Employees of the Bureau of Economic Security conducted searches at the warehouses of the Techno Hedgehog chain of stores and seized illegally imported Apple equipment. We reported this on Friday.
Employees of the Bureau of Economic Security conducted searches at the warehouses of the Techno Hedgehog chain of stores and seized illegally imported Apple equipment. We reported this on Friday.
Today, the network’s press service sent an official statement regarding the searches.
As it turned out, searches on July 11 were conducted not only in warehouses, but also in offices, as well as in the apartment and car of Oleksiy Huly, the founder of the Techno Hedgehog brand and franchise. BEB conducted searches.
«This was our first time encountering searches. It was unexpected. We admit, we were afraid of something like this, because news about pressure on business constantly fuels this fear,» the statement said.
The company prepared the following theses after the searches:
«These accusations against me and the Techno Hedgehog brand are not true. A number of Telegram channels accused us of smuggling — we have never been involved in this. Our activities are fully structured in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. None of the brand’s franchisees have ever had and do not have warehouses in Lviv. And the photos that were distributed online are not our premises at all,» says the founder of the brand, Oleksiy Huly.
Previously, the company «Techno Hedgehog» was on the list of networks that were subject to inspections as part of the fight against the shadow electronics market in Ukraine.
Journalist Yevhen Plinsky reported on the seizure of Apple gadgets from the warehouses of Techno Hedgehog stores in Kyiv and Lviv regions. He said that the searches are related to a scheme by Lviv customs officers to import illegal phones.
«According to the investigation, illegal Apple equipment entered Ukraine in the famous «Iveco buses» without the attention of customs, and then was sent in large batches by mail to chain store warehouses. In particular, to the warehouses of «Techno Izhaka,» Plinsky noted.
Last fall, the CEO of the COMFY electronics store chain, Ihor Khyzhnyak, published a post on Facebook in which he said that he was able to purchase an iPhone 16 in Ukraine before the start of official sales. According to him, «not a single penny» was paid to the state budget for these gadgets.
