NABU and SAP uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme at the State Tax Service of Ukraine: bribes for travel to the EU.

NABU and SAP exposed a former top official and current employee of the State Border Service of Ukraine for systematically obtaining illegal benefits by facilitating unimpeded border crossings.

The NABU press service reported this.

Among the suspects:

• former head of the State Border Service, general;

• Head of the State Tax Service checkpoint department;

• former official of the State Tax Service of Ukraine.

Their actions are qualified under Part 4 of Article 27 and Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

According to investigators, in 2023, a group of individuals organized the illegal smuggling of cigarettes from Ukraine to EU countries. Senior officials of the State Border Service were involved in the scheme, regularly receiving bribes for unimpeded border passage.

Between July and November 2023 alone, the defendants received at least €204,000 in unlawful profits. This involved allowing 68 vehicles to pass through, each of which was paid approximately €3,000.

To conceal their criminal activities, they used vehicles registered in the Czech Republic and Austria, which were fitted with special license plates resembling diplomatic ones. The passengers in the vehicles were diplomatic passport holders—family members of Ukrainian diplomats in Europe—which allowed them to avoid detection at EU borders and customs.

Detectives also established that the suspected top officials had previously served alongside diplomats whose relatives subsequently became involved in this scheme.

According to MP Oleksiy Goncharenko, NABU and the SAP are conducting searches at the former head of the State Border Service, Serhiy Deineka. NABU also conducted searches at the acting head of the State Border Service, Valeriy Vavrynyuk.

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