The war for prosperity "Hamaday": how the tobacco company of the "family" operates on two fronts

The owners of the Donetsk tobacco factory have registered their business in occupied Crimea and free Ukraine and continue to supply products to both sides of the front, receiving superprofits.

Information about the movement of contraband cigarettes from the Donetsk factory "Hamaday," which is not under the control of Ukrainian authorities, has often appeared in the media.

Moreover, since 2015, the company has been embroiled in a tax evasion case, and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade even applied special sanctions against the enterprise.

At the same time, the owners of the "Hamaday" tobacco factory quickly adapted to the situation, registered their business in occupied Crimea and free Ukraine, and continue to supply products to both sides of the front, receiving superprofits.

Blockade after blockade, smuggling continues

In Ukraine, after signing the Association with the EU and a massive increase in prices for all goods, the cost of tobacco products was repeatedly raised. Such a situation, with the inadequate work of law enforcement agencies and in the conditions of military operations, often contributes to the growth of the shadow economy and the movement of contraband goods. Since the winter of 2017, a blockade of the occupied territories in Eastern Ukraine has been in place, introduced by a decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine. At the same time, numerous fresh advertisements for the sale of cigarettes of various brands produced at the Donetsk factory "Hamaday" can be found online, obviously brought here illegally.

dqxikeidqxidqrant

We make a call using one of the phones (the ad appeared on May 6):

— Hello, I’m calling about the "Parliament," "Chester," "Marlboro" cigarettes.

— Look, "Marlboro" is 20, "Parliament" is 23, "Chester" is 17 (speaking of price in hryvnias — ed.).

— Do you deliver to Odesa?

— Well, of course! We are located in Izmail (a city in the Odesa region, bordering Romania — ed.)!

— What is the minimum order?

— One box (50 blocks — ed.).

— This is from the "Hamaday" factory, right?

— Yes.

Officially, however, the "Hamaday" company produces other cigarettes — "Peppel," "Khortytsia," "Phantom," and others.

On social media, you can also find a group led by a Donetsk resident. Here, offers to purchase cigarettes produced by the "Hamaday" company are posted. Information in the group is regularly updated, and the range of cigarettes is increasing.

And it’s apparent that the products from the Donetsk factory reach free Ukraine through smuggling, because, despite the owners transferring the company’s legal address from occupied Donetsk to Kramatorsk, which is controlled by Ukrainian authorities, cigarette production likely remained in Donetsk. There, the "Hamaday" company owners actively collaborate with the "authorities" of the so-called "DPR."

The Tobacco Empire of Donetsk’s "Family"

“Hamaday” has long been known for counterfeiting well-known tobacco brands and illegally selling them in Ukraine and abroad. According to an investigation by Tetyana Chornovol, published in the media in March 2011, former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Borys Kolesnykov and former Minister of Health of Ukraine Raisa Bohatyryova were directly involved in the production of illegal cigarettes at the Donetsk factory "Hamaday."

According to the Youcontrol system, the subsidiary "Tobacco Company ’Hamaday’" appeared back in 2003. The founder is LLC "Donbas-2 LTD," registered in Donetsk at the "Zaperevalna" mine.

Until May 2015, the "Hamaday" tobacco company was also registered in Donetsk but was re-registered in Kramatorsk. However, the company’s licenses for tobacco product manufacturing could not be found.

LLC "Donbas-2 LTD," which, according to its activities, cannot produce tobacco products, belongs to two Donetsk residents — Valeriy Khomenko and the late Mykhailo Lyashko. The company does not have tax debts, even though it is located in occupied territory.

Valeriy Khomenko has repeatedly served as an assistant to Member of Parliament from the "Party of Regions" Tetyana Bakhteyeva, who had close ties with the "family" of the fugitive to Russia, former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

Tetyana Bakhteyeva. Photo from open sources

And Mykhailo Lyashko, who was shot dead in occupied Crimea in December 2015, according to media reports, was a partner of the well-known Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.

Mykhailo Lyashko. Photo from the network

Lyashko, who is called Mishanya Kosyi by the press, was not a stranger to the criminal world. A large amount of business in Donetsk still belongs to the late Mykhailo Lyashko — apart from the "Hamaday" factory, he supervised the "Budyonivka Market" and shopping and entertainment centers. Besides, he had a construction business in Zakarpattia.

By the way, it seems the owners of the "Hamaday" company supported the puppet government of the "Donetsk People’s Republic" — in the so-called "DPR" entrepreneurs’ registry for 2016, the tobacco company was registered in the "newly formed republic" and pays the occupiers "taxes."

DPR Register for 2016

It should also be noted that another Valeriy Khomenko’s enterprise — PE "Trading House ’Vremya’" — was re-registered in Kramatorsk. The company’s authorized capital is over 42 million hryvnias, and the main activity of the company is trading in tobacco products.

Legal address on the map

Apparently, it is through this enterprise that the tobacco factory sells its products in free Ukraine, although the production itself most likely remains in occupied Donetsk under the control of militants. At the same time, the legal address of such a significant company is located in one of the apartment buildings in Kramatorsk.

Criminal Cases

The "Hamaday" tobacco company has repeatedly been involved in high-profile scandals related to cigarette smuggling and financing militants in Eastern Ukraine. Back in 2014, the press service of the General Prosecutor’s Office reported that a pre-trial investigation was underway into the activities of a group of individuals who had established illegal sales channels for counterfeit excisable goods from the Donetsk tobacco factory "Hamaday."

The "Hamaday" company under MERT sanctions

Moreover, in the summer of 2015, Mariupol district court investigators from the financial investigations department of the GFS in the Donetsk region filed a petition for access to documents from several companies. The rationale stated that at one of the exit points toward temporarily uncontrolled territory, border guards stopped a truck containing over 19 kilograms of paper scraps labeled “Khortytsia” for the tobacco company "Hamaday."

A case was opened for tax evasion, as the paper might have been used for illegal tobacco product manufacturing. Incidentally, the Mariupol judge then denied the investigators’ petition. No further decisions on this case were found in the registry.

On Two Fronts

Meanwhile, the war brought an expansion of sales markets for the “Hamaday” tobacco factory owners. After the annexation of Crimea by Russia at the end of 2014, Valeriy Khomenko, a former assistant to ex-region Bakhteyeva, registered LLC “Peppel Tobacco Company” under Russian law in the Saksky district.

Information from the Russian register of legal entities

Furthermore, in 2015, information appeared on one of the resources that “DPR” cigarettes were seeking access to the Russian market. On the “Hamaday” website, close cooperation with Russia is declared, and wholesale cigarette purchases are offered. A Russian phone number is provided as contact information.

“The owners of the Donetsk tobacco factory "Hamaday" have launched cigarette production in Crimea. They hope that the products, made both on the peninsula and at the facilities located in "DPR" territory, will already be on the shelves of Russian retail chains by summer,” states a Russian "Izvestia" publication article.

And it seems that representatives of the “Hamaday” company transport their products to Russia not through the Ukraine-controlled border, meaning illegally.

The question remains of when the SSU and General Prosecutor’s Office will stop the activities of this company, which still brings superprofits to the curators of the so-called "family."

Olena Zihulska, site investigation "No Corruption!"