2021-03-16T10:01:00+02:00 Economy 2024-08-15T07:12:27+03:00

Ukrainian news

The second criminal case by the General Bureau of Investigation against Odessa fiscal officials and customs of

The second criminal case by the General Bureau of Investigation against Odessa fiscal officials and customs officers - for theft of goods confiscated from international traders, - Media

The State Bureau of Investigation has already launched the second criminal investigation into the actions of Odesa customs and tax officials.

"This time for theft: out of one and a half thousand tons of sunflower seeds after an illegal night seizure from a customs warehouse, 200 tons did not reach the place where the fiscal authorities decided to store" material evidence "on the fabricated case.

And international grain traders from the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland have literally beaten off the transit cargo seized from them by Odesa customs officers for four months already for four months, "Delo" writes about the scandalous story at the Odesa customs, where foreign companies were blocked from the transit of cargo to the Turkish port for the British buyer.

The very criminal case No. 32020100110000063, which became the basis for blocking the cargo of the trader company from the United Arab Emirates SSA Agri DMCC, is not even investigated, and the company that owns the cargo does not constitute a party to the criminal proceedings. This scandalous story has already come to the attention not only of the media. The illegal actions of Odesa fiscal officials and customs officers were noticed by the State Bureau of Investigation, by the Ukrainian business ombudsman, as well as by the European Business Association, member of which is a company from the United Arab Emirates.

"In the case #32020100110000063, initiated by the Office of Large Taxpayers of the SFS to block the transit cargo of foreign companies, the coordinated work of the fiscal authorities, the State Customs Service and the courts is noticeable - the authors of the journalistic investigation describe. The SFS investigator opened a criminal case on the basis of his own suspicions and assumptions. In order to document his assumptions somehow, the SFS investigator interrogates his colleagues from the State Customs Service, from whom he receives the same suspicions and assumptions. The judge of the appeal instance was not at all confused with such a "mutual responsibility" of two close services, nor by the lack of at least minimal evidence for suspicions, which were put by the SFS investigator in the basis of the criminal case".

The investigator of the SFS received permission from the court only to seize the documents, but the judge refused to seize the goods stored in the warehouses of the "Black Sea Fishing Port". This episode became the reason for the first criminal case that the State Bureau of Investigation opened against the fiscal officers: having no judicial authorization to seize the cargo, however, trucks were driven to the warehouse and hastily reloaded with the goods of foreign grain traders at night. For some reason, the investigators decided to recognize hundreds of tons of sunflower seeds as material evidence.

Although neither the court nor the lawyers find a reasonable justification why the SFS investigators and customs officers sought to recognize hundreds of tons of seeds as material evidence, because according to the law, "evidence" must keep traces of a crime. This obvious gross violation was qualified by the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation as abuse of official authority and damage to foreign companies.

Only after the seizure of the goods, the SFS investigators were able with the help of Kiev prosecutors and the judge of the Shevchenko capital district court to cover up their special operation with a court decision to arrest the cargo under the guise of "material evidence" with retrospective effect. But even this court decision did not contain permission to seize the goods. This fact did not prevent the SFS to arrange a night "mask show" with the involvement of its special forces, and to transport the goods from the licensed customs warehouse to the private elevator. As the victims of Odesa tax and customs officers told reporters, due to the hasty reloading, part of the cargo was simply scattered and transported by the wheels of trucks. And later it turned out that the customs and the State Fiscal Service "did not bring" 210 tons of sunflower seeds to a private warehouse, where they planned to store the seized goods.

To present moment, foreign companies have faced a real risk of complete losing their goods stuck in Ukraine. According to the lawyers’ information, the employees of the SFS assess the seized cargo as a rapidly deteriorating product with a significant underestimation of its actual value and subsequent sale at a bargain price: "The cost of the specified cargo of sunflower seeds, confirmed by the contract, shipping documents and declared in customs declarations is more than 20.15 million UAH. At the same time, according to the available data, the evaluation examination conducted by the investigation can estimate the entire cargo in the amount of about 5 million UAH," said lawyer Denys Kytsenko, who represents the interests of SSA Agri DMCC from the United Arab Emirates in the Ukrainian courts.

"The loss of 210 tons of cargo of foreign companies became the reason for the initiation of the second criminal proceedings against the actions of representatives of the SFS and the State Customs Service with the State Bureau of Investigation, namely, "looting, embezzlement of property or taking it by abuse of official position." This case complements the previous one for "deliberate actions that clearly go beyond the scope of authority, resulting in the serious consequences for the legally protected interests of legal entities."