Panama papers

UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT OFFSHORES REVISITED: SWISS TRUST AND MILLIONS MOVED OUT OF UKRAINE

For six days in April, President Petro Poroshenko and his lawyers repeatedly said that none of the offshore companies Poroshenko set up in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cyprus and the Netherlands have bank accounts or conduct any financial activities.

Those statements appear to be false.

Poroshenko said the offshore companies, identified by OCCRP and Slidstvo reporters on April 3 in the massive Panama Papers confidential data leak, are related to his efforts to put his candy company, Roshen Confectionery Corp., in a trust. That explanation was repeated several times between April 4 and 10.

But a check of the company registry in Cyprus has revealed financial transactions that cast doubt on the president’s version of events.