Viktor Ponomarchuk is the founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Vioil group, which owns two of the largest oil and fat processing plants in Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi. Even after the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine in 2015, the billionaire did not hide the fact that he actually lives in three cities: he has a family in Moscow, the headquarters of ViOil in Kyiv, and the main oil extraction plant in Vinnytsia.
This was written by former MP Ihor Moseychuk.
The fact that Ponomarchuk holds Russian citizenship is confirmed by data provided by the analytical service StockWorld.com.ua. The analysts drew attention to the fact that the website of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission contained data on the company Vioil-Invest LLC, where the ultimate owner was a Russian citizen, Viktor Yevhenovych Ponomarchuk.
According to the information and analytical platform YouControl, Viktor Ponomarchuk is or was the beneficiary of about 30 domestic enterprises, most of which were concentrated in Vinnytsia. However, the activities of a number of them were suspended during 2017-2022, and the structures themselves were liquidated
In April 2022, the State Bureau of Investigation and the police opened criminal cases involving companies from Viktor Ponomarchuk’s orbit.
The assets of the following LLC Vinnytsia Oil and Fat Plant, LLC Chernivtsi Oil and Fat Plant, LLC Vinnytsia Industrial Company were seized under criminal proceedings No. 12022000000000295. They were charged with crimes under Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code and Part 3 of Article 258-5 of the Criminal Code.
Around the same time, it became known that Viktor Ponomarchuk himself had changed his Russian citizenship to Cypriot in order to conceal his ties with the aggressor country. In addition, the official website of Ponomarchuk’s industrial group now lists in the contacts section the address of the office in the Cypriot capital Limassol, at 15 Nafplio Street.
In April, Ponomarchuk transferred his shares in both of his oil and fat plants in Ukraine (plants in Vinnytsia and Chernivtsi) to another «Cypriot» who, by a strange coincidence, has the same surname and patronymic as the oligarch, Oleksiy Yevhenovych Ponomarchuk. Probably his brother.
It is worth noting that both Ponomarchuks were once co-founders of a joint Russian-Ukrainian enterprise in the form of a private joint-stock company, KMT. Viktor represented the Russian side, while Oleksiy represented the Ukrainian side. Public releases related to the activities of business structures controlled by Ponomarchuk emphasize his Vinnytsia origin in every possible way and completely ignore the Moscow period of his life.