Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) confiscated gold and foreign exchange valuables worth about $1 million from one of the employees of the Ukrainian embassy in an EU country while trying to illegally export them abroad, the funds were transferred to the state budget of Ukraine and can be used for the needs of the Ukrainian army, the agency reports.

"On February 28, at the Yahodyn checkpoint of the Volyn customs of the State Customs Service, investigators from the SBI inspected a diplomatic minibus, in which almost EUR68,000, more than $140,000, more than 12 kilograms of gold bars, 13.8 kg of jewelry with gold, as well as a large number of cigarettes, all of which the embassy employee tried to take out of the country under the guise of a diplomatic bag," the SBI said on its Telegram channel.

The State Bureau of Investigation emphasizes that on the basis of a court decision, cash, jewelry and gold in the amount of about $ 1 million were confiscated into state ownership.

"The court found the representative of the embassy guilty of committing an offense under Part 1 of Article 483 of the Labor Code of Ukraine and fined him in the amount of UAH 26.8 million," the report says.