07.02.2025 Money laundering

President and NSDC against smuggling empire of Kaufman and Stakovichenko

The President and the National Security and Defense Council have finally turned their attention to illegal schemes of “cash-in”, VAT fraud and the shadow business of smugglers.

During the last NSDC meeting, the new head of the State Financial Monitoring Service, Philip Pronin, said that the agency was investigating the activities of the largest cigarette wholesalers. These companies are the main operators of the so-called “cash-in” scheme, which is used to launder billions of hryvnias.

The main figures in the latter are Borys Kaufman and his partner, known in criminal circles as “Stakan” – Igor Stakovichenko.

State authorities have finally paid attention to the long-known fraud, and it seems that after numerous publications and public appeals, partners Kaufman and Stakovichenko will not be able to avoid punishment.

How did Kaufman and Stakovichenko’s smuggling scheme work?

The cigarette distributors controlled by these two (for example, TEDIS Ukraine) have a monopoly position – 70% of the volume of the wholesale cigarette distribution market in Ukraine. That is, we are talking about billions of hryvnias that go not to the budget, but into the pockets of criminals through the mechanism of VAT and cashback. As a result, the state loses millions of dollars, and the market is being played for a fool.

What does the scheme look like?

  • Tobacco factories sell cigarettes to distributors “in white”.
  • Then the distributors separate the goods and documents: cigarettes are sold for cash, and the documents are sent to companies that accumulate virtual batches of goods and then simply liquidate them.
  • For cash, cigarettes are sold through “cash” channels and “conversion centers,” where the money is used for financial fraud.

In the summer, Kaufman acquired new assets to consolidate his monopoly position in the tobacco market. He acquired Volyntabac for USD 8 million through the controlled Financial Company Madrid LLC, Liard Finance LLC, and Koloprim LLC, which demonstrates Kaufman’s ambitions to strengthen his position in the market. Despite the fact that the companies that now officially own the asset do not show such profits to afford such deals.

What will change after the public statement by the Head of the State Financial Monitoring Service?

This issue is of concern to many, as previously such “overlooking” cost Kaufman 0.2% of the value of his transactions. But now the new head of the Financial Monitoring Service has directly stated that the investigating authorities are actively working on the case and are already identifying the largest wholesale companies involved in VAT fraud schemes.

The investigation is ongoing, and now all the authorities that had previously “covered up” the schemes must draw conclusions. But the question remains – will it be just a change in the number of kickbacks, or do we really expect the corruption network to cease to exist?

The NSDC meeting and everything that was said during it is a direct result of numerous statements and complaints we have submitted to the central authorities.

At the same time, based on our materials, a number of law enforcement agencies have already launched pre-trial investigations, but the cases have not moved forward.

For example, the DBR in Odesa region is still conducting an investigation in proceedings No. 72024171100000002 under Part 1 of Article 204, Part 2 of Article 204, Part 2 of Article 199, the SSU Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine – under No. 22024000000000891 under Part 2 of Article 201-4 of the Criminal Code, the Office of the Prosecutor General – under No. 42024000000001324 under Part 1 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code.

So who will be held accountable for covering up these schemes in the past? Who benefited from not noticing how a few Kaufmans and Stakovichenko controlled huge flows of money using “cash” channels?

Once again, we are filing complaints to speed up the investigations and hope that the NSDC meeting will have a real impact on the development of events.

After Kaufman, smugglers Kozlovsky, Alperin and Granz should be the next to face sanctions and severe restrictions.

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