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Ukrainian law enforcers have conducted more than 100 searches at premises of Ukraine's tobacco monopoly and related enterprises in the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov posted on Facebook.
"Assistance to terrorist organizations of pseudo-republics ['DPR'/'LPR'], tax evasion... these are just a few episodes of the company’s "track record." They have withdrawn UAH 2.5 billion to the country that is at war with us," the message said.
According to Avakov, business roots of the most powerful distributor are in Russia, while the beneficiaries of this tobacco business are Kremlin supporters.
Read alsoPremises of tobacco monopoly raided in terrorism financing probe"Several agencies have been involved in the large-scale operation: the Department of investigation of high-priority cases in the economy sector at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, as well as the Departments for Economic Protection and Internal Security of the National Police," Avakov wrote.
As UNIAN reported earlier, a scheme of grand tax evasion and siphoning from Ukraine of billions of hryvnias had been exposed.