Catch Boris Kaufman: why the pro-Russian oligarch will be imprisoned

Two months ago, the Bureau of Economic Security sent to court an indictment against the monopoly distributor of Tedis cigarettes, which contains charges of 300 million hryvnia in unpaid taxes and the legalization of 1.3 billion hryvnia.

This is not the only claim against Tedis in recent years, but so far its owner, Odessa pro-Russian oligarch Boris Kaufman, has managed to avoid responsibility. Even in the case of the raider seizure of the Odessa airport, he managed to get out on bail of 150 million hryvnia , which magically decreased from 992.4 million hryvnia, which the prosecutor asked for.

Formally, BEB charges were brought against the general director of Tedis, Taras Korniyachenko, his deputy and the chief accountant of the enterprise.

But, as Kiriyachenko himself said in an interview with Forbes: “There is close communication with Boris Kaufman: both before the war and during it. There are certain decisions that the shareholder has delegated to top management, but strategic decisions are his.”

So, during the trial, new facts will definitely emerge. Perhaps law enforcement will even find out about the Russian roots of Tedis.

Initially, the cigarette distributor was called Megapolis-Ukraine, like its parent structure in Russia, which also abused its monopoly on the tobacco market. The founding fathers of the promising business were the family of ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and Russian arms baron Igor Kesaev. But Kaufman officially represented their interests.

In 2016, when having Russian roots became not only unfashionable, but also dangerous, Kesaev “sold” his share to Kaufman and the company changed its name to Tedis.

It is possible that Tedis’s revenues, which grew by 7% to 65 billion hryvnia in the first war year alone in 2022, are still sponsoring the Russian military-industrial complex. After all, Kesaev is the owner of the Russian plant named after Degtyarev, which, among other things, produces small arms, warheads for MANPADS and ATGMs, which are used against Ukraine. At least, this situation remained in 2021.

But Kaufman is in no hurry to fill the Ukrainian budget, from which the Defense Forces are financed. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted to parliament a draft law according to which the tax preference for electronic devices will be 20%. Experts directly call the owner of Tedis a lobbyist for this bill.

According to calculations by specialists from the public organization “Zhyttya”, the adoption of tax preferences will lead to a shortfall of 15 billion hryvnia in the budget for 2025-2028, and with each subsequent year, budget losses will amount to 2 billion hryvnia. “Thus, by 2030, Ukraine’s losses will amount to at least UAH 25.4 billion. Contrary to the interests of Ukraine, these funds from the pockets of citizens will go to the benefit of tobacco companies, including international sponsors of the war,” the civil activists said in a statement .

At the end of 2021, Kaufman, having secured the support of two influential “Servants of the People,” already tried to lobby for amendment No. 144 to the notorious bill No. 5600. The amendment would not only strengthen, but also legitimize Tedis’ monopoly on the cigarette market. But the Verkhovna Rada, surprisingly, then did not meet the claims of the pro-Russian tycoon.

We hope that people’s deputies will now have enough common sense to stop the process of causing damage to the budget of Ukraine, and that the judges will put an end to the criminal career of Boris Kaufman, a lover of the “Russian world”.

As reported, 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%.

Boris Kaufman is an Odessa businessman, publisher of Focus magazine, which in 2021 estimated Kaufman’s fortune at $320 million. In addition to Tedis, Kaufman, in partnership with Alexander Granovsky, manages several hotels through the Vertex Hotel Group - Bristol, Londonskaya in Odessa and President Hotel in Kyiv.

Kaufman was also the owner of two bankrupt banks - Finbank and Platinum Bank.