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At the private joint-stock company Lux TV and Radio Company, owned by Kateryna Kit-Sadova, the wife of the mayor of Lviv, the richest woman in western Ukraine, salaries were paid to ordinary employees in installments for years. One is official, the minimum with mandatory payments, and the other is “in an envelope.” Analyst Valeriy Shcherbyna wrote about this on his Facebook page.
It is also known that Kit-Sadova’s “subordinates” began receiving a legal salary in a larger amount only in October last year. Surprisingly, this coincided with the exposure by the Bureau of Economic Security of a tax evasion scheme by the !FEST holding, which is linked to Andriy Sadovyi.
About a woman who is not in need
Andriy Sadovyi’s media business, which he signed over to his wife after becoming mayor of Lviv, has made Kateryna Kit-Sadova one of the wealthiest women in western Ukraine. One of her latest “titles”, which appeared thanks to journalists, is the leader in the list of the richest wives of mayors and heads of regional military administrations.
The journalists came to this conclusion after analyzing the electronic declarations of officials for 2022. Including the mayor of Lviv, whose declaration showed that his wife owned 17 thousand dollars. shares of 171 thousand each. UAH at Lux Broadcasting Company (for a total of UAH 2.9 billion) and 1.7 thousand at the TV and Radio Company. shares at UAH 1,750 (for a total of UAH 3 million) and who received almost UAH 2.4 million in salary from Lux shopping mall in 2022.
The same salary is indicated in Andriy Sadovyi’s declarations filed in previous years, as well as in his most recent declaration for the past year. It is also known that, in addition to her salary, Kateryna Kit-Sadova receives dividends from Lux shopping mall (whose revenue last year amounted to over UAH 440 million). In 2023, for example, the amount of dividends amounted to more than UAH 7.6 million.
And now for a tricky question: what keeps Sadovyi’s media empire alive and thriving for so long, when other media holdings and media outlets are going through periods of lack of money and even ceasing to operate? A comprehensive answer to this question could be given primarily by law enforcement agencies. First of all, the same BEB.
Media empire on “contrasts”
A number of facts give grounds for this assertion. This includes the “contrast” between the payments to Kit-Sadova, whose annual salary is almost 2.4 lakhs, and the official payments to ordinary employees of the prosperous media empire in the form of a minimum wage. The “contrast” between the number of employees of the media holding (according to the tax authorities, in 2021-2022, for example, there were 15-20 employees) and its volume. Given that Lux owns the corporate rights to 12 companies, it includes the national news channel 24, a number of radio stations, and online news portals.
Regarding minimum wages for ordinary employees. It is known, in particular, that in January-October 2021, the remuneration in monetary terms for employees of the Lux TV and Radio Company (we are talking about 9-13 people, some of whom are journalists) amounted to UAH 6 thousand, in November-December of the same year – UAH 6.5 thousand. Instead, Kateryna Kit-Sadova’s salary amounted to UAH 195 thousand, Roman Andreyko’s (director of the Lux TV and Radio Company) salary was UAH 100 thousand, and his wife, Oksana Andreyko (a shareholder with a large share), was in the range of UAH 40-50 thousand.
In 2022, the official salary of “ordinary” employees (we are talking about 8-11 people) was paid in the amount of UAH 6.5-7 thousand. The salary of “one of the richest women in Western Ukraine” amounted to UAH 195-205 thousand, Roman Andreyko’s salary was mostly UAH 100 thousand, and Oksana Andreyko’s salary was mostly UAH 50 thousand.
In January-September 2023, the official salary for employees (7-11 people) was UAH 7 thousand. In October, it rose to UAH 16 thousand (6 employees received such payments), in November it was between UAH 12 and 16 thousand (47 people received such salaries), in December, UAH 15 thousand was paid to 21 employees, and between UAH 11 and 15 thousand to 17 employees. As for the owner of the media holding, the director and the shareholder with a large share, their salaries remained at the same level (unattainable for ordinary employees).
In January-February 2024, the official salary of Lux shopping mall employees (including journalists) amounted to UAH 16.5 thousand (50 employees received such payments), in addition, in January, 9 employees were paid UAH 10-13 thousand, and in February, the same amount was paid to 21 employees. In March of the same year, payments amounted to UAH 16.5 thousand. – 70 employees, UAH 10-14 thousand for 8 employees.
What happened? Is Sadovyi’s media empire seriously concerned about budget losses? Guided by the interests of the state, we raised salaries to pay all taxes and formalized labor relations with illegal workers.
Everything is much more prosaic. The owners of the Lux shopping mall most likely did not want to be in the shoes of the !FEST holding, which is not a stranger to the mayor of Lviv. And they started to fix things in a hurry.
About a strange coincidence
That is why the increase in the official salary of the employees of Lux Broadcasting Company since October last year, and the declaration of a larger number of hired (officially employed) employees of the media holding coincided with the BES’s statements about the exposure of a tax evasion scheme by !FEST in Lviv.
It should be reminded that such statements, which reported losses to the state budget of approximately more than UAH 50 million, were made in October 2023: after a search of the premises of the head office of the !FEST network of companies at 24-26 Staroznesenska St., Lviv, as part of criminal proceedings under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 212-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (it is a case of tax and unified social tax evasion in especially large amounts). The pre-trial investigation in this case established that, in addition to official salaries, employees of the !FEST holding received unrecorded salaries, receiving money on a card for payments without withholding, accrual and payment of personal income tax, military duty, and a single social contribution, which led to tax evasion in particularly large amounts.
The amount of tax evasion by Sadovyi’s media holding, which practiced a scheme similar to the Festivus one, is currently unknown. Most likely, we are talking about budget losses as a result of these abuses in the amount of millions of dollars. The most logical question in this situation is why the Bureau of Economic Security has not responded to these facts and obvious offenses for a long time.
