PGO finishes special investigation into case of six taxmen under ex-minister Klymenko
The main military prosecutor's office of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO)on June 11 completed the special (absentee) pretrial investigation into a criminal case where six former officials of tax agencies involved in the scheme of ex-Income and Tax Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Klymenko when Viktor Yanukovych was Ukrainian President are suspected of causing a damage to the national budget in the amount of UAH 3.1 billion via unlawful refunding of value added tax (VAT) to bogus firms.
The press service of PGO reported on Wednesday that former taxmen are suspected of committing crimes under Part 1 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article e28, Part 5 of Article 191, Part 4 of Article 266 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (creation of a criminal organization that committed the gravest crime against national property and caused grave consequences on an especially large scale).
The investigators established that the suspects in 2012-20133, being members of the criminal group headed by Yanukovych, which member Klymenko was as well, running senior positions in the tax service agencies, embezzled UAH 3.1 billion from the national budget via the unlawful refunding of VAT from the budget to accounts of three bogus firms," the PGO said.
At present, defending lawyers were informed about the completion of the pretrial investigation and they received access to the materials of the case. After this, the indictment will be sent to court.
The PGO recalled that a total of 16 suspects among tax officials were in the investigation into this scam. Guilty verdicts were issued to three persons, the indictments against six persons are being heard by courts, and the pretrial investigations were completed against seven more suspects, including Klymenko, and the materials of the case are available to defendants.