Escape from the gambling business to a “chicken project”: how Andriy Matyukha is building an investor image in Croatia amid investigations into billion-dollar schemes in Ukraine

Since the end of last year, a series of suspicious one-page websites promoting highly coordinated messages about Ukrainian businessman Andriy Matiukha has appeared in the Croatian information space.

Under loud headlines about a “new economic reality for Croatia,” “innovation in the agricultural sector,” and “billions in taxes,” anonymous resources are creating an artificial image of a large-scale investor, although there is no real evidence of his activity in the country.

This was reported by Oligarh.

“How Andriy Matiukha is creating a new economic reality for Croatia,” “Andriy Matiukha introduces innovations in Croatia’s agricultural sector,” “Millions of euros to the budget: the tax contribution of Andriy Matiukha’s business,”, “The shocking truth about Andriy Matiukha’s 14 companies in Croatia: why everyone talks, but no one sees the investments?” — such propagandistic messages have been broadcast to the Croatian audience since the end of last year by a group of “clone” one-page websites registered in the .hr domain zone.

The websites are anonymous and do not disclose their owners — however, their content speaks for itself.

Simultaneously with their launch, an article appeared in the Croatian media outlet Jutarnji list with the “promo” label — link — with a headline that once again raises questions about the professional competence of the PR specialists of the notorious owner of the Ukrainian bookmaker Favbet, Matiukha: “Tko je Andrii Matiukha? Svojim je radom zadužio ukrajinski narod, a sada sve više pomaže i Hrvatskoj,” which means: “Who is Andriy Matiukha? He has rendered a great service to the Ukrainian people through his work, and now increasingly helps Croatia.”

On the mentioned websites, in addition to a bunch of absurd AI-generated images of Matiukha on artificial backgrounds (“green energy” with solar panels, wind turbines, and biogas plants; monitors with growth charts of something unclear and inscriptions in some “yautja” language; or poorly photoshopped “foreign passports” labeled “Ukraine paesport”), there are also pompous theses accompanying these images.

“His (Matiukha’s) approach to doing business has always been distinguished by strategic thinking and the ability to see prospects where others did not notice them.”

“The story of Andriy Matiukha inspires and opens new horizons for the entire Ukrainian business community.”

“Matiukha’s experience shows that thorough preparation and a professional approach to every market are the key to success,” — it is seriously claimed on one of the “clone” sites. A vivid example of such “thorough preparation and professional approach” can apparently be considered Matiukha’s launch of the Favbeer pub chain in Kyiv in 2023, which he closed just a year later.

“Andriy Valeriyovych Matiukha created not just a profitable company, but a real business ecosystem that benefits the entire country,” — echoes another “clone” site, answering its own rhetorical question: “Andriy Matiukha: a genius of the shadow economy or a conscientious taxpayer?”

It also provides a suspiciously evasive answer to its own question regarding whether Matiukha has a Russian passport: “Photos of a Russian passport in his name have appeared online, but the authenticity of these documents raises serious doubts — because in the era of digital technologies, creating a fake in Photoshop is not difficult.”

Although it would be much easier to simply state that Matiukha does not have a Russian passport — of course, if that corresponds to reality. After all, the fact that Matiukha owns the trademark “Matryoshka” and founded a company in Croatia in March 2022 called Renaissance Capital, whose name was “borrowed” from a well-known Russian investment bank, transparently hints at Matiukha’s sympathies toward “swamp” narratives.

The lion’s share of the theses on these “clone” websites concerns one specific topic — the scandalous project to build a poultry farm near the Croatian city of Sisak with a capacity of nearly 150,000 tons of chicken per year for €600 million, which Matiukha promises to implement. A company with the “creative” name Premium Chicken Company was created for this project.

Matiukha, apparently, very much wants to become the Croatian Kosyuk, and therefore “not belonging to him” anonymous sites quite crudely promote the idea that he is ready to invest in the most modern waste processing, water purification, and air protection technologies.

“His goal is not to obtain instant profit, but to build a long-term, stable business that integrates into the local economy and meets all European standards,” — assures one of the “independent” clone websites.

“This project demonstrates how the combination of Ukrainian experience in agribusiness with European technologies and standards can lead to the creation of a highly efficient and socially responsible enterprise,” — emphasizes another one.

Of course, Matiukha has no “Ukrainian experience in agribusiness” and never had any. His business is gambling, one of the most scandalous industries in Ukraine, which siphons money from hundreds of thousands of people, including Ukrainian soldiers, by no means making the absolute majority of them happy (because the house always wins).

“All online casinos are marauders in this war. None of their donations compensate for the damage they have already caused to the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian society,” — wrote shortly before his death on April 15, 2024, while performing a combat mission in the Donetsk region, junior sergeant of the 59th Brigade Pavlo Petrychenko.

So it is not surprising that Croatians were not impressed by such throw-ins. Residents of Sisak, as well as other cities and towns — Lekenik, Sunja, Velika Ludina — recently announced the holding on February 21 in Zagreb of a large protest against plans to build a poultry farm in Sisak-Moslavina County. According to participants of the civic initiative “Sisak residents do not want to be garbage people,” the Premium Chicken Company poultry farm project is still at the development stage.

“The authorities remained deaf to our demands. They did not hear us in May 2025 when we protested in Sisak against the construction of a huge poultry slaughter plant with a biogas facility in the Sisak-South industrial zone. They did not properly consider our comments on the environmental impact assessment and did not respond to them substantively and with arguments. They did not respond to our joint demands to stop the environmental impact assessment procedure, since the project does not comply with Sisak’s urban planning documentation and is in fact unfeasible from the point of view of obtaining a construction permit,” — said Croatian activist Snježana Sužnjević Vago.

In fact, the tactic of launching a network of disposable websites to create the image of a “socially responsible investor” or “honest politician” for a client is not new for Ukraine. However, for Croatia this appears to be a new experience. Especially since such sites are capable of pushing negative information about the subject into the background — and in the case of Matiukha, as one might guess, there is more than enough of it.

“It has been established that a group of affiliated online casinos, using the processing capabilities of LLC ‘Diamond Pay’ and LLC ‘E-Pay,’ with the assistance of employees of certain law enforcement and other regulatory bodies, controlled by a single actual beneficial owner — a citizen and resident of the Russian Federation — carries out illegal activities related to the legalization of funds obtained by criminal means, evasion of mandatory fees and payments to the State Budget of Ukraine during wartime on an especially large scale, with their subsequent cash withdrawal and possible transfer of funds bypassing imposed sanctions restrictions. It has been established that the said group of business entities includes: LLC ‘Bookmaker Company Favbet’ (EDRPOU 43457382, represented by the online casino brand ‘FAVBET’); LLC ‘Casino.UA’ (EDRPOU 45397781, represented by the online casino brand ‘CASINO.UA’),” — states the case materials of criminal proceeding No. 72022000400000003 dated 19.09.2022, the pre-trial investigation of which is currently being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation.

This case was recently transferred to the SBI from the Bureau of Economic Security, which over several years of investigation failed to achieve tangible results. Whether this is related to the fact that the media named former deputy head of the BES Vitaliy Hahach, known in narrow circles as “Mr. Monaco,” as one of the curators of “protection” for online casinos in Ukraine is not known for certain.

At the same time, it is an indisputable fact that already in January the SBI secured the seizure of assets, including funds in bank accounts, of one of the key “schemers” of the gambling industry — the actual owner of “Diamond Pay,” Rovshan Tagiyev. According to investigators, he facilitated FAVBET in the alleged evasion of taxation on an especially large scale.

“LLC ‘Bookmaker Company Favbet’ and LLC ‘Casino.UA’ (both owned by Andriy Matiukha) as licensed gambling operators are obliged to pay corporate income tax at 18%, tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR) at 18%, as well as perform the functions of a tax agent for withholding and transferring to the budget 18% personal income tax and 5% (until 01.12.2024 — 1.5%) military levy from players’ winnings. At the same time, the actual tax evasion model used by these companies consists in using a network of bank cards issued to socially vulnerable citizens (so-called “drops”), including those recruited by Tagiyev,” — investigators note.

It is on such “drops” that gaming accounts are registered, to which their bank cards are linked. Fictitious winnings are credited to these accounts, after which the “player” submits a withdrawal request, which is approved by the license holder. Formally, 18% personal income tax and 5% military levy are withheld from the specified amounts, creating the appearance of compliance with current tax legislation. Instead, the funds are subsequently withdrawn in cash or converted into cryptocurrency via P2P transactions.

“The use of the described scheme allows LLC ‘Bookmaker Company FAVBET’ and LLC ‘Casino.UA’ to artificially understate gross gaming revenue (GGR) and financial results, which leads to a significant reduction in tax liabilities to the State Budget of Ukraine. The obtained information indicates that the companies additionally improperly included the GGR tax amount in expenses, which caused a further reduction of the corporate income tax base,” — investigators noted.

The SBI also provided specific examples that may indicate large-scale tax evasion by Matiukha’s companies.

Thus, only from 01.01.2022 to 15.09.2023, LLC “Bookmaker Company FAVBET” carried out financial transactions with identical payment purposes in favor of 1,110 individuals and sole proprietors totaling more than UAH 418 million — allegedly for the provision of various services without their actual execution. From 17.05.2023 to 22.08.2023, LLC “Bookmaker Company FAVBET” transferred UAH 55.6 million to PJSC “IC Globalis Insurance Solutions” as payment under voluntary financial risk insurance contracts that showed signs of fictitiousness. Already on 05.01.2024, the National Bank of Ukraine revoked the license of PJSC “IC Globalis Insurance Solutions” for violations of current legislation in the insurance sector.

Finally, from 26.09.2024 to 27.12.2024, LLC “Bookmaker Company FAVBET” transferred UAH 200 million to an unknown LLC “Dev For Day” as a commission fee for allegedly provided analytical services. During this period, LLC “Dev For Day” was registered to an очевидно fictitious person — an agricultural goods trader from Dnipro, Oleh Hrekov, who was its only employee.

These facts directly contradict the claims about the “great service that Matiukha rendered to the Ukrainian people through his work.” According to our data, in the near future there is a high probability that Matiukha, who has settled in Croatia, will receive a notice of suspicion from the SBI. And the activities of Favbet, which have currently been blocked by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, may be completely terminated. In that case, it will be much more difficult for him to convince Croatian society of the “purity” of his intentions.