Media: Contraband disguised as drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is likely being imported through customs posts in Lviv region and Bukovina

Despite the recent statement by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal that Ukraine has the largest and most effective anti-corruption infrastructure, and the fight against corruption in Ukraine is assessed at the highest level, smuggling schemes and money laundering continue to operate on a massive scale on the Ukrainian border, due to which the state budget of Ukraine is underfunded. As reported by Vesti-ua, citing sources in the Ukrainian customs, branded clothing and footwear are smuggled into Ukraine at night through four customs posts in the Lviv and Chernivtsi regions, namely the posts “Krakovets”, “Mostyska”, “Rava-Ruska” and “Porubne”, probably with the knowledge of the heads of these posts and the heads of customs in these regions. This happens as follows. Still in warehouses in Poland and Romania, a 20-ton container full of branded items — jackets, shoes, bags, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — is unloaded into several minibuses, which at night, under the guise of passenger transportation, cross the Ukrainian border at the specified checkpoints, where they do not undergo any inspection and do not fill out any declarations.

“As a result, there are zero revenues to the budget, and this is tens and hundreds of millions of hryvnias, part of which goes to bribes to the heads of customs posts Vorozhbyt Nazar Stepanovych, Turchyn Volodymyr Bogdanovych, Tofan Petro Heorhiyovych, as well as to the heads of regional customs offices - the head of the Lviv customs office Andriy Kuznik and the Chernivtsi customs office - Yuriy Gerasimov. Sources at the customs office do not exclude that the acting head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Serhiy Borisovich Zvyagintsev is aware of what is happening and receives his share of the benefits from the implementation of this scheme,” the publication writes.

In addition, during the full-scale war, another scheme began to operate at Ukrainian customs with the import of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As is known, the government exempted drone deliveries to Ukraine from customs duties and VAT in order to simplify the delivery of equipment to the front.

“This has become an ideal tool for smugglers, because currently, under the guise of importing UAVs, a number of companies are registering the supply of contraband, for the import of which they also do not pay any fees to the budget. Or they even register fictitious documents at customs about the import of drones that do not actually exist, thanks to which they simply withdraw money from Ukraine,” the publication writes.

Careful customs officers, as the media reports, noticed that in a large number of declarations for the import of UAV consignments, instead of a large number of photos of the inspection of the container with the goods inside, which are required by established customs rules and requirements for cargo clearance, there is one and the same photo of the inspection of one drone.

“Thus, under the guise of purchasing drones, hundreds of millions of dollars are being taken abroad. The same companies appear in the declarations about the fictitious import of drones into Ukraine,” the publication notes.

Among the companies:

• LLC “FERTENIKA” 44372310 and LLC “MERIETY” 43840643 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 4.4 million US dollars from GN ELECTRONIC SP. Z O.O. (Poland)
• LLC “LOYALHILS GROUP” 45339667 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 6.4 million US dollars from LATUNA LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• LLC “PEPPER STAR”44610024 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 7.1 million US dollars from TORQUE TRADE LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• LLC “PEPPER STAR”44610024 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 5.1 million USD from ABSales Group Limited (HONG KONG)
• LLC “POLIPROM KONTUR” 44972273 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 13 million US dollars from STARNINE SALES LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• LLC “SENFIJO IND”45242023 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 18 million US dollars from WHARVEST LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• LLC “VITAL PROGRESS” 45214462 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 11 million US dollars from OPTIMA TRADE LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• LLC “LAVRA GROUP” 45023845 declared a pseudo-import of UAVs worth 9.1 million US dollars from TORQUE TRADE LIMITED (HONG KONG)
• ТОВ “НЕКСУС ТОРГ” 45351930 задекларувало псевдоімпорт БПЛА на 10,1 млн доларів США від NEOTRADE LIMITED Гонконґ (HONG KONG)
  

Almost all invoices indicate batches of 600 drones

The specified non-resident companies from Poland and Hong Kong are also connected with a number of other Ukrainian firms, which are probably engaged in pseudo-imports to Ukraine: LLC “TRIAN IMPEX” 45314805, LLC “ARGEMONA GROUP” 45676814, LLC “BIG INTERPROM” 44968551, LLC “COMPANY PROM GROUP” 45021607, LLC “FLANEL TORG” 45206467, LLC “EVKARIOT IND” 45337083, LLC “ATLANT FORMAT” 44463905, LLC “STROYBUD PROCESS” 45359039, LLC “SHLYAKH LOGISTIK” 44812156, LLC “GOSPODARCHY KUT” 42137904, LLC “TRANSGLOBUS” 44548370, LLC “IMPORT RETAIL” 44610024, LLC “BITUM PROM” 44058238, LLC “IMPORT START PLUS” 45297727, LLC “LEKON-TORG PLUS” 45733966, LLC “ZULAN TRADE” 45222536, LLC “MALYUNKOTRADE” 44251388, LLC “ENERGOKREATIV” 42176330, LLC “DEMANTO OPT” 43721168, LLC “BUDKORPUS” 44897507 LLC “SPECIFIC LIGHT” 45311112, LLC “TENKOR” 45370466, LLC “ORPHEUS COMPACT” 45169394, LLC “FERONIKELI” 44362061, LLC “COVEL UKRAINE” 44926134, LLC “JONES WHOLESALE” 45298411, LLC “DIAMFARFOR” 44909590, LLC “INTER LOGISTICS” 45810961, LLC “POBUTSFERA” 44861533, LLC “FAST IMPORT TRADE” 45832367.

“Some of the companies mentioned appear in investigations into the withdrawal of money from Ukraine using fictitious import schemes through the Ukrainian banks Motor Bank and Alliance Bank,” the publication writes.

Because customs posts are likely turning a blind eye to fictitious declarations and the import of contraband under the guise of passengers or drones, the state is losing millions in taxes, and currency, critically needed for imports and economic stability, is being laundered abroad. The publication emphasizes that such a situation creates a threat to Ukraine's national security, which for some reason is not yet seen by either the SBU, the Bureau of Economic Security, the State Bureau of Investigation, or the NABU, which should check how many UAVs were actually imported into Ukraine, where these drones, imported under agreements with the above-mentioned companies, were transferred, and who exactly received them.