Amid a war going badly and a flailing economy, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will have more bad news to deal with next week when he finds his confectionary empire challenged in the courts by a British architecture firm. Despite an election campaign pledge made almost a year ago to sell Roshen, the billionaire president has hung on to the company.
Poroshenko has spent much of the last dear ducking that promise by claiming it's difficult to sell Roshen, but the company managed to multiply its profits nine times in 2014, reaping in $34.8 million, even as Ukraine's economy crumbles. Poroshenko himself was estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.3 billion in 2014.
However, those financial gains could come at a political price.
Now British architect Philip Hudson and his firm D'Estate, also known as Jones East 8, are suing Roshen to the tune of $140,000 plus costs. The company's hitherto untarnished reputation is about to come under the microscope, dragging the man that built it along for the ride.
D'Estate accuse Roshen of refusing to pay for 40 percent of their designs, later used by the chocolate manufacturer to build a milk-processing plant in the city of Vinnytsya. And in doing so, Hudson says that the Roshen president and nine percent owner Vyacheslav Moskalevskiy told him the company believes in “mafia management."
“We did a good job for them, and they just decided not to pay us, because they feel they're bigger and stronger than us," said an exasperated Hudson. “It was a case of might and not right."
The architects are now demanding not only the outstanding payment for their drawings plus interest, but also a payment for violating their authorship rights by building their design and changing it.
Complete story at - Poroshenko’s decision not to sell his Ukrainian confectionary corporation comes back to bite him
Poroshenko has spent much of the last dear ducking that promise by claiming it's difficult to sell Roshen, but the company managed to multiply its profits nine times in 2014, reaping in $34.8 million, even as Ukraine's economy crumbles. Poroshenko himself was estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.3 billion in 2014.
However, those financial gains could come at a political price.
Now British architect Philip Hudson and his firm D'Estate, also known as Jones East 8, are suing Roshen to the tune of $140,000 plus costs. The company's hitherto untarnished reputation is about to come under the microscope, dragging the man that built it along for the ride.
D'Estate accuse Roshen of refusing to pay for 40 percent of their designs, later used by the chocolate manufacturer to build a milk-processing plant in the city of Vinnytsya. And in doing so, Hudson says that the Roshen president and nine percent owner Vyacheslav Moskalevskiy told him the company believes in “mafia management."
“We did a good job for them, and they just decided not to pay us, because they feel they're bigger and stronger than us," said an exasperated Hudson. “It was a case of might and not right."
The architects are now demanding not only the outstanding payment for their drawings plus interest, but also a payment for violating their authorship rights by building their design and changing it.
Complete story at - Poroshenko’s decision not to sell his Ukrainian confectionary corporation comes back to bite him
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