Grey cash and customs trash: how NABU traced it back to former border guard chief and cigarette exports via diplomats
Former State Border Guard Service head Serhii Deineko has been served with a notice of suspicion by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) in a case involving the illegal import of cigarettes. According to the investigation, senior officials of the State Border Guard Service regularly took bribes and facilitated the illegal smuggling of cigarettes across Ukraine’s state border into the European Union, which a group of individuals organized in 2023.
As a NABU spokesperson said, cars registered in the Czech Republic and Austria were used to implement the scheme, and they were driven by diplomats’ relatives. This allowed the vehicles to avoid customs inspections.
A €3,000 kickback was taken for each vehicle. Under this scheme, 23 cars crossed the border in October 2023, and the leadership of the State Border Guard Service received bribes totaling €69,000. Overall, between July and November 2023, officials received about €204,000 in illicit payments for allowing 68 vehicles to pass (€3,000 per vehicle).
NABU detectives documented a senior State Border Guard Service official and his subordinate dividing up the money.
Senior State Border Guard Service (SBGS) official: Look!
SBGS department head: Uh-huh.
Senior SBGS official: That’s yours (likely referring to cash — Ed.).
SBGS department head: Yes.
Senior SBGS official: There were 23 cars.
SBGS department head: Yes.
Senior SBGS official: 69 (69,000 euros — Ed.).
SBGS department head: Yes.
Senior SBGS official: You’ll hand this over to ***.
SBGS department head: Uh-huh.
Senior SBGS official: This is clipped separately. This is clipped with the yellow (a €200 note — Ed.) — that’s what *** take for themselves.
SBGS department head: Yes.
Senior SBGS official: And this is handed over to who knows whom.
SBGS department head: The yellow is ***. Got it.
Senior SBGS official: The green (a €100 note — Ed.) is not his.
SBGS department head: The green is not his. Heard you. Understood.
After that, the department head delivered the money to other participants in the scheme, and it was divided among them.
Apparently, incentivizing rank-and-file customs officers was not difficult, as they were not particularly satisfied with their official pay.
SBGS department head: With the head of the Service… No, well… So what? I hinted that the pay was low. But f* it.
SBGS serviceman: Nah, it’s fine.
SBGS department head: And thank God for that. With this situation, it’s clear. Have you counted the 23, who gets what there?
SBGS serviceman: Yes.
But the kickback amounts were much higher — from €2,500 to €5,000.
SBGS department head: I’ll tell them. There. And that’s it. Need to order another pair of trousers. * * (an SBGS colonel - Ed.) got two five hundred (2,500 US dollars/euros - Ed.), so you know. I’ve got four one hundred (4,100 US dollars/euros - Ed.). You’ve got three two hundred (3,200 US dollars/euros - Ed.). As per the schedule.
The suspects’ actions were classified under Part 4 of Article 27 and Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code (receipt of undue benefit by an official), which provides for imprisonment for eight to 12 years, a ban on holding certain positions or engaging in certain activities for up to three years, and confiscation of property.
Notably, October 2023 was a record month in terms of the share of illicit tobacco production, according to Kantar Ukraine. It stood at 25.7% then. In 2024, it fell to 12.6%.
According to the findings of the latest study, the share of the illicit sector gradually increased throughout 2025, reaching 17.8%. The main driver of this rise was a growing share of counterfeit products with forged excise tax stamps.
The company estimates the size of Ukraine’s shadow cigarette market at more than 5 billion cigarettes, with annual losses to the state budget at UAH 24.2 billion.
Back in the summer of 2022, Censor.NET described how such schemes are implemented.
"To buy a truckload of cigarettes from a factory, you need to pay around €170,000 in cash. To get the contraband out of the country, you have to pay €120,000 on our section of the border. That’s for 1,000 cases. A truck of slim cigarettes is about 2,000 cases. A truck of standard cigarettes is 1,200 or 1,500 cases. Multiply by €120 per case, and you’ll know how much officials take. Next, at western customs, for example, on the Hungarian side, they will take another €100,000 for their section of the border. And the carrier, who will be risking the vehicle, will take another €10,000 from you," the outlet’s source said.
The author also learned at the time that diplomatic passports were used to move cigarettes, as diplomats are not allowed to be inspected. The scheme itself was already known to the Foreign Ministry back then, although it is unclear whether anyone was dismissed over it.
How much do smugglers make? In Europe, such a truck would sell for €500,000–€550,000. That is, by investing €400,000, they can earn €100,000. The profit margin from smuggling can be realized within a month.
The outlet’s sources also said at the time that, for example, former SBU deputy head Naumov and businessman Akst continued to receive profits from illegal exports even while in prison.
According to the sources, little has changed since then. They say the main sources for such exports include Kozlovskyi’s Lviv factory and Martynenko-Zhuryl’s "Zhovti Vody" facility, which has been relocated to the Ternopil region. There are also several smaller players.
Notably, the NABU video features Lifa cigarettes, which experts say are produced at Kozlovskyi’s factory.
The vans seen in NABU materials can carry, according to the outlet’s sources, 14,500 cartons, about 283 cases, worth more than $110,000.
The sources say kickbacks from such vehicles went not only to customs officers. Various bribes reportedly totaled up to 30,000 for different institutions, including heads of regional state administrations.
"You can see in the video that these are Kozlovskyi’s cigarettes. If only someone would finally go after him properly. Ukraine is officially the source of the largest number of illicit cigarettes in the EU. They are hauled out in trucks, with corruption involving those same European customs officers. That’s hundreds of millions in profits a year, not those miserable 69,000 euros," another senior source told the outlet.
"It’s a shame that for years to come, Orban and everyone else will be rubbing it in our faces that our top border guard chief was selling cigarettes into the EU himself," he said.
But the illegal export of cigarettes is only part of the shadow business at the border.
On Thursday, NABU detectives uncovered a "slush fund" at the Volyn customs office. Searches resulted in the seizure of more than $850,000. The outlet’s sources say this cash is related only to customs clearance of used cars.
As Nashi Hroshi reports, Volyn customs is headed by Dmytro Stasenko, the son of Ihor Stasenko, head of the Department of Document Management at the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Overall, the outlet’s sources believe the shadow cash pool at the Lviv, Zakarpattia, and Volyn customs offices, disbursed to border guards, customs officers, and other law enforcement agencies, could total up to $10 million.
And no matter how many times the president orders these gravy trains shut down, they keep operating and providing for the interested parties.
As you may have noticed, the episode involving Deineko dates back to 2023. So why did they move now? NABU says it only obtained evidence now, but does not specify what it is.
Politicians, meanwhile, say this is part of sidelining Yermak’s people from the money streams. Deineko was also associated with Yermak. At least in recent years.
But whether this will stop the schemes themselves is another matter.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
