Kyiv targets oligarch dividend flows

Ukraine on May 22 was pursuing Swiss tax-assistance cases tied to dividend payments routed through Cyprus, while anti-corruption investigators in Kyiv widened a Supreme Court bribery case linked to one of the country’s best-known businessmen. The two tracks are separate, but both center on how money moved through corporate and judicial channels during wartime. Swissinfo reported that Ukraine has asked Bern to help uncover dividend and interest structures used by large Ukrainian companies. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau, or NABU, said this week it had added four judges to the suspect list in the Supreme Court case involving former Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniazev. ### How did the dividend structure work? Swissinfo reported on May 22 that Ukrainian company directors were routing dividend payments to Cyprus-based entities that were formally listed as shareholders or creditors. Under the Ukraine-Cyprus tax treaty, that structure could cut withholding tax on dividends and interest from 15% to 2% or 5%, the report said. (swissinfo.ch) Swissinfo said the key issue for Kyiv is whether the Cyprus entities were genuine operating companies or shells. The report said bank accounts, powers of attorney and beneficial-owner records held in Switzerland could show that the ultimate beneficiary remained Ukrainian, which would mean the higher 15% rate should have applied. (swissinfo.ch) ### Which companies and people were named? Yuriy Kosyuk, founder of poultry producer MHP, was identified by Swissinfo as the latest target in what it described as a wave of Ukrainian requests for mutual tax assistance. Swissinfo said a recent Swiss Federal Court ruling rejected an appeal by seven MHP group companies that sought to block the Swiss tax administration from sharing bank information with Kyiv. (swissinfo.ch) Swissinfo said Ukraine’s tax authority has submitted at least seven requests for mutual tax assistance to Switzerland since 2021, including five in 2024. Six of those cases concern the same kind of dividend-and-interest arrangement involving Cyprus entities and Swiss bank accounts, according to the report. ### What changed in the Kniazev case this week? (swissinfo.ch) NABU said on May 19 that it and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had expanded the circle of suspects in the Supreme Court bribery case involving the former chief justice. The new suspects are three sitting Supreme Court judges and one retired judge, NABU said. NABU said the judges, while serving on the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, were suspected of receiving a bribe for a ruling favoring the owner of the Finance and Credit group. (swissinfo.ch) NABU did not name the businessman in the English release, but an earlier NABU case note said the owner of the Finance and Credit group had been charged in August 2023. The user-cited reporting identifies that businessman as Kostiantyn Zhevago. (nabu.gov.ua) ### What do investigators say happened inside the court case? NABU said the underlying dispute concerned a challenge to the 2002 sale of 40.19% of shares in the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant. After an appellate court invalidated the contract in 2022, the case went to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court for cassation review. NABU said the businessman transferred $2.7 million through an intermediary in March and April 2023 to secure a favorable ruling. (nabu.gov.ua) Investigators said a lawyer kept part of the money and passed the rest to Kniazev and other judges, and that Kniazev and the lawyer were caught on May 15, 2023 while receiving a second tranche of $450,000. ### Where does this leave the two cases now? (nabu.gov.ua) NABU said Kniazev is already standing trial at the High Anti-Corruption Court. The bureau said the businessman was notified of suspicion in July 2023, an intermediary was charged in September 2025, and the indictment against that intermediary was sent to court in May 2026. On May 27, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said, an IMF mission is expected in Kyiv for the first review of Ukraine’s four-year $8.1 billion Extended Fund Facility. (nabu.gov.ua) Marchenko said budget amendments and tax commitments would be part of the talks. (en.interfax.com.ua)