Based on materials from the SBU, suspicion was announced against alcohol tycoon Yevgeny Chernyak.
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On December 29, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had collected evidence against the owner of one of the largest alcohol holdings in Ukraine, Chernyak, suspected of financing the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.
According to the investigation, despite the full-scale invasion, his companies continued to do business with the aggressor country.
It was established that during 2022, only in the form of paying taxes and fees, the enterprises subordinate to him transferred about 6 billion hryvnia equivalent to the Russian budget.
It is documented that the defendant’s enterprises, located in four countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, purchased industrial quantities of alcohol and other related products from Russia.
During searches in the office premises of the holding company in Ukraine, documents and other material evidence of illegal activities in favor of the aggressor country were discovered.
Based on the collected evidence, Security Service investigators reported suspicion to Chernyak and 6 other top managers of his companies under Part 2 of Art. 28, art. 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (aiding and abetting the aggressor state, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons).
The issue of seizing their personal and corporate property for transfer to the management of ARMA is being resolved.
The investigation was carried out under the procedural leadership of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Background
In July 2023, Rosfinmonitoring included the Ukrainian businessman, founder of the international alcohol holding Global Spirits and the Khortitsa distillery, Chernyak, on the list of terrorists and extremists. The Muscovite department wrote about this.
And the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a case against the Global Spirits holding and put its beneficiary Chernyak on the wanted list.
The investigation believes that Chernyak and “other persons” entered into a conspiracy and sent 500 million rubles (about $5.5 million) to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other Ukrainian units. And also that Chernyak supplied military goods worth 90 million rubles (about $1 million) to Ukraine.
Chernyak is the general director of the Global Spirits holding, the owner of a number of enterprises producing alcoholic beverages: the Khortytsya distillery and the Odessa Brandy Factory. The Crimean Wine House plant has not belonged to Global Spirits since 2014, wrote Economic Pravda.
According to Russian media, in 2011-2022 the Russian distilleries “Russian Sever” and “Rodnik” were closely affiliated with the holding, but in 2022 these assets were transferred from the Global Spirits brand.
After this news was published on ED, a representative of the Global Spirits PR service contacted Ukrayinska Pravda to deny that the company allegedly has employees or works in Russia. She stated:
This is hostile propaganda nonsense. Global Spirits has never been in Russia and cannot be now. No cases have been brought against any of its employees in the Russian Federation. And no one, of course, was detained. This is a primitive lie. Since 2014, a sanction has been imposed against Global Spirits banning the supply of products to the Russian market. And now, having turned on VPN, you can see this resolution on the website of their regulatory authority. The sanction, which has been in effect for 9 years, was one of the first to ban the supply of Ukrainian vodka products and beer. One document prohibits the supply and sale of products. Accordingly, the product could not be supplied to the Russian market in any form.
On February 24, 2022, Global Spirits revoked its license to produce brands in Russia, like many other Ukrainian manufacturers. This is the only possible procedure by which a license can be terminated earlier than the established period. Global Spirits did this in the same way as all American and European companies that decided to leave the market of the aggressor country.”
According to Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until his guilt is legally proven and established by a court verdict.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.