State Customs Service refutes SBU and BES accusations of creating corruption schemes in export of grain
The State Customs Service of Ukraine denies accusations by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) of creating a criminal scheme for embezzlement of funds when exporting Ukrainian grain, in which more than 10 officials are suspected of being involved, including the deputy head of one of the departments of the State Customs Service and the management of the Odesa customs.
According to a press release from the department, the accusation of these officials of creating a criminal scheme that led to tax evasion for UAH 5.2 billion is groundless, since export duties are not charged on grain cargo, and the corresponding damage cannot be calculated in principle.
"Law enforcement officials manipulate the facts, because grains are not included in the list of goods for which export duties are charged. That is, UAH 5.2 billion reported by BES analysts cannot be calculated," the State Customs Service quotes its acting head Viacheslav Demchenko.
In addition, the State Customs Service indicates that BES and tax officials did not properly respond to the presence of enterprises with risk activities, but at the same time they instructed the customs to inspect such companies. However, in 80% of cases, bureau employees did not appear for inspections.
"At the same time, the mater concerns delimiting the powers of the authorities: The State Customs Service, the State Tax Service and the BES. In particular, the customs does not exercise control over the domestic market, where grain is sold/resold in significant volumes, in accordance with the current legislation. Here questions should arise for the tax authorities and BES employees," Demchenko specified.
As reported, on January 3, the SBU and BES exposed a criminal scheme for embezzlement of funds when exporting Ukrainian grain. According to their data, more than 10 officials were involved in her organization, among them the deputy head of one of the departments of the State Customs Service and the leadership of the Odesa customs. They are suspected of tax evasion when exporting Ukrainian grain, as a result of which the state has not received hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
