06.08.2024
Business of Occupiers
Corruption
Where are the taxes for the war? How Hetmantsev covers up cigarette smuggling and illegal business
“Tobacco is the most difficult market. For almost five years, I have not been able to overcome the shadow,” Hetmantsev said. According to him, corruption in this market, “like a cancer, metastasizes to almost all government agencies,” and about UAH 20 billion of taxes are in the shadows. So perhaps we should talk about the personal involvement of the head of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee in the shadow economy and smuggling?
Why should Ukrainians suffer from rising taxes while top officials and law enforcement officers continue to cover up the systematic circumvention of the tax system – and thus the robbery of the army?
Thanks to whom is Ukraine unable to finance the Armed Forces and state employees and continues to go deeper and deeper into the debt hole?
Kaufman’s empire TEDIS
Borys Kaufman is a businessman from Odesa. He is the founder of the investment company Vertex United, which includes hotel assets (Bristol, Londonskaya, President Hotel), media assets and investment projects. Kaufman is also a co-owner of the largest Ukrainian distribution company TEDIS Ukraine. Prior to the full-scale invasion, he was ranked 46th on Forbes’ list of the richest people in Ukraine.
During his years in business, Kaufman created his own structure, which he controls through third parties, and which is used to commit a number of criminal offenses, including tax evasion and money laundering. In particular, it includes:
- TEDIS UKRAINE Limited Liability Company;
- Volyntabak Limited Liability Company;
- Limited Liability Company “Koloprim”;
- Limited Liability Company “FC ‘MADRID’”;
- Limited Liability Company “Retail Networks”;
- Limited Liability Company “LIARD FINANCE”;
For example, the ultimate beneficial owners of the parent company TEDIS UKRAINE are Kaufman himself, Fenhalls Richard Dorian (UK), Taylor Duxbury Richard Mark, and Taras Korniachenko, who is the director. That is, the listed persons also have a direct interest and involvement in the activities of the empire of production of counterfeit excisable goods.
Everyone has known about the illegal activities of Kaufman’s businesses for a long time. This is also confirmed by the interest of law enforcement agencies, which was expressed in the conduct of investigative actions against Kaufman and his TEDIS.
TEDIS is a de facto monopolist of the retail cigarette market in Ukraine. According to the company, its share is 50%. Experts believe that Tedis’ share is close to 80%.
Now Kaufman has acquired the Volyn Tobacco Factory – Volyntabak. According to media reports, Kaufman paid $8 million for the factory.
Law enforcement response
Last year, the investigation found that in 2020-2021, TEDIS officials documented the sale of tobacco products to a number of companies with signs of fictitiousness. The total value of the sold excisable goods is UAH 1.17 billion.
In fact, no tobacco products were sold to these companies. Sales were made off the books for cash, including through a network of their own retail stores.
To conceal such business transactions, the company did not reflect them in the company’s accounting and financial statements.
“Thus, the company deliberately evaded paying income tax and excise tax, which led to an actual shortfall of more than UAH 270 million in budget revenues,” the Bureau noted.
Analyzing the business activities of the distributor company, according to the Unified State Register of Vehicles, the company owns more than 450 cars.
These cars were probably acquired as a result of intentional tax evasion, i.e., acquired illegally, and used to transport goods.
At the same time, TEDIS Ukraine stated that it strongly disagreed with the decision to seize the commercial vehicles used to deliver the goods. “The company has paid and is paying all taxes and duties in accordance with the current legislation, reflecting absolutely all transactions in its financial and tax reports, which is confirmed by the conclusions of the relevant audits and tax audits. ”, TEDIS added and summarized that they act exclusively in the legal field.
In January 2024, the Bureau of Economic Security sent to court a case on the legalization of UAH 1.3 billion and tax evasion of UAH 300 million by the monopoly cigarette distributor Tedis.
As many analysts expected, Kaufman himself was not affected by the case, despite a long trail of criminal and administrative prosecution, as director Taras Korniachenko was named the main suspect.
The “black streak” in Kaufman’s life, which began in December 2022 with the detention of NABU, is definitely over. This has always been the case. The entire history of the courts with Kaufman shows that this man and his business have advantages in Ukraine that allow them to avoid any responsibility.
From the latest high-profile cases: The Supreme Court canceled a UAH 6.5 billion fine imposed by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine for collusion in the cigarette market between Tedis Kaufman and international tobacco companies British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, JTI and Imperial Tobacco.
The most “difficult” case in which Kaufman is under investigation is the case of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of NABU, with accusations of creating a criminal organization in Odesa that, like an octopus, has penetrated all aspects of the city’s life – construction, tenders, utilities.
A classic mafia set, with which Kaufman and his business partners replaced the “master of Odesa” Volodymyr Galanternyk.
Almost immediately, Kaufman’s bail was lowered and he was immediately released from the jail. And even the addition of new episodes of criminal activity, including the seizure of property at the Odesa airport, failed to keep the businessman in custody.
It looks like the high-profile case will disintegrate before the trial, and only Odesa officials will be charged. Perhaps some of them will even get jail time. But only conditionally.
At the same time, the law enforcement system completely ignores the fact that Kaufman’s Tedis is a renamed company called Megapolis-Ukraine, a subsidiary of the Russian Megapolis owned by oligarch Igor Kesayev (owner of the Russian arms company Degtyarev Plant, which now produces guns, missiles and small arms to kill Ukrainians in the war). “Tedis (“Megapolis”) captured the market back when the country was ruled by the Yanukovych family – since then, Kaufman has only strengthened his monopoly position, avoiding any responsibility.
And one more thing. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has submitted a bill to the parliament, according to which the tax preference for e-cigarettes will be 20%. Experts directly call the owner of Tedis a lobbyist for this bill.
At the end of 2021, Kaufman, having received the support of two influential Servants of the People, had already tried to lobby for amendment No. 144 to the infamous draft law No. 5600. The amendment would not only strengthen but also legalize Tedis’ monopoly on the cigarette market. But the Verkhovna Rada, surprisingly, did not meet the pro-Russian tycoon’s claims.
We hope that the MPs will still have enough common sense to stop the process of harming the budget of Ukraine, and judges will put an end to the criminal career of the “Russian world” lover Borys Kaufman.
Reservations against mobilization of TEDIS employees
“Employees of the tobacco monopolists, the international tobacco company Philip Morris International and the tobacco distributor TEDIS of Odesa businessman Borys Kaufman, who control the market in Ukraine, are reserved from mobilization in Ukraine.”
At the same time, the Parliament has been arguing for a long time about the reservation of the SSES employees and is still considering the possibility of expedient economic reservation. So is the production of tobacco, especially counterfeit tobacco, really that important?
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