According to available information, criminal groups operate in the Odessa region, whose main activities include organizing the illegal movement of goods into the customs territory of Ukraine while evading customs duties.
The organizer of the criminal activity of one of them is Pruzovsky Artur Gennadievich, 
Born on August 28, 1972, deputy of the Odessa City Council of the 5th convocation from the Party of Regions; the organizer of the second of them is Vadim Aleksandrovich Alperin, born on January 27, 1972, known for the scandal with the ship "Faina".
In order to implement a scheme for evading customs duties on the import of consumer goods, constructed by entering deliberately false information regarding the cost of goods, as well as their nomenclature, into official documents during customs clearance, A.G. Pruzovsky and V.A. Alperin created and operate a number of importing enterprises, as well as fictitious enterprises for the purpose of conducting non-commodity transactions.
To falsify customs documents when applying the specified scheme for evading customs duties, the details of non-resident companies (contract holders) are used, including AIRMAX CORPORATION LLP (WALES, GB), PARKHILL VENTURES CORP (Panama), TIANJIN CNC SMPORT EXPORTTRADING CO.LTD (China), which are groundlessly indicated in customs documents as manufacturers of imported products.
Thus, the group's activities in organizing the illegal movement of goods into Ukraine are carried out in two main directions: understating the customs value of goods, as well as completely substituting the product nomenclature, as a result of which liquid goods are registered as illiquid.
Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A., using corrupt connections with the management of the Southern Customs - Vladimir Vsevolodovich Perederiy, Igor Ivanovich Ustimenko, and the deputy head of the Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region, Alexander Stanislavovich Somik, hinder the activities of importing enterprises that are engaged in customs clearance of such groups of goods, as a result of which importers of the real sector of the economy are forced to formalize the import of goods through the specified group of enterprises using the corresponding system of "kickbacks".
After customs clearance, using customs duty evasion schemes, the goods are sold to end consumers for cash through the retail network.
Documentation is provided for non-commodity transactions involving the delivery of imported goods to "transit" and "fictitious" companies from the aforementioned group of importing companies. Subsequently, the value-added tax amounts paid at customs by the importing companies of the Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A. groups are used in schemes to minimize the tax liabilities of enterprises in the real sector of the economy and the activities of conversion centers.
The total annual volume of goods imported by enterprises controlled by Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A. exceeds 2 billion UAH.
A.G. Pruzovsky and V.A. Alperin, through their accomplices, launder funds obtained through criminal schemes to evade customs duties, taxes, and non-commodity transactions by investing them in legitimate businesses, real estate, entertainment venues, and land plots, creating the image of "successful businessman."
Thus, Pruzovsky A.G. controls the activities of ARGO LTD LLC, whose main activity is the production of canned fruits and vegetables under the NAIDIS trademark, the bicycle manufacturing plant VELOMOTO LTD LLC, and the plastic tableware manufacturing plant PLASTIC GROUP Ukraine LLC.
In turn, Alperin V.A., in addition to his legal business, controls the activities of three alcoholic beverage factories where illegal production takes place, as well as a network of currency exchange offices in the Odessa region.
Such criminal activity of the above-mentioned groups could not go unnoticed by law enforcement agencies.
Thus, on 23.04.2014, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs registered a criminal case in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (USRPI) on the facts of abuse of office by officials of the Odessa, Kharkiv, Kyiv regional and Kyiv city customs offices of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine during the exercise of control during the movement of goods across the customs border in violation of customs regulations, as well as on the facts of the creation of "fictitious" enterprises and their use for the purpose of legalizing imported goods while concealing them from customs control on the grounds of criminal offenses under Part 2 of Article 205, Part 2 of Article 209, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On May 18, 2015, employees of the Central Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in accordance with the decisions of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, conducted a series of searches in the offices and places of residence of Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A.
It was established that during 2015, officials of the Odessa, Kharkiv, Kyiv regional and Kyiv city customs offices of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, using a number of fictitious enterprises controlled by Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A., implemented schemes for the illegal movement of goods across the customs border in violation of customs regulations, namely:
concealment from customs control of part of the goods that are moved across the customs border;
substitution of high-value goods located in containers for goods of significantly lower value;
underestimation of the customs value of goods by submitting for customs clearance deliberately forged documents containing false information.
To implement the said schemes, more than 100 fictitious importing companies are used, including: OOO TAIMTEK, PE INTERVID, OOO OPTIMO KABEL, OOO RABBI, OOO ALANTA-PROM, OOO VELOMOTO LTD, PE TEF YUGPROF, OOO G.N.T. NOVA TRADE, controlled by Pruzovsky A.G. and Alperin V.A. These individuals, in order to conceal their crimes, constantly change companies, which complicates the documentation of facts of violations of customs legislation.
In accordance with the requirements of the current legislation - paragraph 15 of Article 11 of the Law of Ukraine "On Police"; Article 332, Part 5 of Article 338, Article 558 of the Customs Code of Ukraine; Articles 40, 93, 237 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which provide for the presence of law enforcement officers in the customs control zone and participation in customs inspections, investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs developed an information letter on permission to be in the customs control zone and the participation of Ministry of Internal Affairs employees in joint customs inspections, in order to monitor their quality and record violations of customs regulations.
During the investigation, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not demand any funds from any of the entrepreneurs or set any conditions for carrying out business activities; all accusations in this regard are unfounded.
During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that A.G. Pruzovsky and V.A. Alperin received information from customs officers about letters from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which indicated enterprises under their control whose cargo would be inspected jointly by customs officers and police officers. To avoid the combined inspection of these cargoes, V.A. Alperin and A.G. Pruzovsky changed the recipients of the goods, declaring other enterprises under their control that would not be inspected.
In order to disrupt this scheme, the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent two information letters to the Odessa Customs Office of the State Fiscal Service regarding the orientation by container numbers (they cannot be changed), which were delivered to the Odessa port by the ships of V.A. Alperin.
In order to document illegal activity, during April-May 2015, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Department of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, based on the decisions of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, conducted 15 searches of office premises and vehicles with containers, during which the statutory and registration documents of “fictitious” enterprises, seals, as well as primary accounting documents on business transactions with them were seized.
Furthermore, during these searches, as well as during temporary access, goods imported in violation of customs regulations, worth over 10 million hryvnias, were seized. Commodity expert examinations have been ordered to determine the actual customs value.
In order to prevent the movement of goods across the customs border without their being detected by customs control, the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has sent letters to the Odessa, Kyiv and other customs offices regarding joint customs inspections of goods when they are processed by the above-mentioned enterprises.
As a result of the said joint inspections, in May-June 2015 alone, violations of customs regulations were identified during customs clearance of goods, as a result of which additional funds in the amount of more than UAH 3,7 million were added to the budget.
In addition, 7 protocols were drawn up for violation of customs regulations with the confiscation of goods.
The aforementioned active law enforcement actions created significant obstacles to the smuggling activities of A.G. Pruzovsky and V.A. Alperin. Unable to defend themselves legally (as customs violations are too obvious and, if discovered, entail significant fines), the latter launched an information war, generously paying for commissioned interviews and articles for journalists from Odessa Public Television and M.V. Gordienko.
Thus, in order to counteract the pre-trial investigation, discredit the leadership of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, investigators and operational workers, at the request of Alperin V.A. and Pruzovsky A.G., Gordienko M.V. and Rezvushkin E.N. systematically publish materials on the Internet containing false information about the functioning of corruption schemes at the Odessa customs office with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Gordienko Mark Vasilievich, born July 7, 1968, and Rezvushkin Evgeniy Nikolaevich, born April 23, 1977, are activists of the Odessa Automaidan, known for their illegal actions, on the facts of which the investigative units of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region are investigating more than four criminal proceedings, some of which have already been sent to court.
By order of V.A. Alperin and A.G. Pruzovsky and with the assistance of the head of the Southern Customs of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine I.I. Ustimenko, deputy head of the Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region A.S. Somik (who is the godfather of V.A. Alperin), a group of about 15 people in camouflage uniforms under the leadership of M.V. Gordienko and E.N. Rezvushkin On July 15, 2015, at 4:00 PM, on the premises of Customs Clearance Department No. 1 of the Odessa-Port customs post of the Odessa Customs Office, the State Fiscal Service attacked M.M. Demin, an employee of the Illichivsk City Department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa Region. M.M. Demin, acting on an investigator's instructions, was conducting a joint inspection with customs officers of a container containing cargo belonging to BESTFOOD LLC (an enterprise controlled by A.G. Pruzovsky). The company's customs broker also participated in the inspection. According to a letter from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police officer requested permission to review the documents submitted by the declarant for customs clearance. In response to the police officer's legitimate demands, the customs officer and the company's broker retired to their offices to prepare the documents.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., during a customs inspection in the customs control zone of the customs clearance department No. 1 of the Odessa-port customs post of the Odessa Customs Service, which has limited access, a group of individuals (more than 15 people) broke in, led by Mark Gordienko (who spreads false information on the Internet about the operation of corruption schemes at the Odessa Customs with the participation of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), and attacked M.M. Demin, inflicted bodily harm, damaged his property, and obstructed investigative actions and the work of a law enforcement officer.
As a result of the attack, Demin M.M. was unable to continue the customs inspection, as immediately after the attack at 6 p.m. he was taken to the Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region to provide an explanation, where he spent more than four hours.
It is noteworthy that the officers of the Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region, under the leadership of the deputy chief of police, Colonel of Police A.S. Somik, did not take immediate measures to detain the persons who committed the attack on M.M. Demin and to document the criminal offense (identify the persons who committed the attack; the customs officers who carried out the clearance; and request video materials).
But the isolation of M.M. Demin for four hours had its purpose: Odessa customs officers, having witnessed the violation, cleared seven containers of BESTFOOD LLC containing contraband goods within an hour, without conducting full inspections of the containers, despite the mandatory participation of Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs officers in the inspection, and released them into free circulation.
That same day, information and photographs documenting the obstruction of a police officer's legitimate activities were disseminated online by M.V. Gordienko, but in his statements, he "forgot" to inform the community about the smuggling of goods from BESTFOOD LLC, hiding behind Maidan slogans.
A police officer was hospitalized with a concussion, but Odessa police have not even registered a criminal case regarding the incident.
At the request of M.M. Demin to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on July 24, 2015, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs registered a criminal case on the fact of an attack on the latter by an organized group of unidentified persons led by M.V. Gordienko and E.N. Rezvushkin, as a result of which M.M. Demin suffered bodily harm, according to the signs of a crime under Part 4 of Article 345 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
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