Tobacco Companies and Russian Mafia Jointly Smuggle Cigarettes
Roger Alexander
And to think, the leaders of those same cigarette companies
appeared before a Congressional committee and
swore that they didn't know that cigarettes cause
cancer.
RLA
Tobacco Companies and Russian Mafia Jointly Smuggle Cigarettes
Under globalization, international tobacco companies are
making inroads into the tobacco markets of Ukraine.
Another example of foreign investment and distribution
under market reform and development. The Alcohol
and Drug Information Centre in Ukraine reports
below that these tobacco companies knowingly support
cigarette smuggling in Ukraine. The Public I describes
how the tobacco firms knowingly cooperate with the
Russian and other Mafias in the smuggling. Ukraine gets
many smuggled cigarettes from Cyprus via the Russian
Mafia, for example. In some cases, the tobacco
companies even launder money for the drug traffickers.
And to think that 10 cents of every dollar spent on food
in United States ends up in the coffers of just one tobacco
company -- Philip Morris. Will food smuggling be next?
Stefan Lemieszewski
=========================
Alcohol and Drug Information Centre in Ukraine
Tobacco smuggling
According to the report of the "Duncan-Kiev" firm: "All smuggling
to Ukraine is undertaken with full support of the 5 TTC (Philip Morris,
Rejnolds, Reetsma, BAT, Rothmans). They could stop 90% of
smuggling within 10 minutes if they wish to, because they know
exactly their clients involved in smuggling". The smuggled cigarettes
come to Ukraine from Cyprus, Belgium, Holland, Turkey and other
countries. The smuggled cigarettes are rather cheap and in Kiev
they occupy most of the market. Some local kiosks and private
sellers do not wish to sell domestic brands. Usually private sellers
on streets when they propose 10 brands of cigarettes 7-9 of them
are smuggled or imported. In 1995 the government introduced
excise tax stamps on foreign brands. The price of the stamp is
only 0,005 hryvna. In reality the price of brands with stamps is
only a little higher than the same brand without stamp and
sometimes they are equal. In the small shops shop-assistants
often use packs with stamps for shop-window but sell packs
without stamps.
==============================================
http://www.publici.org/story_01_030301.htm
The Public I
An Investigative Report of the Center for Public Integrity
3Mar01
Special Report
Tobacco Companies Linked
To Criminal Organizations
In Lucrative Cigarette Smuggling
By The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists*
[ . . . ]
The black market trade
It's estimated that about one in every three cigarettes
exported worldwide is sold on the black market. This
enormous business is operated through a web of
offshore companies and banking institutions that often
employ the same routes and distributors. Russian and
Italian mafia use Cyprus and Montenegro. The drug
cartels and U.S. mafia use Aruba and Panama. The
same names turn up in smuggling networks into
Colombia, Canada and Europe. In Southeast Asia,
the same distributors who smuggle out of Hong Kong
to China also control distribution out of the Philippines
and Singapore.
The Center investigation shows that the manufacturers
funnel massive amounts of their brand name cigarettes
into these smuggling networks, often employing circuitous
routes in an apparent attempt to shield themselves from
accusations of wrongdoing. Distributors and manufacturers
work hand-in-hand to feed this market. But, in some cases,
the manufacturers have worked directly with organized
crime figures.
In Colombia, tobacco companies are alleged to have helped
launder drug money and to have worked closely with
distributors who are involved in drug trafficking. A Colombian
lawsuit against Philip Morris and BAT accuses them of
involvement in drug-money laundering through what is known
as the "black market peso exchange," a circuitous system
by which drug dollars are laundered for clean pesos through
the purchase and importation of such goods as cigarettes
and alcohol.
In a federal civil racketeering lawsuit launched in 2000,
Colombia's governors accused tobacco company executives
of illegally entering the country to organize smuggling
networks and retrieve cash payments, which were then
smuggled out for deposit in offshore banks. Company
employees are also alleged in the lawsuit to have bribed
border guards. And their agents have been implicated in
illegal cash campaign contributions to Colombia's former
president Ernesto Samper.
[ . . . ]
In Canada, RJR sales executives dealt directly with
smugglers linked to the American and Canadian mafia.