SSU detains tax officer for $20,000 bribe

The Security Service of Ukraine states that, as a result of comprehensive measures in Kyiv, the chief state inspector of the Central Interregional Department of the State Tax Service was detained for accepting a bribe of $20,000.

The Security Service, with the assistance of the Head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko, eliminated a criminal "scheme" operating in the fiscal department

According to the case materials, the official allegedly demanded $20,000 from the director of a private construction company from Chernihiv for a "positive" tax audit. If the money was received, the official promised the entrepreneur to cancel commercial obligations to pay taxes that he was supposed to deduct to the state budget.

It is noted that SSU officers documented the taxpayer's receipt of illegal benefits and caught him red-handed while receiving one of the tranches of $13,000.

Based on the collected evidence, SSU investigators informed the defendant of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for a penalty of 8 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

A pre-trial investigation is currently underway to establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring all those responsible to justice.

We also wrote earlier that the management of the National Nature Park "Beloberezhya Sviatoslav" was detained in the Mykolaiv region. They are suspected of receiving "kickbacks" from employee bonuses - in two years they collected more than five million hryvnias. The sanction of the article provides for up to ten years in prison.

In addition, the Kyiv police state that an official of the Kyiv City State Administration has been charged with official negligence, which led to 63 million hryvnia in losses.