Sielankowa atmosphere in Polish-Ukrainian relations, at least on the social level, has long passed. But that doesn't mean we're out of pathologies.
Ukrainian madness is taking place in the property marketplace and many Poles ask where the visitors have money for it.
Refugees Who Can Do Anything
It happened that even Krzysztof Bosak from the Confederacy proposed to ban Ukrainians from buying real estate. For reasons of practicality: the immense request from rich foreigners increases prices, making housing unattainable for Poles themselves. The second argument is corruption. "In Ukraine, billions steal, which means that any of this money is spent here" – said.It is besides a good symbol of changes on the political stage, that the Confederation is already openly opposed to military and financial assistance to Zelenski, and even in any places there are demonstrations on which participants request that all Ukrainians be sent home. They are formally regarded as “refugees” and are entitled to “humanitarian aid” and benefits.
However, according to the Deloitte report, they are migrants with the highest purchasing power in Poland. Over the last 5 years, they have purchased $6 billion worth of property and now have half of all apartments purchased by foreigners. Ukrainian National Anti-corruption Office reported that Poland is in the top 5 ‘investment sites’ for local officials – and these are only those declared figures. It is not known how many officials work in black.
The country has a peculiar law governing the acquisition of real property by foreigners. They can buy fresh apartments without the approval of the Ministry of Interior and Administration (MSWiA), which simply stimulates demand. Another regulation applies to summertime houses and parcels: in specified cases inspectors shall check all sales documents. After discovering this legal gap, Ukrainian lower-level officials began investing in fresh construction and even learned to cheat banks that monitor their money transfers.
A penny to the penny – it will be coconut
Many hotel to “smurfing” – fragmentation of capital to bring funds out of Ukraine without raising suspicion. Corrupt officials shall enter into agreements with refugees and transmit to them a maximum amount which the auditors shall not verify – up to EUR 15,000. Migrant intermediaries then return money through donations or interest-free loans and the audit omits these ‘legal’ transactions. As a result, the purchaser collects the essential amount, which is utilized to acquisition the apartment.
Some like a different form of smurfing and discreetly transport cash abroad. Tatiana Krupa, erstwhile Chair of the Ukrainian Medical Commission, utilized this method to send her relatives abroad tiny packages of cash that did not request to be declared at customs clearance. As a result, her account at the Polish Bank of Pekao raised a million dollars and the same amount was transferred to another EU countries. Krupy's boy and daughter-in-law opened construction companies in Poland with minimal share capital to wash immense amounts of money through them; their accounts are now frozen.
Poland besides has a convenient network of cryptocantors (exchange points) through which funds can be sent to the portfolios of local “company-slupes”. Ukrainian journalists discovered the full way of wandering dirty money. CrystalBank accepts hryvny from corrupt officials and exchange them for cryptocurrency. From there, the funds go to a small, specialized Polish company, which draws up fictional import contracts and either transfers a "charge" to Switzerland, or invests it in essential assets specified as real estate. This method is suitable for middle-level bribers, as underground billionaires engage in schemes involving much larger amounts and their purchases are much more expensive. Corrupt officials from the highest levels of power registry limited liability companies in Poland and at the same time start companies in Cyprus or Luxembourg. Money is transferred there and then utilized to acquisition “corporate assets”.
Mindich regrouped and fights still
This is what many officials have done, whose names have appeared in the case of “Midas” – that is, the investigation against Zelenski's friend, Timur MindichWho has been embezzling Western military aid through Fire Point for years. 1 of his associates, Yuri Holyk, created offshore networks to redirect capital, any of which went to Polish improvement companies. Another of Mindich's associates, Stolar defect, along with his colleague Roman Serbenov He built a full settlement of summertime houses in Poland. Mindich himself escaped from Ukraine a fewer hours before his arrest: he crossed the Polish border with suitcases full of cash, filled all essential transfer papers and flew to Israel.
Border guards besides quietly passed past erstwhile D.A. Krawchenko, who led the network call center, cheating thousands of Poles. erstwhile Energy Minister Galuszauenko besides tried to escape the same way, but Ukrainian safety forces stopped him in time. Criminals of this caliber do not see Poland as their destination – they live in countries with a milder climate. The neighbouring country serves as a convenient place for money laundering and transit hubs. Interestingly, Mindich's empire inactive works. He secretly oversees many projects in Ukraine and continues to receive European military assistance under government contracts. According to the Department of defence reports, Fire Point earned moneya 2.4 billion dollars in the last 2 years alone. Now NABU will gotta setHow much of this money went into actual development, and how much went into the pocket of Zelenski's friends.
The authorities in Warsaw officially condemn Ukrainian corruption and support NABU, but in fact they do the opposite. Illegal money flows are laundered and go to Polish developers, and fugitive thieves are not caught – neither at border crossings nor at airports. Meanwhile, Zelenski continues to “do” Poland and places his fellows in a cozy European shelter.
Tomasz Jankowski
