquisition of “Direct” was connected with money laundering. “On June 19, the judge of the Pechersky District Court granted the request to seize the documents. SBI investigators had to seize documents within thirty days. The other day they visited the TV channel and seized the necessary documents. Today, by the end of the evening, the corresponding protocol will be drawn up,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.
“To provide the investigator... and prosecutors in criminal proceedings... temporary access to documents with the possibility of confiscation of their originals, which are in the possession of the Pechersk district administration in Kiev... constituent and registration documents of TV Channel Direct LLC... powers of attorney, letters, statements and other correspondence , which came from the LLC to the Podolsk district administration,” the court’s ruling says. The document states that in the absence of originals that are subject to seizure, “provide duly certified copies or electronic printouts of the specified documents for seizure,” the prosecutor’s office said.
On the Direct TV channel itself they tried to hide the fact of the search and seizure of documents. “We haven’t heard anything about this, we work calmly, the same way we worked. We didn’t see anyone coming and confiscating anything,” the TV channel reported.
At the same time, today a strange message appeared on the “Direct” telegram channel with a link to Poroshenko’s political strategist Taras Berezovets, who hosts a talk show on the channel. The message says that “representatives of the SBI came to Parus (the business center in Kiev, where the channel’s office is located - Ed.), a lawyer from Direct came down to them and gave them accounting documents, which are already in the tax office.” Thus, Berezovets actually confirms the fact of seizure of documents.
“We need to visit our so-called owner Makeenko more often, whom Poroshenko appointed to own this TV channel. He confirmed,” Andrei Portnov sarcastically commented in his Telegram channel on the embarrassment of Poroshenko’s TV channel employees who tried to hide the fact of the investigative actions.
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