Greed as a Motive for Illicit Tobacco Trade

Sa？etak The illicit placing on the market of tobacco products is an economic crime where the perpetrators, undoubtedly causing damage to public finances, increasingly strive to enrich themselves. This was initially defined in case law as a criminal offence belonging to the "law of the poor", since its primary purpose is not the acquisition of pecuniary gain, nor is this the basic motive of all those convicted of the crime of illicit tobacco trafficking. Striving for personal enrichment is shown in the manner of purchasing for reselling, selling, and transferring tobacco for remuneration. The main objective of this study is to establish the phenomenon of the motive of personal enrichment in the illicit trade of tobacco in practice, with the further aim of proving that striving for personal enrichment exists in all the cases where this is described in the statement of facts of the judgment and when the perpetrator’s proceeds have been confiscated or a secondary fine has been imposed on the perpetrator. This paper uses descriptive analysis for the features of the offence, and explicative analysis to review the modalities particularly suitable for acquiring pecuniary gain. A statistical method combined with a sampling method was used to survey specific cases on a representative sample of adult perpetrators of the criminal offence of illicit trade in the Republic of Croatia. The research results show that perpetrators of tobacco trafficking mostly come from rural areas and are largely unemployed. Towards the end of the monitored period an increase in the number of special returnees was observed. The courts do not give specific reasons for the confiscation of proceeds of crime from the perpetrators, or for the secondary fines they imposed through criminal orders. In conclusion, the mere causing of damage to public finances by tax evasion through tobacco trafficking as a commodity whose trade without a tax stamp from the line ministry and the original packaging of the producer is restricted does not constitute the primary motive of the perpetrator of the criminal offence of illicit trade