Petro Poroshenko is not only the president of Ukraine but also one of the main oligarchs of the country. According to the rating prepared by Novoie Vremia together with Dragon Capital, he is the 4th richest person in Ukraine. His assets amount almost one billion dollars ($949 mn). In his declaration for 2015, he registered USD 2.4 mn and over 100 companies.
His business interests include confectionary, agriculture, insurance, banking, shipping, defense industry, food manufacturing and others.
He is also an owner of one of Ukraine’s news channels – 5 Kanal. Despite the criticism and recommendations of OSCE after the Presidential elections in 2014, he refused to sell it.
The confectionary concern Roshen has been his main business during the long years. Becoming a president in 2014, he has not sold it despite the promises to do so. Now Roshen has 6 factories, including one in Russian Lipetsk (which is going to be closed in April 2017).
The corporation is represented in 28 countries.
The Panama Papers offshore scandal in April 2016 revealed that Poroshenko handed Roshen to a blind trust, which happened in January 2016, according to his financial advisor. Poroshenko’s legal advisor explained that in doing this, Poroshenko lost his influence on Roshen. Whether this is true or not, the Roshen corporation has not been sold
Also, Poroshenko is one of the major agrarian oligarchs in Ukraine. He has about 40 enterprises of the agrarian complex.
Poroshenko is also quite successful in banking and insurance.
In January-June 2016 his Krayina increased the volume of collected premiums by 50%. His Kyiv-based International Invest Bank has a high trust factor compared to other Ukrainian banks.
His indirect interest is also defense industry. For a long time, Poroshenko used to be an owner of the Bohdan auto producer. He is also a cofounder of it. Now the factory belongs to his old business partner. Since 2014 Bohdan started to produce armored vehicles for the Ukrainian army.
Poroshenko has surrounded his interests with loyal businessmen and right politicians in other fields too.
Read more about them in the investigation of Kyiv Post.
