One of the largest cigarette manufacturers in Ukraine caused billions in damages to the budget: director notified of suspicion

 Over UAH 2.3 billion in damages was caused to the state budget due to excise tax evasion. Detectives from the Main Detective Unit of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine have notified the company's director, who was involved in organizing the illegal scheme, of suspicion.

This concerns one of the largest tobacco manufacturers in Ukraine, which operated in the Rivne region for a long time. According to the investigation, the company was involved in a large-scale shadow scheme for the production and sale of unaccounted cigarettes.

To conceal the illegal cigarette production, in 2023–2024, company officials staged the disappearance of over 1.1 thousand tons of raw tobacco. In reality, it was used to manufacture unaccounted cigarettes, which were sold "in the shadows" without paying taxes.

The scale of the illegal production was significant. The raw material used would have been sufficient to manufacture tens of millions of packs of cigarettes, and the profits from their sale could have amounted to billions of hryvnias.

During an audit, the State Tax Service authorities established that the company failed to pay over UAH 2.3 billion in excise tax. These findings were also confirmed by a forensic economic examination.

ESBU detectives notified the company's director of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of taxes, fees (mandatory payments) on an especially large scale).

The company no longer conducts business activities, and its license for the manufacture of tobacco products has been revoked. Thus, the operation of one of the key players in Ukraine's shadow tobacco market, through which significant volumes of unaccounted cigarettes were sold for years and billions in illegal profits were generated, has been terminated.

Procedural guidance is provided by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

In accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven through legal procedures and established by a court's verdict of conviction.