Tetyana Havrysh: shadow business under a diplomatic sign

Tetyana Havrysh: shadow business under a diplomatic sign

It is impossible to find out the exact number of honorary consuls of foreign countries in Ukraine. But from periodically appearing reports in the media, one can guess about the specifics of their activities .

For example, the most famous honorary consul is the former deputy head of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleh Svynarchuk-Hladkovskyi. The Honorary Consul of the Republic of Seychelles registered many businesses under the roof of the consulate and imported artworks to Ukraine through diplomatic channels without paying taxes. Honorary Consul of the Republic of Malta in Ukraine, member of the High Council of Justice Pavlo Hrechkovskyi was a defendant in the case of extortion of USD 500,000. Prosecutors complained about the impossibility of conducting searches in the premises with diplomatic immunity. The Honorary Consul of Germany in Lviv, Myroslava Dyakovych, was accused of abuse of office, misuse of funds, visa fraud, and participation in a corporate conflict around the Lviv club Millennium. The Honorary Consul of Latvia in Ukraine, Yuriy Ihnatko, was detained while smuggling a large batch of cigarettes into the EU. etc.

Lawyer and advocate Tetyana Havrysh was involved in illegal economic transactions, prosecuted independent journalists in courts, and was accused of violating laws and professional ethics. However, neither her toxic biography, nor her pathological scandalousness, nor her lack of knowledge of German (by her own admission) prevented her from becoming the Honorary Consul of Germany in Kharkiv and successfully extending her term several times.

The reasons why busy people like Havrysh take on an additional ‘social burden’ become clear if you look at the list of benefits of the honorary consul status. For example, according to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, ‘consular officials shall not be subject to arrest or pre-trial detention except on the basis of orders of the competent judicial authority in the case of serious crimes’. In addition, in order to perform their consular functions, persons with the appropriate status receive a diplomatic passport, freedom of visa-free movement, diplomatic immunity for baggage, transport, premises and documents, and full exemption from state and local taxes. If an honorary consul commits a crime while performing his or her diplomatic functions, national law enforcement agencies will not be able to apply standard sanctions and measures to him or her. Premises where honorary consulates are located are immune from investigative and operational measures by law enforcement agencies. Violation of this immunity can lead to an international scandal up to and including the imposition of sanctions, so there have been no cases of security forces breaking into an honorary consul’s premises in the history of Ukraine’s independence.

Also, honorary consuls are not subject to a ban on professional and commercial activities. Moreover, honorary consuls have access to trade quotas of the representative country and can earn a lot of money from trade and investment mediation.

According to the available information, it was the broad possibilities of using consular privileges for personal purposes that brought Tetyana Havrysh to diplomacy.

Firstly, the legal address and actual location of the office of the Honorary Consulate of Germany in Kharkiv and the ILF law firm of Tetyana Havrysh are completely the same. Evidence of illegal activities of the lawyer Havrysh and her business partners are protected by the Convention on Consular Relations, which is absolutely incompatible.

Secondly, as an employee of the consulate, Tetyana Havrysh involved her own partners and closest confidants, which, among other things, allows them to enjoy the benefits of diplomatic status. For example, Serhiy Silchenko, a long-time partner of ILF law firm and a well-known tax fraudster, and Oleksiy Kharytonov, a close confidant of Tetyana Havrysh, one of ILF’s leading employees who is involved in corruption with judges in the interests of ILF, have repeatedly participated in public events of the consulate. It remains to be seen how Havrysh’s odious henchmen took advantage of their status and whether German officials had any idea who would represent their country in Ukraine.

Thirdly, tax breaks and access to German trade quotas allowed Havrysh to make money on the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.

Fourthly, the size and staffing of the office of the Honorary Consulate of Germany in Kharkiv is clearly at odds with its actual practical activities. Dozens of employees go to work every day, spend resources, but instead of the result of this bustling activity, every year you can find a mention of the Honorary Consul Tetyana Havrysh in some press release, and even then in a minor role and on someone else’s occasion. The honorary consulate, which has been headed by Havrysh for many years, still has no public representation on the Internet, does not publish reports and open statistics on its work, and does not have any significant projects of its own. The conclusion is that the German honorary consulate is clearly not being used for its intended purpose, but as a cover for Havrysh’s commercial activities.

Fifthly, in her professional activities, Tetyana Havrysh has long been no longer an ordinary lawyer-consultant in the usual sense of the word. Everyone knows about her corrupt ties and connections with criminals, which she uses in her legal practice and carefully conceals. Illegal and semi-legal financial schemes, connections with criminals, fraudsters, corrupt officials, odious politicians, corrupt contracts with government officials at various levels - these are just some of the facts from the scandal-ridden biography of Tetyana Havrysh. The documents and evidence of this unseemly activity are behind the closed doors of the Honorary Consulate of Germany in Kharkiv.

Such information is well hidden from the German Foreign Ministry, whose officials are unaware of the nuances and peculiarities of Tetyana Havrysh’s shadowy activities.