At the request of Kelsey Publishing, British law firm H20 Law Limited completed its probe into the World Soccer article on the involvement of offshore schemes in paying the salaries of Dynamo Kyiv players. The law firm confirmed the article to be true, notifying the soccer club in a letter published by LIGA.net.
“The article is not misleading or false or inaccurate. There is nothing for World Soccer to correct and it has nothing to apologise for. Accordingly, your demands are rejected,” H20 Law Limited concluded the letter addressed to Dynamo.
As a result, World Soccer’s article on the offshore schemes of Dynamo, which Dynamo requested to remove, was restored at all online platforms of the publication.
In the November issue of World Soccer, the media released an article on the offshore accounting in Dynamo Kyiv’s payment of salaries, highlighting the club's forward Artem Besyedin specifically. During the Euro 2020 match, Besyedin was seriously injured, which gave Dynamo the right to receive financial compensation from FIFA under the Club Protection Program (CPP), which is calculated based on the player's official salary.
According to the Ukrainian tax authorities, the club pays Besyedin a salary of €290 per month, which implies that Dynamo's CPP compensation would equate to €9.70 per day of injury, or €1,485 for five months. The actual salary of Besyedin is significantly higher, the newspaper noted.
“In 2017, the offshore company Dynamo Kiev (Cyprus) Ltd. was established, which receives all the prize money of the Ukrainian club from UEFA. This company concludes individual image contracts with all players of Dynamo Kyiv, including Besedin. According to the image contract, he receives 45,000 euros a month, which is about 155 times more than the amount that Besedin officially receives in Ukraine,”the article stipulated.
After Besyedin’s injury, the president of Dynamo Kyiv, Ihor Surkis, said he would not demand compensation from FIFA, vowing that the club would provide medical treatment at its own expense. In response to the publication of World Soccer’s article, Dynamo asked the media to stop spreading disinformation. However, in its findings, H20 Law Limited noted that "there does not appear to be a definite version of how FCDK’s players are paid”.
“There are a number of versions. There is the Besyedin’s contract, that is one version, for another there are payment slips which conflict with the payroll returns, and then there are the tax returns (see point 2 above). A yet further, albeit confusing, a version was provided by Mr. Surkis,” the investigators elaborate.
Since Dynamo cannot receive compensation under the FIFA Club Protection Program, it follows that compensation should be based on the salary of Mr. Besedin, which was indicated in the article, H20 Law Limited summarized.
