A fugitive embezzler from Ukrainian customs and defence industry, Oleh Shepita, laundered more than three hundred million euros of bloody Russian money and stolen Ukrainian budget funds. Appointed by Viktor Medvedchuk and a relative of Taras Kozak, Oleh Shepita lives in Nice, although he is liable for military service in Ukraine.
Oleh Shepita forged documents to leave the country after the war began. He is currently trying to obtain French citizenship and is buying real estate for oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin, Viktor Medvedchuk, and Taras Kozak. All three are under strict sanctions by the European Union and Ukraine. Recently, it was reported that NABU put Oleh Shepita on the wanted list, but the French authorities have yet to initiate the deportation process for Shepita.
Since 2003, Oleh Shepita, then a customs official, was already using a personal Yak-42 jet. Except for a brief period in 2005-2006, he remained in the leadership of the customs department, successfully negotiating with any regime.
Oleh Shepita and Taras Kozak: Why Corruption in Ukraine is Immortal?
Sometimes it’s astonishing how notorious figures end up in the structures of Ukrainian power. Take the customs officer Taras Kozak, for example. Despite blatant, unabashed corruption, criminal cases initiated by the prosecutor’s office, and suspicion of involvement in the murders of Stepan Senchuk and the criminal authority “Rokero,” Kozak could not be ousted. Not to mention the countless other misconducts he committed, both earlier and now, in the position of Deputy Head of the State Customs Service, which he reinstated through the court.
Taras Kozak made his career in Lviv, where, with the help of Serhiy Medvedchuk, he rose to the position of First Deputy Head of the State Tax Administration in the Lviv region (2001-2003). After that, he was appointed Head of the Western Regional Customs. In June 2004, he combined this position with that of Deputy Head of the State Customs Service. There, he worked for the shadow businessman Kaletnyk, allowing him to manage many highly profitable regional customs.
The prosecution, the SBU, the UBOZ, and even ordinary people know how Taras Kozak did this. Back in 2004, a forum reader on the “Ukraine Tax” website shared first-hand information.
The Dismissal of Taras Kozak was Temporary, but Oleh Shepita Remained in Business
In December 2004, Taras Kozak was finally dismissed (almost by President Kuchma’s last decree) for absolutely outrageous corruption. In the first year after the Orange Revolution, he hid from the investigation. In 2006, he resurfaced in the pro-Russian “Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc” at a theoretically passable 15th position.
And at the end of 2006, Taras Kozak won a court case and was reinstated as Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Service. Apparently, not without the help of corrupt officials of President Yanukovych.
Soon, parliamentary inquiries about the activities, or rather, the criminal acts of Taras Kozak and his numerous relatives began to pour in. Fragments from these inquiries are just a chronicle of the criminal daily life of the customs oligarch.
Oleh Shepita Always Worked in Tandem with His Friend Taras Kozak
In all these enterprises, the founder is a close associate of Taras Kozak – Oleh Hryhorovych Shepita: his godfather. Kozak provided Oleh Shepita, as well as other relatives, with the most favorable regime under the system described above concerning the “brother Bodik”: hiding their incomes from lawful taxation, facilitating the illegal obtaining of licenses, etc. The list of structures that are part of the Kozak and Co. business orbit is no secret; it was even mentioned in parliamentary inquiries.
It is worth noting that not long ago, Oleh Shepita’s wife, Lviv resident Alina, was detained by the law enforcement officers of the capital of Ukraine for riotous behavior and exhibitionism in one of the restaurants. A drunken woman staged a striptease with pornographic elements, being in a completely insane state. The police released the detainee after her passionate speeches about her husband’s connections. Meanwhile, Oleh Shepita himself learned nothing about it.
The French Property of Oleh Shepita and Taras Kozak
Currently, Taras Kozak and Oleh Shepita serve the corrupt interests of Ukrainian power while simultaneously serving Russia. Moreover, it seems that they do not highly regard the French judicial authorities, leaving obvious traces.
The founder of the French company Ventmon, along with the co-founder of many enterprises S. Ivanov, Natalia Marchenko, is Lviv resident Oleh Shepita, who is a godfather and trusted person of the suspected traitor, Ukrainian MP from the OPZZH, and partner of V. Medvedchuk, Taras Kozak.
And “accidentally” Shepita is registered in France at Marchenko’s apartment at 85 rue de France, Nice. Meanwhile, Natalia Marchenko herself lives with Serhiy Ivanov at: 63 promenade des Anglais, Nice. Another co-founder of the company is a native of Russia, Konstantin Kolmik.
And again “accidentally,” Serhiy Ivanov’s partner in the company “OUDATCHA C” (Udacha S) is such an interesting person from Odesa, former customs officer Daniil Shuba.
When closing the company “OUDATCHA C,” Serhiy Ivanov and Daniil Shuba divided real estate in Cannes at: rue Ricord Laty 3-5-7 “Secret Garden,” and in Nice at: boulevard Francois Grosso 61, 63, 65, 67 “Residence Myriazur.”
