The name of Vadim Alperin, who in 2021 was included in the sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine as one of the ten largest smugglers, has again surfaced in a corruption scandal.
More precisely, there are two scandals - the first is related to the looting of land in the center of Odessa, the second is related to the smuggling of knitwear and a fake VAT refund for this knitwear. Before moving on to these scandals, it should be recalled that President Volodymyr Zelensky called Alperin “one of the godfathers of smuggling in Ukraine” in 2019, and in 2021 he deprived him of citizenship. At this time, Vadim Alperin was a defendant in a criminal case on charges of conspiracy with the head of Odessa customs, Vladimir Perederiy, who organized a scheme through which Alperin did not pay duties on his cargo. Alperin was accused of three articles: Part 1 of Art. 255 (creation of a criminal organization), part 3 of Art. 212 (tax evasion), part 2 of Art. 364 (abuse of official powers) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The total losses, according to investigators, amounted to 63.8 million hryvnia.
But, according to the head of the Anti-Corruption Center Vitaly Shabunin, the case against Alperin was closed on October 12 by the High Anti-Corruption Court.
Meanwhile, in addition to active legal defense, Alperin continued to “spud up” Odessa, which is his base region. Here a scandal arose with the construction of the Artillery Park, which was built on the lands of the former Second Jewish Cemetery, demolished in 1978. In its place a park and a car garage cooperative arose. It’s not hard to guess how the relatives of those buried at this place felt; besides, here were the graves of Jews who died, including from the Jewish pogroms of 1905. But this is a story, although the attitude of the local authorities towards it is, to put it mildly, impressive.
Development of a Jewish cemetery: Alperin’s interests are lobbied by the head of the Servant of the People faction
Even more impressive is the story of Alperin's attempt to seize four hectares of land on which the Second Jewish Cemetery was once located. And here he came into conflict with another influential person in Odessa - the Greek developer Pantelis Boumbouras, whose development company Hephaestus, represented by Ekatel Auto LLC, is trying to steal a hectare of land from Odessa on Krasnova Street, 4 for rent "for the placement of parking lots on the lands public and residential development,” although among the permanent structures on the territory there is only one object with an area of 60 square meters. meters, and all the rest are 9,940 sq. meters are made up of carports, now used for parking. But the fact is that this land blocks the construction site planned by Alperin from accessing the main street. Alperin managed to chop off his four hectares from the Ministry of Defense, but the construction of Boumbouras leaves Alperin only a narrow passage two meters wide.
Naturally, this situation does not suit Vadim Alperin, so heated battles began in the Odessa City Council over the allocation of land to Ekatel Auto LLC. They immediately remembered the demolished Jewish cemetery.
Despite all the fairness of this request, which mentions prominent representatives of the Jewish people buried on the disputed plot of land, the obvious fact is that the fate of their remains (as well as hundreds of other Jews buried in the Second Jewish Cemetery) was of no interest to anyone exactly until that moment. until Alperin liked the land. But, what is even more interesting, the question was raised by deputy of the Odessa City Council Vadim Morokhovsky, who is the head of the Servant of the People faction.
Which is simply amazing against the backdrop of the statements of the president, on whose image and name representatives of the “Servants” flew into both parliament and local councils. Everything is explained quite simply - Morokhovsky in Odessa is called one of Alperin’s representatives both in the Odessa City Council and in the Servant of the People party.
Smuggling and VAT refunds
This story is complemented by another, with textile smuggling and fake VAT refunds, the money from which Vadim Alperin invests in the development of Odessa and in people lobbying his interests in the Odessa City Council.
Through the same Odessa customs, which Alperin continues to control, cargoes with knitwear enter companies controlled by Vadim Alperin. 90% of these goods are declared as cheap polyethylene film, which reduces the cost of customs clearance tens of times, the rest is declared as knitwear. This allows you to then receive paid VAT from the state, and Alperin does not stand in an endless queue for this refund, like other recipients of refunded VAT. At the moment, there are two known “sets of companies” for which these textiles are issued.
This approach, according to sources of the online publication “Monitor” at the Odessa customs, allows Alperin to “raise” from 80 to 100 thousand US dollars on one container. But that's not all. Several dozen more companies were involved in another scandal, this time caused by the strange contracts of MIK LLC with the Ministry of Defense for sewing uniforms. These companies supply MIK LLC with textiles received from a number of companies affiliated with Alperin.
But the fact is that this textile is not used in the production of uniforms, which MIK LLC sews according to orders from the Ministry of Defense. However, only the amount of VAT in purchases of MIK LLC from the companies shown in the photo above is 145 million hryvnia.
As Monitor writes, Vadim Alperin invests the money stolen through these schemes in the development of Odessa and deputies lobbying his interests in the Odessa City Council. And at the same time - to the judges who so humanely close criminal cases against him. That is why Vadim Alperin, despite the sanctions, the confiscated Ukrainian passport (after which, by the way, he should have been deported) and criminal cases (successfully closed, as you remember), continues to be what Zelensky called him at one time - the king of smuggling.
