Chernivtsi customs in the whirlpool of corruption scandals: searches, million-dollar losses, and "smuggling kings" Salahor, Kushnir, and Yerimiychuk

Chernivtsi customs in the whirlpool of corruption scandals: searches, million-dollar losses, and "smuggling kings" Salahor, Kushnir, and Yerimiychuk

Recently, the Chernivtsi customs has once again gained notoriety due to searches: detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) raided its management over a new 11-million cigarette smuggling scheme. This incident is just a fresh piece of evidence of the systemic disorder that has prevailed for years at Ukraine’s western gates. Thus, Stopkor analysts inquired about the progress and outcome of the case involving the "customs kings" Mykola Salahor, Yuriy Kushnir, and Oleksandr "Elephant" Yerimiychuk. Their schemes, according to investigators, which have already resulted in nearly 290 million hryvnias in damages, have become symbols of customs corruption in Bukovina.

The Chernivtsi customs - a strategic point at Ukraine’s western gates - is turning into a real source of scandals, where flows of goods intersect with streams of dirty money. Hence, on July 9 of this year, detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) conducted searches in administrative buildings, the office, and the residence of the current customs chief Yuriy Herasymov. These investigative actions are related to the investigation of another large-scale scheme of illegal export of cigarettes to Romania, where tobacco products were transported under the guise of mineral wool, as reported by journalist Yevhen Plinskyi on his Facebook page.

Recently, Romanian border guards detained a truck of this kind, finding over 130,000 packs of cigarettes with an approximate value of 11 million hryvnias 

This episode highlights that the issues of corruption at the Chernivtsi customs are systemic and continue to cause significant losses to the state.

Bukovina’s smuggling gates – post "Vadul-Siret"

At the same time, these searches are not an isolated incident but part of a broader picture. In November 2019, the Ukrainian-Romanian post "Vadul-Siret" of the Chernivtsi customs was involved in a scheme of illegal legalization of foreign cars that were in the country in the "temporary import" mode. Then, for a bribe ranging from 500 to 1,000 euros, customs officers entered fictitious data about the car exiting the country, even though the vehicles never actually crossed the border. This allowed drivers to avoid fines of 170,000 hryvnias for illegal use of "europlates." The money was received through intermediaries - relatives and acquaintances, including former law enforcement officers. Nearly 30 cars were processed in a month, causing over 3 million UAH of damage to the state.

Later, in 2022, this customs post appeared in another court ruling. This time, the officials at "Vadul-Siret" illegally exempted LLC "FABER LOGISTIC" and PCC "MOM" from paying customs duties, referring to a benefit (preference 225) provided for the supply of goods for the needs of the Armed Forces. In fact, some of the imported goods did not qualify for such exemption. According to the investigation, there was a scheme to inflate procurement costs: uniforms for the Ministry of Defence were purchased in Turkey for approximately USD 160,000 per batch, but the documents listed nearly USD 400,000. The substitution of documents was carried out in Romania. As a result, the budget did not receive over 80.6 million UAH, of which over 23 million was import duties, and over 56 million was VAT.

In 2024, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reported that an organized criminal structure operated at the Chernivtsi customs from 2017 to 2019, executing a scheme for the illegal import of goods - the so-called "gray import."

In this case, which has already passed the trial phase, the investigation established that such activities caused almost 290 million UAH in damages to the state budget. According to NABU, the scheme involved mass illegal importation of high liquidity products (clothes, shoes, accessories) from Turkey and Romania through the "Vadul-Siret" customs post across the Romanian-Ukrainian border.

Goods were declared at an undervalued price, or they were fictitiously claimed as empty vehicles. In some cases, so-called "cover goods" - low cost materials such as fabric, chipboard, fiberglass - were used to disguise the real cargo. Customs procedures were carried out swiftly without proper control, involving customs officials.

So, within the framework of the "gray import" case, 11 individuals have been notified of suspicion, among them are both current and former customs officials, as well as entrepreneurs. Among the key figures, Mykola Salahor - former chief of Chernivtsi customs, ex-member of the regional council, and local businessmen Oleksandr Yerimiychuk and Yuriy Kushnir. Let’s get acquainted with the "customs kings."

Mykola Salahor: from career growth to court cases

The former head of the Chernivtsi customs, Mykola Salahor was born on December 14, 1959, in the village of Tysivtsi, Storozhynetskyi district, Chernivtsi region. He received education in several fields: in 1988 he graduated from Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Romano-Germanic languages, English), that same year – Kharkiv National Law Academy (jurisprudence), and in 2002 - Kharkiv State Economic University (accounting and audit).

He started his career as a customs officer back in March 1988. Over several decades, he climbed the ranks to the highest position in the region - head of Chernivtsi customs, which he held multiple times, lastly from 2014. Besides customs service, Salahor was elected as a member of the Chernivtsi Regional Council from the "Bloc of Petro Poroshenko" party in 2015.

Back in 2018, he was involved in a public conflict with the then head of Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Oleksandr Fishchuk, and in July 2019, Mykola Salahor found himself at the center of a scandal during a meeting in Uzhhorod when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy directly offered him to write a resignation letter. Instead of resigning, the chief customs officer took a vacation, then went on medical leave, exacerbating the tension. And finally, in December 2019, he was dismissed "due to a negative evaluation of his performance."

However, Salahor did not back down, so to speak, without a fight, legally challenged the dismissal - and won. In April 2020, the Chernivtsi District Administrative Court annulled the order of dismissal, recognizing the actions of the State Fiscal Service as illegal. In the summer of that year, he returned to the post of customs chief.

But soon after reinstatement, Salahor somehow decided to voluntarily leave the post, submitting a corresponding declaration "before dismissal" at the end of 2021. But with this, he "did not part" with the Chernivtsi customs as in 2024, Mykola Salahor was charged with co-organizing the illegal importation through the "Vadul-Siret" customs post of clothes, shoes, and accessories from Turkey. After spending 9 months in a detention center, he was released on bail, which the court reduced several times - from 60 million hryvnias to 9.3 million. The initial amount was set in April 2024, but the court revised it several times. The last time the bail amount was reduced was on January 21, 2025.

So, leadership has changed, but the corruption component continues to live on at the Chernivtsi customs, only now, it’s other cases. And here is Taras Kohut, head of the border outpost in the city of Herta, possibly a former subordinate of Salahor, along with Denys Brynzey and Pavlo Baranovskyi, from July 2 to 3, 2025, smuggled at least 12 people across the border. The cost of such a "service" allegedly reached over 10,000 euros per person.

Smuggling, fictitious firms, VAT: Yuriy Kushnir’s achievements

Another participant in the case is Yuriy Kushnir, a Chernivtsi entrepreneur and former regional council member from the "Party of Regions" (2010). According to public records, Yuriy Kushnir is a founder or beneficiary of the following companies:

LLC "Chernivtsi Building Materials Plant"

LLC "Detective and Security Agency "Sokil"" (EDRPOU 36146015) - is involved in a case of aiding and abetting VAT evasion amounting to 13.28 million UAH.

According to the investigation, in 2018-2019, "Sokil" conducted cash and goods transportation, which were imported through the Chernivtsi customs, and then sold on the markets outside official records.

Goods - clothing, shoes, textiles - were imported from Turkey and China through controlled companies, and their sale was documented as fictitious operations. This allowed LLC "Vector Alliance" to avoid VAT amounting to 13.28 million UAH, which is especially large and confirmed by materials from the Department of Internal Security of the State Fiscal Service in Kyiv and conclusions of the examination from 20.11.2019 №1-20/11/2019-ex.

And other firms in the spheres of trade, security, transport, construction.

Besides the case regarding the Chernivtsi customs, he is also involved in several high-profile anti-corruption cases, such as the "Brusnytsia" bribery case (2019) concerning the lease of a municipal sanatorium and VAT evasion schemes with shell companies.

In 2021, the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine included Kushnir in the sanctions list of individuals involved in smuggling.

However, on September 20, 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court approved the plea agreement between SAPO and Yuriy Kushnir. According to the court verdict, Kushnir admitted his guilt in: participation in a criminal organization (part 1 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), tax evasion and customs duty evasion (part 3 of Article 212), incitement of officials to abuse of power (part 2 of Article 364).

Kushnir was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months of conditional imprisonment with a fine of 83.26 million UAH and banned from engaging in activities related to the export and import of goods to Ukraine for 2 years and 8 months, with an additional fine of 17 thousand UAH. He is also obliged to reimburse 83.26 million UAH in damages within a year and transfer an additional 2 million UAH to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as reported by BukInfo.

The shadow "master" of Bukovina, who ended up under sanctions and wanted

And finally, Oleksandr Yerimiychuk, a Romanian citizen, stripped of his Ukrainian passport and sanctioned, was considered by local sources for many years to be the invisible ruler of the Kalynivsky Market, the Vadul-Siret customs post, and the free movement of trucks with contraband Chinese and Turkish goods.

His name became public back in 2017 when the then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko directly spoke about "the smuggling group of ’elephant’ and Kushnir." However, "elephant’s" connections extended far beyond customs. Photos, appearing in the media, showed him in the company of influential politicians in the region: MP Mykola Fedoruk, Mykola Fedoruk’s brother, Oleksiy Burbak, mayor of Chernivtsi Oleksiy Kaspruk, head of Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Oleksandr Fishchuk and leader of the "People’s Front" faction Maksym Burbak. Media directly named Oleksandr Yerimiychuk as "the watcher over contraband affairs" from the former MP Maksym Burbak, who, despite everything, did not publicly deny friendly relations. Moreover, the reception office of the MP Burbak, according to media, even was located in the office of Maksym Yerimiychuk.

“Elephant’s” impunity was exacerbated by family ties as well. His brother, Mykola Yerimiychuk, until 2019 held the position of prosecutor of the Kitsman Local Prosecutor’s Office. With an official salary of 11,000 hryvnias, the prosecutor, according to journalists, drove to work every morning behind the wheel of an elite Lexus. This car, as Mykola Yerimiychuk himself stated, belonged to his brother Oleksandr "elephant." Moreover, during his service, the prosecutor acquired significant plots of land and an unfinished house, raising serious questions about the sources of his wealth.

In 2021, the National Security and Defence Council, under the chairmanship of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, finally hit the most influential figures of Ukrainian smuggling, and this list included Oleksandr Yerimiychuk. That same year, Zelenskyy deprived him of Ukrainian citizenship, though "elephant" tried to challenge this decision in court. Currently, Oleksandr Yerimiychuk (Ierimiciuc Alexandru, Јериметуць Александру) has been declared wanted.

So, the history of the Chernivtsi customs is a vivid illustration of systemic corruption, where multi-million schemes have been draining the state budget for years. But despite high-profile investigations, judicial processes, and sanctions against such key figures as Salahor, Kushnir, and Yerimiychuk, their shadow "legacy" continues to impact the economy of the country.

To get into the details of the situation, the editors of StopCor sent inquiries to the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine regarding the searches in the Chernivtsi customs in 2025 and to the customs management in Chernivtsi regarding open criminal cases, as well as the possible involvement of Kushnir and Yerimiychuk’s structures in the case.