The Chocolate King of Ukraine and his response....
I believe I might be the first top official in Ukraine who treats declaring of assets, paying taxes, conflict of interest issues seriously— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) April 4, 2016
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s
billionaire “chocolate king,” whose corporate empire includes automotive
plants, a shipyard, a TV channel and the country’s largest candy company, won
the presidential election of 2014 by a landslide, a result widely attributed to
his political acumen. Poroshenko has adroitly shifted his political
affiliations over the years and avoided being tainted by Ukraine’s long line of
corrupt leaders and oligarchs. Although he vowed to oppose the oligarchs and
“prevent the inappropriate influence of private interests on the state,” critics
are still waiting for him to deliver. A supporter of the 2004 pro-Europe,
pro-democracy Orange Revolution, he also has positioned himself as a
nationalist who could pursue peaceful relations with Russia.
Inside the Mossack Fonseca
data
Offshore firm holds assets
including a European candy manufacturer
In August 2014, as Russian
troops rolled into Eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko became the sole shareholder of
Prime Asset Partners Limited, which Mossack Fonseca set up in the British
Virgin Islands. A Cyprus law firm representing the newly acquired company
described it as a “holding company of Cyprus and Ukrainian companies of the
Roshen Group, one of the largest European manufacturers of confectionery
products.” The firm wrote that, though Prime Assets Partners was for “a person
involved in politics,” it had “nothing to do with his political
activities." During his 2015 presidential campaign, Poroshenko had pledged
to sell most of his assets, all of which were transferred to Prime Assets
Capital, according to a news account. In October 2014, a Ukrainian bank
in which Poroshenko owns a majority stake, International Invest Bank, wrote a
reference letter to Mossack Fonseca saying that his accounts there “have been
conducted properly up to our satisfaction.”
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