SBI notifies former tax officer from Poltava of suspicion of covering up illegal activities of vodka factory (VIDEO)

SBI employees served a notice of suspicion to the former head of a department of the Main Department of the Tax Service in Poltava region, who, for personal profit, was involved in the illegal activities of a local distillery.

The investigation revealed that the company produced vodka and various alcoholic tinctures without a licence and with fake excise stamps.

In order to cover up such activities and avoid paying taxes, the company sold the finished products in bulk for cash throughout Ukraine and avoided reporting them in its tax returns. During one shift, the plant produced from 30 to 60 thousand bottles of products.

Only one warehouse, which stored more than 74,000 bottles of alcohol, resulted in a shortfall of about UAH 2.5 million in excise tax to the budget.

This was covered up by the head of the tax department, who, together with his subordinates, was supposed to control the accuracy of tax reporting and the volume of alcoholic beverage production. But he "turned a blind eye" to the violations and even advised on how best to conceal the illegal activities. He would also agree with the company's management on the dates and times of tax audits, which in the end were just a formality.

In addition, the tax officer was selling counterfeit alcohol in Poltava region.

During the searches, SBI officers seized more than 400,000 bottles with counterfeit excise tax stamps and hundreds of thousands of counterfeit excise stamps from the company's production and warehouses.

After the start of the SBI investigation, the suspect was dismissed from the tax service.

The former official is suspected of abuse of office, which caused grave consequences (part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)

The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for up to 6 years.

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. The notice of suspicion will be supplemented with other circumstances of the crime. Other accomplices in the offence, including employees of the tax office and the plant, are being identified.

The Kharkiv Region Prosecutor's Office is providing procedural supervision.