The Rivne City Court has dismissed criminal charges against Oleg Panakhyda, owner and director of LLC Flora de Luxe, who was accused of evading 10.61 million UAH ($250,000+) in taxes through an illegal business-splitting scheme. The entrepreneur avoided criminal liability by fully reimbursing the state budget for the damages before official charges were served.
Flora de Luxe is a well-known brand in the Ukrainian flower retail market. The company actively markets its franchise model, requiring an initial lump-sum fee of approximately $10,000, a 3% royalty rate, and direct supply chains from the Netherlands. The company claims a network of around 100 stores nationwide, with key locations in Rivne operating on major thoroughfares such as Kyivska, Soborna, and Nebesnoi Sotni streets.
In public registries, Oleg Panakhyda operates not only as the sole owner of the LLC but also as an individual entrepreneur (FOP) registered for retail flower trade and a co-owner of the logistics company O.R. Logistics.
According to the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) in the Volyn region, the Flora de Luxe store network generated 27.93 million UAH in revenue throughout 2025. However, instead of reporting these transactions through the parent company, operations were systematically processed through controlled individual entrepreneurs operating under Ukraine’s simplified tax system.
In January 2026, Panakhyda submitted annual corporate tax and VAT declarations that completely concealed these transactions, failing to register the corresponding tax invoices in the state register. As a result, the scheme deprived the state budget of:
5.59 million UAH in unpaid Value Added Tax (VAT);
5.03 million UAH in unpaid corporate income tax;
10.61 million UAH in total financial damages to the state.
Investigators revealed that store checkout registers routinely processed payments using the credentials of nominally independent entrepreneurs. According to the suspicion notice, these individual entrepreneurs functioned merely as hired retail clerks and were unaware of the management’s fraudulent intent.
«According to investigators, a single unified flower retail business was artificially fragmented across dozens of individual entrepreneurs to evade full tax obligations.»
During court proceedings, Panakhyda’s defense presented a contrasting narrative. Lawyers argued that Flora de Luxe operated strictly within legal boundaries under official commercial concession (franchise) agreements. They stated that the LLC licensed its «Tsvit» and «Flora de Luxe» trademarks to independent entrepreneurs who paid regular royalties, noting that initial audits found over 100 registered entrepreneurs associated with the brand.
Official financial statements for LLC Flora de Luxe in 2025 showed 16.67 million UAH in revenue, 5.81 million UAH in net profit, 13 registered employees, and nearly 32 million UAH in assets. This indicates that the company’s official «white» revenue was comparable in scale to the off-the-books funds identified by law enforcement.
Panakhyda was formally notified of suspicion on June 29, 2026. However, prior to the notice, the company paid the entire 10.61 million UAH sum back to the state. Because all tax debts, fines, and penalties were cleared before trial, Panakhyda admitted guilt, allowing the court to apply Article 212, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which mandates dismissal of tax evasion charges upon full financial restitution. The court closed the case and ordered the return of assets seized during earlier law enforcement raids.
Despite the resolution of the tax evasion case, the legal trouble for the Panakhyda family is far from over. This tax episode was severed from a larger criminal case opened in November 2025, in which detectives are investigating a scheme involving the undervaluation of imported flowers and plants at customs (Article 201-3, Part 2 of the Criminal Code).
While criminal prosecution regarding tax evasion has ceased, the customs fraud and smuggling investigation into the Volyn-based import operations remains active. Representatives of Flora de Luxe have declined to issue an official public comment.