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Марія БровінськаHot News
26 March 2025, 14:45
2025-03-26
Who is behind the Yabko and YABLUKA networks, which are not the first time being inspected, fined millions, and even accused of selling illegal Apple products?
On March 25, the taxman exposed two chains of appliances and electronics stores in evading taxes by UAH 286 million. According to «Ekonomichna Pravda», these are the chains «Yabko» and «Yabluka», in which massive facts of sales without the use of RRO/PRRO, as well as the lack of accounting for goods and documents on the origin of equipment were revealed. It is known that legal entities involved up to 300 related individual entrepreneurs on a simplified system. dev.ua found out who owns the stores and what is happening in the gadget market.
On March 25, the taxman exposed two chains of appliances and electronics stores in evading taxes by UAH 286 million. According to «Ekonomichna Pravda», these are the chains «Yabko» and «Yabluka», in which massive facts of sales without the use of RRO/PRRO, as well as the lack of accounting for goods and documents on the origin of equipment were revealed. It is known that legal entities involved up to 300 related individual entrepreneurs on a simplified system. dev.ua found out who owns the stores and what is happening in the gadget market.
Not the first incident
The Yabko chain became the subject of attention of tax authorities a few years ago.
«Law enforcement officers conducted 13 authorized searches of warehouses and stores of a certain brand in Lviv. According to the results of the searches, about 500 smartphones, other equipment in the assortment, and cash in the amount of UAH 137,000 were discovered and seized. The estimated value of the seized products is about UAH 14 million,» the State Fiscal Service said in a July 2021 report. According to tax officials, since 2019, a group of entrepreneurs have been purchasing Apple equipment in Poland, dividing it into small batches, paying bribes at customs, and importing goods to Ukraine without paying taxes and customs duties. The imported equipment was then sold online and in stores for cash.
Then, tax officials, together with the prosecutor’s office, conducted searches in 13 Apple stores in Lviv and discovered and seized about 500 iPhones, other equipment, as well as UAH 137,000 in cash. The estimated value of the seized products is about UAH 14 million.
In early September last year, employees of the Bureau of Economic Security conducted searches in the Yabko chain of electronics stores, related to suspicions of the chain in tax evasion. At that time, the CEO of Comfy accused Yabko, Yabluka, and Techno Izhak of selling unlicensed iPhones.
And in October, People’s Deputy and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported on 170 inspections of business entities engaged in the sale of equipment, including Apple equipment, such networks under the TM «YABKO», «YABLUKA», «STYLUS», «Techno Yizhak», «Touch», «Store», «iStore», «iPeople», «Appleroom».
Moreover, a large-scale campaign to de-shadow the electronics market is planned in Ukraine — special attention will be paid to points that sell Apple equipment. The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy issued the corresponding instructions.
Gray market for Apple gadgets
Zheleznyak also shared data on the import of Apple equipment into Ukraine over the past few years:
in 2022, Apple equipment worth $313.2 million was imported;
in 2023 — by $289.8 million.
in 2024 (from January to September) — by $199.2 million.
Half of Ukrainian stores selling Apple equipment do not issue fiscal checks and do not have a business entity (do not indicate who is the actual seller of the goods). At the same time, all the goods, as before, are smuggled.
«According to the monitoring results, 11 out of 20 stores did not issue a mandatory fiscal receipt. Three physical stores (two Yabko chain stores and the iPeople store) and eight for online sales, namely: Yabluka, eStore, Appleroom, iStore, Grokholsky, Touch, Skay, myApple,» the center said in a statement.
At the same time, it is noted: 10 out of 20 stores did not identify the business entity — that is, they did not indicate who the actual seller of the goods is. These are:
three offline stores that did not issue a fiscal check — two Yabko stores and iPeople;
According to the data in the intellectual property register, TM «Yabko» belongs to Kahnych Mykola Mykolayovych, who has a business in the real estate sector. He is a businessman from Mykolaiv, Lviv region. But Kahnych does not own any legal entities related to the sale of electronics. Meanwhile, TM «Yabko» is registered as a brand under which equipment is repaired. The «Yabko» chain currently has about 95 stores.
Interestingly, Kahnych most likely transferred ownership of the brand to Intellectual Property LLC. It is owned by lawyer Ulyana Kropyvnytska. She is listed as the owner of the brand, and Kahnych is listed as the applicant.
In addition to «Yabko», Kahnych has several other registered TMs related to gadgets. In particular, it even concerns the Apple logo — a bitten apple.
Little is known about Kahnych himself. Judging by the registers, he is involved in real estate and also has a consulting business on informatization issues.
The network’s press service did not respond to the publication’s request.
As for the YABLUKA network, it has a different owner. The TM under which another network dug up for tax evasion operates — YABLUKA — turns out to operate under the YABLOKI brand.
This domain is linked to the online store of the Yabluka network of original equipment.
The owner of the brand is Zaporizhzhia MP and businessman Artur Hatunok.
Arthur Hatunok
dev.ua also reached out to Artur for comment. However, we have not received a response yet.
In addition to the electronics chain, he has other businesses, in particular, in the field of trade, real estate, and horeca. In addition, he previously positioned himself as the founder and owner of the iStudio chain of stores, which for quite a long time «sold original Apple products and accessories». After the merger of iStudio with the company YABLOKI.ua, as of 2020, the chain became the largest mono-brand chain in Ukraine. According to information on the company’s website, the chain currently has more than 30 stores in Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipro, Kropyvnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv.
Ой да ладно , так все работают. Розетка так же начинала