Once upon a time in Ukraine.

Today in Ukraine, many are waiting for the meeting of the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States — Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Joseph Biden in Washington, which is scheduled for August 31. Someone — with apprehension, someone with hope. I am a humble American investor in the Ukrainian agro-industrial sector, I am also looking forward to this meeting.

I follow US-Ukrainian relations and have no doubt that, among other things, my President Joe Biden will once again remind his Ukrainian counterpart of the rule of law, fight corruption and create a favorable environment for foreign investors, if, of course, Ukraine needs investments to the extent that official Kiev regularly declares it.

All these three topics are relevant to me because I am a deceived American investor. I was deceived by the manager of my business — Roman, at that time he was a middle-class entrepreneur in the agricultural sector, who began to withdraw my working capital starting from the fourth his working day at my company to his family company and use my seeds on his lands.

Probably, I am not the first or the last American investor who made a mistake in the person hired as a manager. But the personality of this manager makes my case unique.

Actually this person — Roman Leshchenko, made a large contribution to the Vladimir Zelensky election campaign in the spring of 2019, transferring money to the account of political party Sluga Narodu. After the victory, the new President of Ukraine, in gratitude for his support, appointed Roman as the Presidential Commissioner for Land Issues. It was a very serious position, created at the period of the “Law of land market” was under Ukrainian parliament consideration.

After the adoption of the “land laws”, Roman took an even more responsible post — he headed the State Service of Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (State Geocadastre), whose task was to complete the inventory of Ukrainian agricultural lands.

This task was completely failed, and the level of problems was such that the World Bank refused to participate in the audit of the state body, despite this task was created & financed by World Bank!

However, Roman, who enjoys the full confidence of President Zelensky, has been given a new appointment, becoming the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

Yes, the current minister of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine Roman Nikolaevich Leshchenko deceived me. And I have been suing him for several years.

When law enforcement agencies delay the registration of my claims, they say to my advocates: “Well, you should understand who you are suing?”

When the judges delay my cases the consideration in the courts, they say to my advocates: “Well, you should understand who you are suing?”

Personally, I perfectly understand who I am filing a lawsuit with and with whom I am suing — a person who when working as a director of my company, deceived me and damaged my business, dramatically reducing the effectiveness of my investments …

If the Ukrainian society is interested in my case? Frankly, no, although no one questions my story — it looks so typical. And the Ukrainian authorities have developed a high resistance to such cases: if ambassadors and high-ranking politicians do not get involved to the situation, then everything is OK! A couple of publications in the media are drowning in the general information noise.

Apparently, the President’s entourage keeps him in a “warm bath”, in an extremely calculated and positive way, presenting information about the situation in the country, cutting off everything that contradicts the blissful picture of “positive changes”. In such a situation, people close to the President allow themselves such actions and “schemes” that even their very odious predecessors would never have dared to do.

…. I am a deceived American investor who, in spite of everything, believes in the enormous potential of Ukraine and in the unlimited possibilities of American-Ukrainian cooperation. Subject to the reform of the judicial system based on the principles of the rule of law, elimination of corruption and the creation of a favorable investment environment.

I’m not naive enough to expect President Biden to mention my company during his meeting with Vladimir Zelensky at the White House. However, there are American officials, whom I support by paying my taxes, and who can point out to the representatives of the Ukrainian delegation about an egregious case of deceiving an American investor by a person who has become a high-ranking member of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.

For me personally, Roman Leshchenko is the personification of the absence of the rule of law, corruption, which allows such people to rise to the very heights of power and disregard of property rights, including foreign investors. It is much more profitable to be a friend of the president than to be an honest entrepreneur …

Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba, describing the plans of Kiev official institutions for a meeting in Washington very arrogantly said: “We do not hide the fact that we want to see more American money in the Ukrainian economy, especially in strategic sectors. We can build a very effective partnership with American business, financial institutions, and we are preparing specific projects for this visit”.

However, numerous facts indicate that foreign investors are not treated with due respect here. Here are just a couple of examples.

In April 2020, the Swedish company Vindkraft signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on the settlement of problematic issues in the field of renewable energy, on the basis of which the law “On alternative energy sources” was adopted. However, according to the Swedish ambassador statement, neither the memorandum nor the law has been fulfilled (according to the memorandum, 55% of the “green” tariff should be reimbursed, in fact only 14% of the debt has been compensated). Ambassador of Sweden in Ukraine openly speaks of lack of confidence in the agreements that the Ukrainian government is signing with international investors.

TIU Canada, a leading solar energy producer, is suing Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NFP) for unlawfully disconnecting a 10.5 MW plant from the grid. The “mistake” of Canadian investors was the lease of land from the NZF, where one of the owners is Igor Kolomoisky, an oligarch who considers his long-term closeness to Vladimir Zelensky an indulgence to any lawlessness …

… The outstanding Ukrainian poetess and public figure Lesya Ukrainka has a poem called Contra spem spero! — “I hope against expectations.” This is about me. I still hope for the best — both for Ukraine and for my Ukrainian business.

P.S. On the other hand I am fully confident in my case and will not give up whatever be the cost. At least I will write an open letter to Joe Biden at US media, with hope he will impose sanctions to the people who hopelessly sunk in corruption.