Filaret and UOC-KP Accused of Smuggling and Humanitarian Aid Trade

The head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate Filaret (Denisenko) personally requested for the entry of contraband under the guise of humanitarian aid by the organization "Patriarchal charitable mission." This is evidenced by the findings of journalistic investigation conducted by channel 17.

In particular, under the guise of humanitarian aid for refugees the "Patriarchal charitable mission" tried to smuggle in Ukraine 110 tons of auto parts, 110 tons of clothing and nearly 6 million square meters of artificial grass, the investigative report says.

“Fiscal services easily counted that for a few months the "Patriarchal charitable mission", without paying taxes, brought into Ukraine 260 tons of goods, which causes a significant detriment to the state running into tens of millions of hryvnias," the news story says. The journalists report that the volume of illegally imported goods is planned to further increase by several times.

Investigative journalists found out that the founder of the "Patriarchal charitable mission" is the Kiev Patriarchy of the UOC-KP. The news piece also states that the manipulation of humanitarian aid went through offshore companies allegedly linked to Petro Poroshenko.

Earlier, the "Patriarchal charitable mission" was accused of selling humanitarian aid in the Odessa market "7 km". According to the documents it was intended for Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk dioceses of the Kiev Patriarchate – for distribution to internally displaced persons and people affected by the hostilities in the east of Ukraine.

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