Roshen Corporation received $72.06 million of dividends from operation of its Lipetsk assets for 2014-2016 and the money was moved to Ukraine. The funds were invested in charity projects and production development.
In 2014-2016 Roshen sent 165.85 million UAH to build the Theatre on Podol (Kyiv). The theatre will be opened in 2017. Some 54 million UAH was sent to the project to help Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv, and 30 million UAH more will be sent by summer 2017. A total of 17.07 million UAH was sent to build houses for animals in Cherkasy zoo. The project will be finished in November.
“It is so strange for us that such a major figure as Russian President shows his interest to such small things as operation of our factory in Lipetsk. Moreover, we thought better of his intelligence services, as they were to tell him that Petro Poroshenko was not its owner. He signed an agreement to transfer his share in Roshen to an independent blind trust in January”, Corporation President Viacheslav Moskalevsky said.
He said that a statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of Valday club only confirmed the fact that he was behind all inspections, criminal cases and arrest of property due to which Roshen could not sell its factory.
“Here is who 1,100 dismissed employees, Russian citizens are to call. We had to fire them due to a fall in production. He keeps our Lipetsk assets as hostages on his territory. We remove all dividends received from them and invest them in goodwill projects and production in Ukraine. We will invest everything, until the last kopeck. This is the best way to spend we can make”, Moskalevsky said. (Interfax/Business World Magazine)