A network selling counterfeit cigarettes worth millions of hryvnias was uncovered in the Kyiv region
In the Kyiv region, law enforcement officials have uncovered a group of individuals who organized a large-scale distribution network for illegally manufactured tobacco products.
This was reported by the Economic Security Bureau.
According to the investigation, the counterfeit cigarettes were sold through retail outlets in the Bucha, Obukhiv, Boryspil, and Vyshhorod districts. The sales were conducted without being recorded in accounting or tax reports, which allowed the group to evade paying excise taxes.
During searches of commercial premises, law enforcement officers seized nearly 37,000 packs of cigarettes without excise stamps. The estimated value of the seized goods exceeds 5.5 million hryvnias.
Rough notes, computer equipment, and vehicles used to transport the goods were also seized.
The illegal kiosks used for sales were dismantled.
A pre-trial investigation is ongoing under the article on illegal handling of excise goods. Law enforcement officials are identifying all those involved in the scheme and the product supply channels.
As a reminder, earlier, a prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, based on materials from the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK) and independently gathered evidence, filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court seeking to declare as unjustified the assets used between 2023 and 2024 by Oleg Yashchuk, the former head of the detective division of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, and his wife. The property used by the Yashchuk family was registered to a relative and a close friend of the official. The total value of the potentially illicitly acquired assets amounts to nearly 4 million hryvnias.
In another case, NABU and the SAPO filed an indictment with the court against People’s Deputy Viktor Bondar, former SBU official Artem Shil, a former Ukrzaliznytsia official, and three other individuals in a case involving the embezzlement of funds from JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” during the procurement of cable and wire products.
