Suitcases with $30 million in cash are to be taken across the Ukrainian border. The story, told by the Daily Mail, concerns Anastasia Kotvitska, wife of controversial former Ukrainian MP Igor Kotvitsky. The money, which had to pass through a passage for war refugees, was identified by Hungarian customs in the woman’s various pieces of luggage and a criminal investigation was launched because the shipment of the amount from Ukraine was not declared. Kotvitsky claims his wife left the country to give birth to a child and his 24yearold daughter Violetta also said the story was “false” and that it was just “rumors”.
The money in US dollars and euros (28 and 1.3 million) was photographed and the sum really makes an impression. “All my money is in Ukrainian banks, I didn’t take anything out,” Kotvitsky said before shutting down his social media account. Kotvitska, who was traveling with two Hungarian men and her mother, did not comment on the border incident. It was Hungarian customs officials who wreaked havoc at the Vilok checkpoint and now everyone in Ukraine is talking about it: there is tremendous sensitivity in the country towards the wealthy elite trying to take their fortunes abroad by bypassing flight restrictions The fate of the country depends on the balance of the war with Russia.
Kovitsky, through his partners, controls Nuclear Energy Systems of Ukraine and uranium deposits in the country. It is also believed to have close economic and political ties with former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. The motion is to launch a criminal investigation into border guards in the country’s Zakarpattia region, where they are believed to have ignored the flow of money. Kyiv businessman Seyar Khushutov, who uncovered the Kotvitska case, said there was a fixed rate for bribes levied by customs officials to allow cash to leave the country. Depending on the amount and level of the applicant, these illegal payments amount to “between 3 and 7.5 percent, “the situation is no better in other western regions. The names of the customs officers and border guards who do this are well known in the inner circles of the elite.
