The National Police of Ukraine and the Parliamentary Temporary Investigative Commission for Economic Security have agreed to introduce personal responsibility of the heads of the National Police of the regions for the operation of illegal cigarette sales points, Head of the Parliamentary Financial Committee Danylo Hetmantsev said following the meeting of the commission.

According to Hetmantsev, there has been no noticeable progress in the fight against the illegal cigarette market lately. "Excellent reports on a bunch of confiscated cigarettes, cases initiated, "work" done. And illegal kiosks are in place, and Telegram channels are not blocked. It is clear that each Telegram channel and each kiosk has its own last name. The last name of a law enforcement officer, closing his eyes (intentionally or not) to steal excise from the budget," he said.

Hetmantsev estimated the loss of the state budget due to non-payment of excise duty on illegal cigarettes at UAH 20 billion a year.

The head of the Temporary Investigative Commission, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos parliamentary faction) recalled that at the last meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission, at a dedicated meeting of the parliamentary financial committee, which took place in May 2023, lists of more than 700 points and online resources were handed over to law enforcement agencies, through which, according to the information available to MPs, tobacco products are being sold in violation of the law.

According to the decision of the parliamentary committee made at the meeting, law enforcement agencies were obliged to carry out raids with checks and report on the work done to the parliament in a month. However, the checks mainly did not reveal illegal trade.

During the meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission, MPs and representatives of law enforcement agencies agreed the Temporary Investigative Commission would visit several regions in the coming weeks, where it will raid points of illegal sale of cigarettes. If they work, parliamentarians will demand the dismissal of heads of law enforcement agencies in these areas.

According to law enforcement agencies, more than forty sites through which illegal trade in cigarettes was conducted have already been blocked. Of the 17 Telegram channels that illegally sell cigarettes, information on which was provided by MPs, all are not blocked.

Zhelezniak also said that the "actively growing" problem of sending illegal tobacco products by mail has not been resolved. "In consultations with honest business, we want to prepare solutions for this case," the head of the Temporary Investigative Commission said.