In 2018, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko radically restructured the country’s tobacco industry to benefit his close crony Aliaksei Aleksin, who until then had been better known as an energy tycoon. Just months after receiving these favors, Aleksin made a pricey gift of nine cars and motorcycles to Lukashenko’s bodyguard service, OCCRP has found. The donations,...
Hong Kong Customs said they seized approximately 27 million “suspected illicit cigarettes” last week during a raid on an industrial complex in the island’s Tuen Mun region and arrested a 31-year-old man. The cigarettes are estimated to be worth HK$76 million (US$9.7 million) on the open market. In Hong Kong, the trade or possession of illicit cigarettes...
Ending tobacco use globally is not just a compelling public health imperative but is also key for social justice and corporate accountability. Let us not forget that each of the diseases caused by tobacco could have been prevented, and every tobacco-related death averted. Add to this that every health condition that increases the risk...
Government’s renewed vigour to eliminate illegal tobacco imports and exports will be demonstrated on Friday when a multi-department operation will see 12 million cigarettes being destroyed. The consignment, which has a R18 million market value will be destroyed at the State Warehouse, at no.9 FW de Klerk Boulevard, Cape Town Foreshore at 8am. In a statement,...
There is probably truth in all allegations that South Africa’s multinational and smaller tobacco companies have been levelling against each other regarding their supposed involvement in the burgeoning illicit tobacco products trade in both South Africa and other parts of Africa. This was according to Prof Corné van Walbeek, director of the University of Cape...
Forcing smokers to buy illegally during the tobacco ban has normalised the act of selling and buying illicit brands for both retailers and consumers, costing the fiscus some R8 billion a year, a new report states. An investigation by corruption-busting group Tax Justice SA (TJSA) has found that two of every three cigarettes sold in...
