Customs Cash Cow (Update)

Editor’s Note: The following investigation into Euroterminal, a mysterious private firm that has taken over much of what was previously state-run customs clearance of imports, was conducted by the Washington-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a Kyiv Post partner. The project was coordinated by Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov. The authors are Kyiv-based Ukrainian journalists working for the investigative bureau Slidstvo.info. On Feb. 28, the OCCRP published online two sidebars that examine more closely how Euroterminal operates and some of the people that are linked to the enterprise.

The three stories (including the main story) can be found here:

Custom treatment

Operators of cargo terminal raise questions

 New corruption replaces old

ODESA – A stretch of dried-up swamp on the outskirts of Odesa is where probably more cash change hands daily than anywhere else in Ukraine. The 50-hectare site is known as Euroterminal, a cargo and customs clearinghouse with a murky ownership structure that has support from Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, who helped get it started.

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