Zelensky took on the agricultural tycoon Kosyuk, who receives billions of subsidies from the budget
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky invited law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies to check and compare the amount of budget subsidies received by the Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) agricultural holding and dividends paid to shareholders, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In 2017-2018 One of the largest agricultural holdings in Ukraine, Myronivsky Hliboproduct, was allocated almost UAH 2,5 billion in subsidies from the state budget, as it is called. In fact, he does not need government support because he has super-profits and pays huge dividends to his shareholders every year,” Zelensky said on Thursday at a meeting of the National Anti-Corruption Policy Council.
Zelensky suggested that law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies compare the amount of budget subsidies received by MHP and the dividends paid to shareholders.
As reported, the board of directors of the MHP agricultural holding in March 2019 approved the payment of annual dividends in the amount of $0,7492 per share for 2018, which is approximately equivalent to $80 million and corresponds to the level of the previous year.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct is the largest producer of chicken in Ukraine. It is also engaged in the production of grains, sunflower oil, and meat products. MHP supplies the European market with chilled half-carcasses of chickens, which are processed, including at its enterprises in the Netherlands and Slovakia. The founder and majority shareholder of MHP is businessman Yuri Kosyuk. He also owns the “Nasha Ryaba” chicken brand. In 2015, Kosyuk worked for some time as deputy head of the administration of then President Petro Poroshenko.
MHP's net profit in 2018 decreased by 44,3% - to $128 million, revenue increased by 21% - to $1,556 billion.
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