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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Did Arakhamiya hide a fortune and lobby for casino interests? Who really can be called an oligarch
The head of the Servant of the People faction in the parliament, David Arakhamiya, on the eve of consideration of the anti-oligarch law, actively defends the president's new idea.
Meanwhile, the deputy himself, judging by his own statements, concealed a large fortune from the tax authorities. Moreover, even Arakhamiya's own colleagues in the faction call him a lobbyist for the interests of a single business.
Read in OBOZREVATEL why Arakhamiya himself can be considered an oligarch.
Concealed a fortune?
A few years ago, David Arakhamiya talked in interviews about how he earned tens of millions of dollars from selling a company. For example, he spoke about this in an Ain interview. And also on the YouTube channel Big Money.
But when it came time to file a declaration, it turned out that neither $ nor 100 million, nor a third of that amount, is in it. Either David Arakhamiya lied about his incredible income, or he “forgot” to indicate them in the declaration, which is a violation of the law (and for this they want to put him in prison). There is another option—the money was indeed received by Arakhamiya, but he hid it from Ukrainian taxes and transferred it to accounts of companies connected to him. Obozrevatel has already asked the head of the Servant of the People faction to answer questions about where taxes were paid on the received amount, but the politician ignored the request at the time.
The declaration for 2020 year states that Arakhamiya received 458,6 thousand hryvnias in salary.
In banks, the deputy stores about 648 thousand hryvnias and more 326 thousand dollars, and his wife Victoria has 225 thousand hryvnias and 20,4 thousand dollars. Also, the deputy’s wife received last year 84,2 thousand hryvnias from a social fund and 1,1 million hryvnias from the disposal of movable property.
Understated his fortune?
“Inaccuracies” in declarations are a familiar thing for Arakhamiya. Earlier, media exposed him for underestimating the value of his real estate by 10 times. As “Bukvy” writes, in the declaration the deputy indicated a dacha house of 295,7 sq. m, located in Vyte-Pochtoivaya in the Kyiv-Svatoshinsky district. Arakhamiya bought the house a year ago.
In the declaration, the deputy indicated himself as the owner of the dacha house, but with his wife Victoria and five of his own children (Arahamiya has six children from two marriages). The house allegedly cost him 983 thousand UAH, which at the National Bank rate on the date of acquisition was about $37 thousand.
The house is located in the Novita gardening association – in the Green Hills cottage village. It is located 10 kilometers from Kyiv along the Odesa highway. On the seller’s real estate company's site it is stated that there are 11 houses for sale. It also lists current prices for houses. For example, houses totaling 10 sq. m more than Arakhamiya’s house cost $380-400 thousand, and this is 10 times more than the cost indicated in the deputy's declaration.
Lobbying other people's interests?
When the Verkhovna Rada committee on financial, tax, and customs policy brought up a proposal by Servant of the People deputy Oleh Marusyak to reduce the rate for certain types of gambling businesses to 10%, Arakhamiya himself supported the idea.
“By strange coincidence, David Arakhamiya, the head of our faction, appeared before the committee. While considering other matters earlier, Arakhamiya did not appear, only when it came to gaming,” wrote Oleksandra Vasylevska-Smaglyk, a member of the profile committee and a Servant of the People deputy, on her Facebook page.
Because of the Servants’ ideas, in Ukraine casinos will be launched with almost the lowest taxes in Europe. The person responsible for launching the new sector was, among others, David Arakhamiya. He was previously accused of lobbying for companies that earn from gambling, some market participants. Now these accusations were essentially repeated by his colleague Vasylevska-Smaglyk.
“Is this, then, a gambling business that has become even more strategic and social than agriculture? Since when did lobbying become dew of God, I didn’t catch this tectonic shift,” wrote the deputy.
For comparison, in Denmark, casinos must pay 45 – 75% of total gaming revenue, but they do not have other additional payments. And in neighboring Poland the rate does not exceed 50%, which allows the country to earn tens of millions of euros per year. The least tax is paid in countries such as Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Singapore – from 2,5 to 15%.
As a result, the question arises: having a fortune and business connections, lobbying (as his colleagues claim), and even tax evasion (otherwise why hide the income?) – isn’t that a definition of an “oligarch,” which they decided to fight in the Servant of the People? Shouldn’t they start with their own faction leader?
Alexander Lytvyn
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Арахамия спрятал целое состояние и лоббировал интересы казино? Кого на самом деле можно назвать олигархом". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
