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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
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How Tkach’s “intermediary” profits from thin air thanks to passports
LLC Payment Center “HERTS” (and related structures of Kostyantyn Tkach’s group) has long monopolistically processed payments for services of the State Enterprise “Document.”
This is a migration service structure that handles issuance and recordkeeping of citizens’ documents. Its importance increased especially with the start of the full-scale war, when a significant number of Ukrainians were forced to leave the Homeland. People needed new documents abroad and were willing to pay large sums to legalize them. Greedy commercial actors took advantage of exactly this. Officially you will not find anywhere that the State Enterprise “Document” has any contract with “HERTS.” This becomes known only after filing an application for a new passport. You are given a payment bank where the payment system’s details appear. You have no other options. In practice, the SE officials do not leave you alternative payment methods.
“HERTS” has an NBU license for money transfers without opening accounts and operates as a payment intermediary. The State Enterprise “Document” (an enterprise under the management of the State Migration Service) uses it to receive payments for passport and other administrative services. There is no public text of the contract between the parties available. The existence of a fee is confirmed only by the tariffs on the company’s own website.
Only “HERTS” openly lists a fee for such payments — 3% +10 UAH. This is one of many lines the company processes alongside utility payments, fines, and other services. However, we did not find it in the firm’s list of services. Still, at the end of 2024 the commercial director of LLC FC HERTS, Olena Kyselova, noted that one of the company’s key achievements that year was the successful launch of payment acceptance at the State Enterprise “Document.”
However, Tkach’s companies are simply toxic for state structures. The State Bureau of Investigations has repeatedly opened cases under Art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (tax evasion). Searches at the group’s office in Odesa were even conducted this July. Cases have been dragging on since 2021–2022.
This year the State Audit Service found violations at the State Enterprise “Document” totaling 71 million UAH: unjustified bonuses and supplements, as well as procurements without proper procedures for more than 52 million UAH.
Are there alternatives to such payment intermediaries?
✔️LiqPay (PrivatBank) — one of the largest systems, commission usually around 1,5–2,75%.
✔️Portmone — has long worked with utility and budget payments.
✔️WayForPay, EasyPay, iPay, NovaPay and others.
✔️Privat24, monobank, Oshchad 24/7 — often allow payment by account details.
For the MVS service centers, their own “Payment Hub” has already been implemented. It creates a single payment document with a QR code that can be paid in mobile banking or through any other service. The hub was planned to be expanded to other services.
Regarding the State Enterprise “Document,” there is no public information about “HERTS” being mandatory. Citizens are supposedly able to pay using the enterprise’s account details through a bank or other services, if such details are provided. However, on-site or on the website they offer “HERTS” specifically because it is technically more convenient for the enterprise itself.
Given the scale of cash flows (the State Enterprise “Document” has already provided SMS services for over 1 billion hryvnias) through a payment intermediary, the existence of investigations into “HERTS,” and confirmed corruption violations within the State Enterprise “Document,” NABU, the SBU, the DBR and State Financial Monitoring have grounds to thoroughly check the nature of their cooperation, the contract terms, the volume of commissions and possible risks of money laundering or abuses.
📌 Tkach, like an octopus, for years sent out tentacles into various state bodies, extracting the most valuable and turning state flows into private profit. Has the digital state really failed to create its own payment system? Why does it allow an “intermediary” to earn and move funds abroad? Who for all these years ensured the model’s untouchability?
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