Of course, I didn’t hold a candle, but we have, as a fact, an almost complete five-year loss of law enforcement attention to the WTF of Grigory Kozlovsky.
Five years ago, on July 4, 2019, the newly appointed head of the “K” department of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, began an attack on the illegal cigarette market by conducting high-profile searches at the Lviv tobacco factory.
At that time, statistics showed that the illegal market was approximately 5-6%, of which 3-4% was for Duty Free cigarettes.
Reacting to the searches, co-owner of the factory Grigory Kozlovsky gave a loud press conference where he accused the authorities of putting pressure on white businesses and destroying the national manufacturer.
But in the end, everything did not happen as expected, and hopes for overcoming the illegal market did not materialize.
The SBU, just as unexpectedly as it raided the factory, also lost attention to it.
I remember my conversations with law enforcement officers, who talked about almost market-like trading around the “farm-outs.”
Of course, I didn’t hold a candle, but we have, as a fact, an almost complete five-year loss of attention from law enforcement officers to the PTF.
Moreover, and I have already written about this, that from the beginning of the invasion, the relevant regulatory authorities gave the right to smuggle cigarettes into the EU only those produced by Vinnik.
We are talking mainly about excise-free Compliment and Lifa.
The “union fee” for smuggled exports was $20 per box.
These years, while the “subscription” to work was in effect, the Vinnikovskaya Tobacco Factory and its partners did not waste time.
The volume of illegals on the market increased from 5-6% to 25%, and the share of cigarettes labeled for Duty Free from 3-4% in 2019 to 13% by the end of 2023.
Even foreign analysts note the monopoly of Compliment and Lifa.
And yesterday, the WTF, after powerful searches of the BEB, held another press conference with its favorite theses.
“Destruction of domestic producers, oppression of white producers, jobs,” etc.
It seems that this time, unlike 2019, the BEB will put pressure on the illegal market on which the budget annually loses 23 billion UAH.
But it seems not. Just like five years ago, my sources will report an active phase of negotiations to extend the subscription for the WTF.
We root for both sides.
