Yabko chain continues to sell smuggled iPhones

Several weeks ago, the State Tax Service (BEB) conducted searches at Yabko retail stores. According to case materials, the company is evading tax payments. The case cites a sum of 63 million hryvnia. In reality, the figures are likely much higher, as the chain’s annual turnover exceeds $60 million.

Yabko is actively selling iPhone 16s, which Apple has not yet officially imported into Ukraine. This means the devices enter the country without the payment of customs duties and VAT.

Sales are conducted through a network of sole proprietors (FOPs) controlled by Yabko employees. In this case, buyers do not even receive a fiscal receipt. Instead, they are given a piece of paper with the company’s logo and the purchase price.

The owner of the trademark is listed as Nikolai Kakhnich. At the same time, this individual does not own any legal entity that has any connection to the sale of electronics. Instead, Kakhnich is a founder of companies engaged in property rental – LLC Real Estate UE and Seven R. Vitaliy Turkovets is a co-founder of these companies. Currently, there is information that the Yabko chain has major investors who are also linked to another large retail chain.

Apple devices can also be purchased at Yabko with cryptocurrency payment. Company employees send users an electronic wallet to which USDT must be transferred, meaning that these funds are effectively invisible to both the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the tax authorities.

According to official information, two-thirds of iPhones enter Ukraine via smuggling and are sold without tax payments. The lion’s share of this trade belongs to Yabko. The company has offices in Kyiv and Lviv. When law enforcement officers arrive at one address, the smuggled goods are simply moved to another warehouse.

The Joker channel recently published the full scheme. However, the information was subsequently removed, with a reference to it being a competitor’s order. In fact, Joker simply received a certain sum from Yabko for deleting all the materials.

It should be noted that, despite the searches and the criminal case against Yabko, the retail chain continues to operate.