13.08.2024 Corruption Investigations Money laundering

How the Zelenskyy tried to defeat the “King of Smuggling” Alperin.

Король контрабанды'' Альперин попытался ''спрятать'' элитный Mercedes от ареста | Украинская правда

The “king of smuggling” and the person for whom President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a valuable reward continues to increase his influence on the judiciary. We are talking about Vadym Alperin, a man who managed to evade justice for a long time and, even after his arrest, evade responsibility and even get his bail back due to inaction of law enforcement and judges.

Who is Alperin?

 Vadym Alperin is а resident of Odesa, who is often called the “godfather of smuggling.” The man is the beneficiary of an Odesa tobacco group and a person who knows how to negotiate, even with the most prestigious and incorruptible anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine.

“Catch me if you can”

According to the investigation, Alperin created and headed a criminal organization that imported goods into Ukraine at a reduced customs value. According to the NABU, companies from Alperin’s orbit imported goods using forged documents (invoices), which were made in an office in the “Solnechny” business center in Odesa. In their customs declarations, the companies indicated the understated value of the goods.

In November 2017, 450 million UAH belonging to two dozen Odesa-based import companies controlled by Alperin were seized. Later, it was reported that Alperin offered NABU detectives a bribe of $800,000 to lift the arrest.

At the end of November 2017, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv arrested Alperin for 60 days with bail set at UAH 21 million. In December of the same year, the businessman posted bail and was released from custody.

Later, in January 2018, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, exposed Alperin’s smuggling scheme, which could have caused about UAH 700 million in losses to the state budget.

But all these exposés led to nothing. Alperin managed to escape even during a special operation by NABU detectives. The President then promised a valuable gift to the person who would “catch” the smuggler.

Later, Alperin was deprived of his citizenship and sanctioned by the National Security and Defense Council Ukraine.

When Alperin was eventually detained, the HACC simply closed the case, citing the defense’s argument about Lozovyi’s “amendments.” It seems that the most independent court decided to sell out. How else can we explain such actions of the HACC against a person who had been hiding from the investigation for a long time and whose crimes law enforcement officers had managed to collect a ton of materials?

But it’s not all bad. In 2024, the HACCU Appeals Chamber overturned the decision to close Alperin’s case. Now the case of the Odesa businessman will be reconsidered in the court of first instance.

Smuggler Alperin and taxes minimization

Alperin’s tobacco empire includes a list of companies associated with the cigarette manufacturer Orion Tobacco: Agroprimeinvest LLC, Davos Group LLC, Nize Invest LLC, Summerston Tobacco LLC, Southern Tobacco Company LLC, and others.

Each of these legal entities was created with the sole purpose of becoming another gasket in tax evasion and money laundering schemes. For example, in order to avoid and minimize the payment of VAT, companies create additional expenses for this amount. This is done through illegal means, fictitiously – purely on paper, by “running” funds through fictitious entities and receiving the “saved” funds in cash.

 In addition, the company sells counterfeit tobacco products at illegal outlets, which is why it does not issue tax invoices. In other words, on paper, the company did not seem to have refunded the money spent on VAT. In reality, however, it was more than reimbursed in the price of the goods sold.

An additional illegal profit of Alperin is the sale of an “unused” tax credit to another business that has significant tax liabilities to the state through the creation of a chain of fictitious transactions. Accordingly, one company receives “real” money. The other receives a “discount” by paying less to the “seller” than it will save thanks to the illegal tax benefit. And it also receives some cash from the partner in exchange for a non-cash payment.

Thus, Alperin, by selling tobacco products for cash in illegal outlets through his own legal entities, is actually “trading” in VAT payment documents.

By the way, in the course of detecting this fraud, Alperin’s connection and influence on the judiciary again emerged.

In particular, the aforementioned Orion Tobacco was searched by BES law enforcement back in 2022. At that time, they seized cigarette production equipment and about a million packs of Zolotaya Marka Original, Zolotaya Marka Extra, Zapal jazz, Zapal blues, RED WINS 6, RED WINS 8 with fake excise stamps.

At the same time, prosecutors filed a motion to transfer the seized tobacco lines to the ARMA. In January 2024, Shevchenkivskyi Court Judge Vitalii Tsytkich granted the motion of Davos Group LLC, which actually owns the equipment used by Orion Tobacco LLC, and canceled the seizure of the equipment and its transfer to ARMA. This means that the seized equipment is returned to Alperin.

In May 2024, when massive searches began at all factories, the returned equipment was seized again by the BES, the tax authorities conducted an audit and established the fact of losses to the state in the amount of UAH 127 million, and Orion Tobacco LLC was deprived of its cigarette production license.

The issue of the arrest is again being considered by the same judge of the Shevchenkivskyi court: the latter deliberately delays the consideration, in the end of which he decides on the long-awaited arrest.

Now, the issue of transferring the seized equipment for sale to ARMA is being decided. But again, judges are deliberately delaying the process. It seems that nothing will come of these proceedings. The property will go back to Alperin, and the judges will side with the smuggler and outright schemer.

We have sent materials to law enforcement and regulatory authorities. But will this help speed up Alperin’s case, given his obvious agreement with judges of various judicial bodies, including the HACC?

Please report any facts of smuggling, tax evasion, and corruption in Ukraine’s judicial and law enforcement systems that you know about. To communicate, write to the chat bot or email info.nonstopukraine@gmail.com

Did you witness a crime?

Let us know about it. We will help protect the violated rights!

Share the post:

Last news

ALL NEWS ALL ARTICLES