A court has obliged the National Police to investigate the activities of the Belarusian "king of smuggling," Artur Granz

A court has obliged the National Police to investigate the activities of the Belarusian "king of smuggling," Artur Granz

The Uzhhorod City and District Court of the Zakarpattia region obliged the regional Investigative Department of the National Police to initiate a pre-trial investigation to verify the facts outlined in the application of the public organization «Non-stop» regarding the illegal trade of cigarettes and alcohol by businessman Artur Granz, who holds a Belarusian passport, writes «Radyjo Svaboda».

As activists of the public organization found out, during the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, Artur Granz became the «sole leader in cigarette sales through Duty Free systems». The organization called him the «king of smuggling».

According to the organization’s information, Artur Granz is the beneficiary of the Ukrainian LLC «Duty Free Trading», which engages in the duty-free sale of cigarettes through the Duty Free system.

The activists’ published material mentions, in particular, the «Porubne - Siret» checkpoint on the border with Romania. In 2022 alone, 4,252,700 packs of cigarettes were sold there — 25 packs per citizen crossing the border.

As noted in the activists’ investigation, Artur Granz’s company processed cigarette sales for citizens crossing the border while actually selling tobacco to smugglers who further marketed the product in EU countries.

According to the «Non-stop» organization, Artur Granz owned duty-free shops in the Kyiv airports «Boryspil» and «Zhulyany», as well as in other airports across Ukraine.

«Only during November-December 2020, the duty-free shops at «Kyiv» airport («Zhulyany») «sold to passengers, formally, according to documents, 530,584 cartons of cigarettes — 23 cartons per person. In reality, people were not even aware that they «purchased» boxes of cigarettes. Meanwhile, these tobacco products were distributed to illegal trading points within Ukraine, where they were sold for cash», states the investigation by the public organization.

A similar scheme was used for the sale of alcoholic beverages — the excise tax was not paid, as the products were formally supposed to be exported abroad.

According to activists, Artur Granz owns more than 35 duty-free shops in Belarus and «has a partnership with the Administration of Affairs of Lukashenko, based on which it can be assumed that the businessman is a partner of Lukashenko».

Activists claim that Artur Granz holds Belarusian citizenship, and his two sons — David and Arman — live in the Moscow suburbs and own several trading companies, such as LLC «Avangard» and LLC «Mika Holding». Also living and running a trading business nearby is their brother Maren Granz, who owns LLC «Mag-Inter».

Artur Granz is the ultimate beneficiary of 12 Ukrainian companies, some of which are registered in Cyprus, which activists believe is «to avoid taxes and transfer money obtained from criminal schemes».

In 2020, through one of these companies, Artur Granz became the owner of the Ukrainian Forbes magazine.

Based on their materials, the organization appealed to several Ukrainian courts demanding an investigation into the «illegal registration» of tobacco and alcoholic product sales to individuals crossing the border towards European countries.

Artur Granz was born in Ukraine. After the collapse of the USSR, his parents moved to Belarus, where he graduated from Belarusian State University.

He lived in Ukraine on the basis of a residence permit, but in 2021 he moved from Ukraine to Spain, where he has property.

According to Ukrainian media, Artur Granz has a reputation as a successful and stable businessman. He has not publicly commented on such accusations.