Dummy bankruptcy scheme: How Dmitriy Kovalenko used Adelon AG to wipe out Intercoaltrading and evade taxes
Dmitriy Kovalenko, a businessman from Dnipro’s agribusiness sector, has recently been appearing in the news with increasing frequency. We decided to take a closer look at what lies behind his public image and how his business career was actually built.
The media is writing about Dmitriy Kovalenko, the founder of the Granova Ukraine group of companies, in the context of law enforcement investigations into his possible crimes. Having started out trading coal from Russia and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR/LPR) to Ukraine, during the full-scale conflict, he shifted his focus to the agricultural business and its multi-million-dollar abuses. Informator has compiled a business profile of the scandalous entrepreneur from Dnipro.
Coal trade with Russia, the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the Luhansk People’s Republic – starting a business
Several years ago, Ukrainian media reported that the Swiss company Adelon AG had begun illegally supplying coal to the state-owned Centerenergo (for the Zmiev and Trypilska thermal power plants) since November 2019. They claimed the coal was coming from the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) – at the same time, Ukrainian miners in the Donetsk region were striking over unpaid wages. At the time, it was already suspected that the Swiss company was indeed backed by Ukrainians who had moved from Donetsk to Dnipro.
The supply chain was based on a "disrupted import" scheme. The coal was allegedly shipped from Russian Siberia to Switzerland or other European countries, but ended up in Ukraine. In fact, it was mined in the annexed areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, not in Russia. In November 2019, the SBU announced the exposure of similar schemes, but did not name the companies involved.
In December 2019, Dmitriy Kovalenko’s Swiss company Adelon AG claimed to sell Russian coal to China and Europe, but did not sell any coal at all in Ukraine, especially from the annexed areas of Donbas. With the outbreak of the full-scale conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Kovalenko revealed his ownership of the Swiss company Adelon AG.
According to investigative journalists , Kovalenko’s company continued to work with Russians after February 2022 and sell Russian coal for at least another six months. Specifically, it collaborated with MelTEK, a company owned by Russian billionaire and politician Konstantin Strukov from the Chelyabinsk region. According to media reports , Kovalenko’s company purchased $87 million worth of coal from MelTEK alone, and $100 million worth of coal from Russia (also from Sibenergougol and Sibpromnedra).
Kovalenko’s sale of "Russian" coal to Belarus after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
Kovalenko later began selling Russian coal through the Dubai offshore company Azurit DWC-LLC, registered to a Romanian citizen. Even the Russian press reported that the shell company, with actual Ukrainian owners, was used to sell Russian coal abroad to "unfriendly countries."
Journalists also noted that GZF Shakhtyorskaya LLC, where Kovalenko was a co-owner until 2016, has re-registered under Russian law. Kovalenko’s former partners in this company, along with several others, pay taxes in Russia, even though the owners are legally the same in both countries.
In 2023, Kovalenko’s Adelon AG announced plans to supply coal to Ukraine and Poland . That same year, the businessman decided to invest his earnings in Ukraine’s agricultural sector and created the Granov Group of Companies.
In September 2025, it was announced that the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Commercial Court had decided to liquidate Intercoaltrading, a Dnipro-based company previously involved in coal supplies from the DPR/LPR to Ukraine . The bankruptcy was initiated by the Swiss company Adelon AG. Its previous director was Vyacheslav Melentyev. He is a co-founder of Granova Ukraine LLC, another company closely associated with Kovalenko, which is currently active in the ports of the Odesa region. Proceedings in the case were opened in April 2023. Kovalenko, through the Swiss company, asserted claims for more than 162 million hryvnias. The court upheld an additional tax claim of 2.4 million. However, Intercoaltrading had no assets, so the claim to a portion of the debt, amounting to more than 50 million hryvnias, was sold for 69,000 hryvnias. The tax authority will receive nothing.
Leaving the coal business for agriculture
In 2023, Dmitriy Kovalenko acquired several large companies at once—Grain Terminal, Overfood, and Agrarian Elevator Company—and used them to create the Granova Group. Its formal majority owner is the Cypriot Afex Investments Ltd., and the ultimate beneficiary is his son, Danylo Kovalenko. In 2024, the revenue of the Granova Group’s agricultural companies amounted to 11 billion hryvnias. The group’s main trading partner was the same Adelon AG (which previously sold coal), which in 2024 became the largest supplier of corn to Egypt, worth $42.37 million.
Kovalenko also purchases rock salt from Egypt , which allowed him to enter the Ukrainian salt market. In December 2023, Salt Industry LLC was established, also owned by Afex Investments Ltd. According to the YouControl analytics platform , between 2024 and 2025, Salt Industry won government tenders and contracts worth UAH 134 million, supplying technical salt to municipal and road services. Revenue in the first year of operation amounted to UAH 190.5 million.
Technical salt from Egypt may look like this
Attention from law enforcement
According to the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) , a group of individuals operating in the Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia regions regularly purchases agricultural products for cash. These products are then registered to companies with risky characteristics, allowing them to legalize the goods and sell them for export without returning the currency, as required by law.
During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that Granova Ukraine LLC sold 1,280 tons of corn without accounting for the sale. However, the tax invoice for the corresponding shipment was issued by Velykobagachansky Feed Mill LLC.
On May 17, 2024, the company issued a tax invoice for UAH 9 million (including UAH 1.12 million in VAT), which was registered on the last day of the deadline—June 18, 2024. This practice, according to BEB specialists, may indicate the fictitious nature of the transaction itself.
From August 2023 to June 2024, 14.1 thousand tons of grain (wheat and corn) worth over UAH 83.5 million were sold through this facility to Granova Ukraine. However, the origin of most of these products is questionable, as the documents for their purchase appear dubious or are completely absent.
Products are exported to 12 countries and shipped from the Ukrainian ports of Izmail, Chornomorsk, Yuzhne, and Odessa.
A company in this group, Granova Ukraine LLC, is 77% owned by Serhiy Tigliy. According to law enforcement, he is the head of Dmitriy Kovalenko’s security service.
Meanwhile, according to journalists , the Chornomorsk seaport in the Odessa region plans to handle 1 million tons of grain in the 2025-2026 marketing year. The transshipment tariff for Rissoil, TBT, and IZT will be $10 per ton. Their competitor, Kovalenko’s Granova, however, has received exclusive terms and will pay $2.50 per ton—four times less! It may even lower the tariff in the future.
This discount appears to be the result of a corrupt agreement with the port’s management and caused significant damage to the state (in the form of lost tax revenue). At the same time, competitors were deprived of equal working conditions. Journalists have contacted law enforcement agencies due to the unprecedented audacity of such schemes.
In Chornomorsk, Granova operates under the name of Overfood, a company registered to Dmitriy Kovalenko’s son. The Granova agricultural group also includes the following LLCs: Granova Pryluky, Granova Krasnopavlovka, Granova Myrgorod, and Granova Ukraine. All of them share the same primary business activity.
A trip to the gas and glass business
In February 2025, another Cypriot company, whose ultimate beneficiary is Danylo Kovalenko, Afki Investments Ltd, became a founding shareholder of Navigator Maynitske LLC, receiving a controlling stake of 83.7%. This LLC has the right to develop the Maynitske gas field in the Lviv region .
Kovalenko and his son, as minority shareholders, also became founders of the service company Navigator Invest, which develops oil and gas fields. Their next venture could be the acquisition of a stake in Navigator Komplekt LLC, one of Ukraine’s largest drilling companies.
In Transcarpathia, Kovalenko invested in glass and window manufacturing on the site of a former timber processing plant with the assistance of former Mukachevo District State Administration Chairman Sergei Gaidai , who is now suspected of corruption in the procurement of drones and electronic warfare systems. However, local authorities will still facilitate the investment.
So, the business empire created by selling Russian and separatist coal is growing, transforming Dmitriy Kovalenko into a respectable and patriotic investor developing Ukraine’s economy. However, economic violations are being committed, resulting in significant budget shortfalls.