09.04.2025
Investigations
BES: Cradle of nepotism or economic shield?
The Bureau of Economic Security (BES) is a law enforcement agency created to investigate cases against businesses and economic crimes such as tax manipulation and fraud with budget funds. But does it fulfill its function? Rather, the BES increasingly resembles a structure that systematically covers up crimes rather than fights them.
At the center of this theater of the absurd is Serhiy Perhun, acting director of the BES. He is now competing for the permanent position at a competition to select a new head of the Bureau. But is Perhun, whose hands are tied by friendly ties and dubious schemes, capable of becoming an independent leader? Let’s find out.
What is known about Serhiy Perkhun?
Fact №1: A million-dollar loan is like a pass to the BES. In 2018, Serhiy Perkhun’s wife borrowed UAH 1 million from Nazar Konstantinov, allegedly for an apartment in Kyiv. Coincidence or not, five years later, the same Konstantynov became the head of the Kyiv Territorial Department of the BES. Who appointed him? The same Perkhun. It looks like a classic scheme: you to me – I to you. Isn’t this how “independent” careers are built in Ukraine?
Fact №2: Friendship is more important than the law. How did Perhun end up at the BES in the first place? In 2023, he was brought there by Vitaliy Gagach, who was acting director of the Bureau at the time. Before that, Gagach was Perkhun’s direct superior at the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Obviously, old ties are not just memories over coffee, but a solid springboard to the offices of power. And now Perkhun wants to finally secure his place through a competition.
The competition commission that will select the new BES chairman is already on the way. Will they ask Perhun how he will explain these “friendly” appointments and millions of dollars in loans? And will anyone believe in his “independence” when the facts shout otherwise?
But even if a new person is appointed to head the Bureau, will anything change in a system where nepotism and circular cover-ups have become the norm? It’s a rhetorical question, the answer to which will be known after the final results.
The BES as a corrupt protection of PariMatch and Degryk-Shevtsova
It is known that cases like the Russian casino PariMatch have been gathering dust in the offices of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the BES and the courts for years. Instead of actively investigating, the BES has demonstrated astonishing inaction that looks more like deliberate sabotage. Together with individuals such as Degryk-Shevtsova (owner of Ayboks-Bank, through which the bookmaker has been withdrawing funds in the shadow of taxes for years), the agency not only slows down the processes, but also blocks any attempts to oversee the legality of decisions.
An illustrative case is a letter from Oleksandr Yashchuk, head of the BES detective unit, to the NGO Non-Stop Ukraine. In it, he invents a story that we ourselves informed about the “new order” of correspondence – only with copies of passports or powers of attorney from the NGO. This fiction is not just absurd, but another proof: the BES does not investigate crimes, but diligently covers them up, hiding behind the inaction that has already become the agency’s calling card. They are not embarrassed by real evidence, forged signatures, and dozens of letters with the required elements of our materials.
In addition, the TU BEB in the Lviv region still continues to influence the courts to close Degryk-Shevtsova’s case as soon as possible, canceling the woman’s international wanted list. Thanks to the publicity, we prevented the planned action in the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv. Now the case will be considered by another court, whose representatives are less likely to be bribed.
Smuggling iPhones: How the BES “does not notice” the scheme
Among the economic crimes that the BES successfully ignores, a special place is occupied by smuggling iPhones for iPeople, Yabko and Avic retail chains. The scheme is simple but brazen. The phones are smuggled across the border without customs declarations: consignments of gadgets are imported under the guise of personal belongings or small luggage, bypassing official payments. No paperwork, no taxes – pure profit.
Next, a network of individual entrepreneurs comes into play. Devices are distributed among fictitious individual entrepreneurs who formally “sell” them in stores. This allows them to blur sales volumes and avoid full taxation – VAT and income tax simply disappear into the shadows. Such a scheme screams of violations, but the BES seems to prefer to turn a blind eye – either through inaction or through someone’s “friendly” support.
Protecting L/DNR funding inside the capital
Fedir Khristenko is an MP from the OPFL, Deputy Chairman of the Temporary Investigation Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Verification and Assessment of the State of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy.
Despite the legal restrictions, Khristenko continues to combine business activities with his parliamentary position. One of his companies, Heating Systems OU, even actively supplied anthracite coal from Russia to ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih. Over the course of four years, it earned more than $7 million.
Khristenko used Venus Commercial S.R.O., a company registered in the Czech Republic, to transfer funds. This company was associated with ANARO COMMERCIAL S.R.O., which issued a loan for the activities of Heating Systems OU.
During this time, Khristenko continues to receive huge kickbacks from Russian business structures that have large contracts with Ukrainian coal consumers.
In 2021, the state-owned Ukreximbank issued $60 million in loans to Serhiy Bryukhovetskyi’s companies to buy the Sky Mall in Kyiv. When signing the agreement, Bryukhovetskyi acted on behalf of Wholesale Network 2011 LLC and Slavian LLC. The new company Slavian became the owner of the Sky Mall, and its beneficiary is Serhiy Bryukhovetskyi, Khristenko’s father-in-law, who continues to do business in occupied Horlivka and pay taxes to Russia.
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