Chair of the Board of Ukrlandfarming Plc Oleg Bakhmatiuk wrote an open letter to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky about the searches and detention of his company employees. Bakhmatiuk claims that the company, which creates 27 thousand jobs and pays billions in taxes, is unjustifiably terrorized by security forces, and asks the president to intervene.

It should be reminded, in the structures of the owner of one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural holdings, the group of companies "Ukrlendfarming" Oleg Bakhmatiuk, searches and detentions of employees by security forces of NABU were conducted. This happened as part of the liquidation of a VAB bank, which had already been investigated and examined by several law enforcement agencies, and which was officially closed.

The businessman’s appeal to the president to intervene was posted this morning on the company's official website.

We offer you to read the full text of the appeal:

"I appeal to you with a request to unblock the situation. I appeal to you on behalf of a company employing 27 thousand people, one that has over the past 5 years been trying to work in this country, despite all the events and losses that we have sustained in Eastern Ukraine, from the loss of production capacity to losses caused by inflation. I appeal to you on behalf of a company responsible for generating 1% of GDP while contributing UAH 3 billion in taxes and paying UAH 3.5 billion in wages.

I appeal to you because once again we find ourselves in a situation where we are absolutely helpless and defenceless in the face of actions pursued by state law enforcement agencies. The newly created agencies under the Prosecutor General’s Office or the new Prosecutor General himself or the old director of NABU have once again reinstated a criminal case linked to the proceedings involving VAB Bank, a case that has been investigated by all law enforcement agencies of the country: the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office. A huge number of forensic examinations, investigative procedures and searches have been conducted. The company has literally been terrorised over the past 5 years while we have been pleading for constructive dialogue, knocking on doors, seeking to be heard. We have offered to sit down at the negotiating table to save the company, which has a great impact on this economy. We want an honest and open conversation about the situation with the banks. We want openness and constructive negotiations as you have declared. But it appears as though NABU and agencies under the Prosecutor General’s Office are operating in a reality where the law means nothing to them. They appear to be driven by a desire to curry favour and find a new victim.

We are quite surprised that our wish to sit down and negotiate constructively has met with little to no response. We have offered to the Deposit Guarantee Fund to repay the UAH 8 billion debt owed by our banks. Not a single owner of liquidated banks or banks declared insolvent has done so. The last time we officially announced our proposal was on 27 October, and yesterday investigative procedures were conducted, searches, our employees are being arrested on charges long dismissed. NABU has effectively taken it upon itself to appoint people guilty rather than conduct a proper criminal inquiry. Furthermore, the NABU Director has a direct conflict of interest vis-à-vis our company.

We do not understand why in response to our constructive proposal to appoint international auditors, which we made to the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the Chief of the Office of the President, we were only told that to destroy is better than to preserve. That to get nothing instead of budget revenues is much better. Law is being violated and we do not have the smallest opportunity to defend ourselves. We have been appointed guilty already. In our society, any person called an ‘oligarch’ is assumed to be guilty a priori and must therefore be punished, only because Mr. Ryaboshapka or Sytnik has called them that. We believe that this is an erroneous, unfair and unreasonable position. Laws of Ukraine and international standards have been repeatedly violated by reopening the criminal case. The case into those episodes has been dismissed 5 times! This would have been inconceivable in any other country. Such actions are opening a Pandora’s box. The fallout from that will land on You and Your Government, as the protection of economic agents is a high priority that You and Your Government have declared.

We ask You to intervene personally into this matter. We demand that the practice of appointing people guilty be stopped as one that gives no opportunity to those people to defend themselves. We ask you to appoint negotiators who could play a constructive role in this dialogue. We are prepared to work with any foreign trade advisors with international expertise in restructuring and auditing. Our company has raised up to USD 2 billion in international loans, with which we have built USD 2.5 billion worth of assets in Ukraine. Those include the world’s two largest poultry factories, Europe’s largest grain elevators capable of storing a crop harvested from nearly 3 million hectares of cropland, USD 600 million worth of agricultural machinery, hatcheries, seed plants and repair shops for farming machines. Those include a large number of assets supporting economic well-being and providing social safety nets in this country. It’s hard for us to go against a baton or rifle. Against people who do not wish to listen to us. For whom to negotiate means to pursue their own ambitions.

I ask you to intervene in this matter. I do not speculate in people who work. Let me reiterate, whatever is ruined is then hard to rebuild. You know this as a person who has created a lot. I call on you to protect a business that is committed to repaying its debt to the government and continuing to pay taxes to the government budget. The company is like a body. When dismembered, its value is so much less than the whole live organism. I have not appealed to you before, but I’ve now been forced to do so because the situation has hit a dead end and is being reported in a one-sided manner.

We reserve the right to continue fighting and hire international lawyers. We will prove we are right before international courts and those people who are now issuing unlawful decisions will face the consequences. But we understand that it is he who sells weapons that benefits from war. People who are destroying what they did not create will either step aside or they even may face prosecution but that will no longer matter. I urge you to prevent law enforcement agencies from destroying our company, don’t let them take our business hostage. We are ready to engage in constructive dialogue. And we are prepared to prove in great detail that our legitimate rights have been infringed upon repeatedly and that we have been stripped of our right to be heard. That dozens of times things have been done to us that are unacceptable in a European environment. That expediency beats legality. I’m thankful to you and I’m committed to seeking a deal that would enable the company to continue operating and secure the maximum possible compensation for the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the National Bank of Ukraine, to enable us to focus on creating value rather than fighting those economic jackals, the detectives, prosecutors, and judges that are destroying the company.

Mr President, I call on you to just tell your subordinates: go back to law and elementary logic, sit down at the negotiating table, work out a solution that would benefit the government by helping it raise revenue while saving 27 thousand jobs. All we’ve been asking for over the past two years is just that. We hope that they will listen to you", -