Oleksandr Yanukovych, the eldest son of Ukraine’s president, signaled another sign of openness after he declared earning $72 million in income in 2012.
According to the public
relations department of Yanukovych’s MAKO holding, the president’s son paid
about $3 million in personal income tax. The April 18 Mako press release noted that
the amount Yanukovych paid excluded taxes and duties that his Mako group of companies
also paid in 2012.
In 2011, Yanukovych, 39,
paid $2 million in personal income tax.
The Kyiv Post earlier
reported that his group of companies paid more than $2.6 million in taxes to all
levels of state coffers in 2011, and employed some 700.
International auditor PwC
assisted in Yanukovych’s annual income declaration, and assessed Mako Group of
companies in 2011.
“We keep on moving towards
European standards of openness and full transparency,” said Yanukovych in the
press release.
However, the declaration
doesn’t mention any real estate or movable property, such as vehicles that the
president’s son owns or how much has on bank accounts.
Having an estimated net
worth of $196.5 million, according to Focus magazine, Yanukovych is a majority
shareholder of Mako or Management Assets Company that comprises 16 enterprises
located in Ukraine, Switzerland and the Netherlands. After a consolidated audit
conducted by PwC, the group announced in February its assets total $212 million
in 2011.
MAKO’s press release stated
that the group will publish its 2012 financial results after the latest audit
is completed.
Yanukovych’s Swiss-based
Mako Trading SA became perhaps his best-known company to Ukrainians following
an article that appeared in the Swiss daily Le Matin Dimanche on Jan. 13.
The newspaper called the president’s
son “The King of Coal in Geneva.” The article also mentioned that Mako Trading sells
coal imported from Ukraine and belongs to Yanukovych.
However, according to Mako Trading’s
2012 financial report obtained by the Kyiv Post, the company is an industrial
one, and engages in wholesale and retail trade in agricultural raw materials,
live animals, textile raw materials and semi-finished goods. The company also engages
in the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.
Employing four people, the
company had $5.4 million in operating revenue in 2012.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected]
