Esculab laboratory chain suspends work in Kyiv due to conflict between owners
The Esculab laboratory chain has suspended its operations in Kyiv because of a conflict that arose between the chain's owner, Serhiy Diadiushko, and its co-founders, Stanyslav Luhovsky and Denys Melnyk.
Diadiushko told Interfax-Ukraine that Luhovsky, Melnyk and Luhovsky's cousin Ihor Malynovsky, who administers the Esculab software, have blocked Diadiushko's and the chain's employees from accessing the software on which Esculab operates in Kyiv.
"In connection with this, the economic operations of Esculab in Kyiv have been suspended," Diadiushko said.
He also reported that since June 2024, Luhovsky, Melnyk, Malynovsky, the network's commercial director Roman Vysotsky, as well as a number of administrators of biomaterial collection points "have been spending cash received from the population bypassing official tax and accounting records and without paying taxes to the budget."
"Such actions by these individuals lead to the actual non-receipt of mandatory payments to the budget in the amount of about UAH 3-4 million per month, which, in turn, affects the state's defense capability during martial law," Diadiushko emphasized.
As reported, in 2023, a conflict arose between the co-founders of the Esculab network, when Luhovsky and Melnyk attempted to re-register Diadiushko's share for their name and remove him from the network.
The Esculab medical laboratory is one of the three largest private laboratories in Ukraine, contracted by the National Health Service of Ukraine. The network includes five laboratory centers and 180 sample collection points in the western regions of Ukraine and Kyiv.
In 2023, Esculab paid UAH 33.8 million in taxes, including social security tax of UAH 14.97 million, war tax of UAH 1.33 million, and personal income tax of UAH 14.034 million. It is one of the ten largest taxpayers in Lviv region.
The co-founders of the Esculab chain are Diadiushko, who owns 43% of the company, Luhovsky (43%) and Melnyk (14%). The co-founders of Esculab Center LLC are Diadiushko, Luhovsky and Melnyk, each of whom owns 20% of the company, as well as Ruslana Soltani, who owns 40%.
