Smuggling of cigarettes from Ukraine to the EU and the production of illegal products without excise stamps are, unfortunately, facts with which our country has long been associated. Even in wartime, this business is thriving and does not slow down.
No matter how many times the media name the names of Gelzin, Karfik, Alperin and other semi-criminal elements who enrich themselves by producing counterfeit tobacco products, things are still there. But since the beginning of the year, the BEB and the SBI have gradually begun to intensify their work to stop shadow schemes in this area. Just look at the 24 simultaneous searches carried out in mid-May in premises associated with the “tobacco barons.”
On May 15, the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Daniil Getmantsev, respected the detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security for their work in identifying the illegal production of cigarettes and their supply to the countries of the European Union. The reason was massive searches at tobacco production facilities and warehouses of the largest domestic tobacco producers, for which there was information about their illegal activities. Getmantsev veiledly named two of these manufacturers. In one of the cases, we are talking about Tobacco House, which in March 2024 changed its name to Local Production Group LLC. He is associated with businessman Yuri Karfik, who is referred to in the media only as a converter.
As for other searches, they took place at a factory in Ternopil, at the Odessa production of the sanctioned smuggler Vadim Alperin and at a factory in the village of Goshcha, Rivne region, the activities of which are supervised by the person involved in the Monaco Battalion investigation - a former football player and owner of the Pchelka chain of stores.
According to the Kantar Ukraine center, the share of illegal tobacco products on the market has reached a record level of 25.7%. At the same time, counterfeit products have two types of promotion to the market - fake excise stamps and the formal Duty Free mark. The factory in Goshcha, which is officially called Ukrainian Tobacco Production LLC, specializes in forging excise taxes. If out of 100% of counterfeit cigarettes, 26% are sold with illegal excise stamps, then 15% of them come from the Gelzin factory. At least, such data is published by Kantar Ukraine.
The May searches were not the only ones that took place at production facilities in Goshcha this year. Detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security visited there on April 1. In addition to illegal tobacco, boxes of cigarettes with counterfeit tax stamps and printing materials, several mobile lines for the production of tobacco products were discovered. The Gelzin factory has long been dubbed “nomadic”, because in fact it is partially located in the Rivne region. Some of its unofficial branches constantly move from place to place so as not to fall under the radar of law enforcement officers.
Another know-how of tobacco magnates is voicing information about shelling, which allegedly affects production facilities. On March 25, a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy was held. At the meeting, tax representatives stated that the Gelzin tobacco factory in Goshche is allegedly periodically hit by drones that destroy raw materials for the production of cigarettes. At least, this is what the tax authorities are informed about from Ukrainian Tobacco Production LLC. By this they allegedly explain that there may be discrepancies between purchasing and production in the financial statements.
In this context, it should also be recalled that according to the results of 2022, the Gelzina factory entered the so-called TOP of illegal cigarette manufacturers. Information about this was announced at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission on the illegal circulation of tobacco products on April 25, 2023. Moreover, during this period the factory purchased 0 excise stamps.
That is, the raw materials are destroyed by the aggressor, excise taxes are not purchased, but production is in full swing, which is confirmed by constant searches from the BEB.
In February of this year, another event occurred related to the work of Vladislav Gelzin’s illegal cigarette factory. Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, together with the State Border Service and the State Customs Service, exposed an illegal scheme for smuggling cigarettes from Ukraine to Romania, which has been operating since July 2023. The schemers transported large quantities of tobacco products to the EU without excise stamps in fuel tanks.
So, in early February, law enforcement officers discovered two trucks in which counterfeit cigarettes were transported. In the first, they found 130 boxes, the value of the products in which is 4.5 million hryvnia. The second contains 335 boxes worth 12 million hryvnia. Law enforcement officers reported that the cargo was related to the converter factory of Yuriy Karfik, who runs the enterprise in Kyiv. At the same time, the DBR officers add that, according to operational information, law enforcement officers may appear in the scheme. However, the media learned that among these 465 boxes of “scorched” cigarettes there was also a batch that was produced at the Gelzin factory in Goshche.
Subsequently, the BEB also reported that two more abandoned trucks with illegal cigarettes were found. One is in Solotvyno, Transcarpathian region, the other is in the Kyiv region in the village of Zazimye. Some of the products in them could have been manufactured at the production facilities of Vladislav Gelzin’s Ukrainian Tobacco Production LLC.
In the spring of 2023, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal ordered to step up efforts to combat the illicit trade in excisable goods, including tobacco products. As part of this work, an Interdepartmental Working Group of representatives of the Economic Security Service, the Tax Service, the Customs Service, the Audit Service and other law enforcement agencies was created. According to this working group, over the past six months (as of May 2024 - Ed.), law enforcement officers seized almost 14.4 million packs of cigarettes, from which the budget did not receive more than 706 million hryvnia in taxes.
This entire flow of counterfeit goods is actually distributed among five businessmen, whose names are well known, but law enforcement officers cannot reach them. Therefore, while various interdepartmental groups are intensifying the fight against illicit trafficking in tobacco products, people like Vladislav Gelzin calmly drive through the streets of Monaco in a luxury Ferrari.
